We find ourselves grieving so much these days. We grieve too many deaths from mass shootings, the rising Covid-19 numbers, and the killing of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center by a police officer. We hold our collective breath as the jury deliberates the verdict for Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd. We are as a newspaper headline read in a, “State of Agony”. We have surpassed over 7,000 deaths in Minnesota from Covid -19. There have been so many lives lost, people unable to breathe because of this virus. And we grieve other deaths from another deadly virus, the racism that has infected this nation for over 400 years. Yes, it happened here again in Minnesota, the killing of another black man, Daunte Wright, by a police officer. Courtney, George Floyd’s partner, knew Daunte as a student at the school where she worked in the past. My niece knew both Courtney and George, as Courtney’s son was in her class at New City School in Northeast Minneapolis. In the days following George’s murder she kept asking my brother why isn’t Minneapolis better than this? Why aren’t we all better than this?
Fear and racism have been on full display in our state. We truly are ground zero and our nation is on trial. Too many black and brown people cannot breathe, and live in fear as they go about their day to day lives. We must ask ourselves, “Why aren’t we better than this? “…and then do something about it.
Breathe. The words Wind, Breath and Spirit are the same word in Hebrew and Greek. We need to breathe, we need a new Spirit, a spirit of courage that allows us to step out and create a new world. I gain hope from the resurrection stories of our faith. After Jesus’ death the disciples are hiding in fear, locked up and on lock down. Jesus is gone and they don’t know what to do next. Where do they go with all those teachings about loving one another, and feeding the hungry, unbinding the oppressed? They are too afraid to move back out into the world. But into that room of fear Jesus steps and says “Peace be with you”. Words of peace and then he breathes on them. Jesus gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit which pushes them back out into the world to share God’s love with places, systems and people so deeply broken.
The Spirit did it’s work and they find they can go on. They know again that they belong to God and in belonging to God they belong to each other. Belonging to God and one another gives them the courage to move out, to witness, to try heal their world that was broken in so many ways.
This is our challenge, our work and our hope too. We need one another to do this work and to remember to breathe. In these days I often find myself using breathing prayers, like Jesus’ words “Peace, Be Still”. This week I also have been using a breathing prayer shared in a yoga class years ago. I offer our instructor Leigh’s words here for you to use:
Breathing in . . see yourself as a mountain
Breathing out . . feeling as solid
Breathing in . . . see yourself as a mountain stream
Breathing out . . flowing with clarity
Breathing in . . . I see myself as a white pine
Breathing out . . moving with flexibility
Breathing in . . I see myself as the rising sun
Breathing out radiating warmth, healing, compassion
Keep breathing . . slowly, steady . . breathing
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