Years ago, when I used to do an alternative “Gen X” worship service, I would scour the internet for interesting prayers and meditations to include. Most of them, interestingly, came from England. They had a burst of creativity in the 90’s. One in particular stuck out for me, and I’ve used it for years since.
Breathe in love - Breathe out hate
Breathe in life - Breathe out death
Breathe in peace - Breathe out anxiety
Breathe in gentleness - Breathe out tension
Breathe in God’s presence - Breathe out all that distracts you from God
It works best when you sit back and take a bunch of breaths between each section. We tend to have a lot of anxiety, for example, and it can take a bit to get that out.
You know the phrase, “garbage in, garbage out”? This is the reverse of that – it’s choosing to focus on the positive, on the Godly. It’s taking in the good to fill yourself with that, rather than just focusing on the negative. I believe that simply getting rid of the bad by trying to abstain or push away is less effective than replacing the bad with the good. So, rather than just trying to cut back drinking with will power, maybe look at your social calendar and find some social outlets without drinking, and find some hobbies and activities that bring you joy and are sober, and work on identifying and replacing the negativities that you may be trying to not deal with or hide with drinking.
It's the same philosophy I have with kids, that when we simply say, “don’t use drugs” or “don’t sleep around” it can often be counter-productive, making it tempting. But when you have positive things your kids are doing – active in church, serving the poor, connected to family, contributing to the world – then they’re too busy and the destructive behaviors just don’t seem as appealing.
It’s when your life is filled with God and service, the stuff that comes out is positive.
So when life is full of these things that are negative, it can be easy to start becoming negative. When you watch news shows that are full of angry rants and doom-and-gloom prophecies of the end of your way of life and family and apple pie if you don’t stand up and stop XYZ now, you will find that your attitude gets angry and fearful. You become sour and bitter and walk around with a chip on your shoulder. I’ve seen too many people become unhappy with grievances over listening to people who are just that. The process is never instant; we are rarely conscious of it. We’re not good at being self-aware of our emotions as people; they creep up on us. But after a while you meet someone you haven’t seen in a bit, and wonder what happened. Why so mad all the time? He used to be so much fun?
Getting back to kids, this is what we understand when we think of our kids’ peer groups. You know the phrase, “they got involved in the wrong crowd”. And it’s true that to be friends in certain circles you have to conform to things – whether that’s drugs or some other behavior – or face ridicule and ostracizing. We know this with teenagers, but how often do we think of this in our selves? Are the people I hang around with life-giving? Do they build me up? Do they make me more loving, kind, patient, calm, magnanimous? Or something else?
Someone did a study in Colorado a few years ago, where they took liberals from Boulder, and conservatives from Colorado Springs, and put them in a room together to talk politics. When together, and forced to listen to opposing views, they generally took more moderate positions. Nobody converted to the “other side”, but their stances were less strident. When they had them only among like-minded people, their positions became more and more extreme the longer they were together. It was as if just having the echo-chamber to complain to each other made everyone’s views harsher and less tolerant.
So many ways that our thinking is influenced by the voices outside our selves. Time to step back, again, and breath in love, breath out hate…..
---------
A couple weeks ago I preached on Ephesians 3:16-17, and said I’d come back to it
16I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
The words struck me when I read them, not because they were jarring, but because they were so profound. What’s in our inner being? What do we bring into our selves to dwell with? Is it hate? Anger? Resentment? Fear? Or is it the Holy Spirit, filling our hearts with Christ and his ways of love, slowness to anger, forgiveness, service, and justice? Spirituality is just that, it’s breathing in the Spirit, filling yourself with God, and becoming more Jesus-like. Breath in Jesus, breath out anger, hate, revenge, resentment, fear. Breath in Jesus and breath in patience, calm, forgiveness, and love. Surround yourself with things like Jesus and become more like him, when he dwells in your inner being, and your outer being will be more joyful and full of faith.
Peace,
Pastor Lars