73: A Faith That Flows

You might remember me mentioning this in remind{h}er 64, but since the beginning of 2022, I have been regularly and consistently practicing yoga. Throughout my adult life, I’ve practiced yoga in spurts, trying it for a bit here and there, but never really committing to it. And I think I now know why.

Let me explain. If you are at all familiar with yoga, you know that the foundation of the whole practice involves paying attention to your breath. As you become more in tune with your breathing, the movement or pose is meant to follow the breath. It’s what’s known as “the flow” of yoga. As you breathe, you move. The breath and movement are very much meant to be in sync. But, for me, there has always been this disconnect between my breath and my movement. I always struggled because I focused more on trying to force my movement or pose, letting my breath be a mere afterthought. Because of this, I wasn’t able to experience the life-giving fullness of a yoga practice, and because I just couldn’t seem to “get it,” it was always easy for me to just give it up.

However, that was then. As I continued to practice earlier this year, something finally clicked. I can’t explain it and don’t know exactly how it happened, but I will never forget the first time I let the breath lead me. My movement became easier and more fulfilling; it completely changed my experience of yoga, and ultimately enabled me to stick with it. Because when I focus more on the breathing and allow my movement to follow my breath, rather than the other way around, I find it makes a world of difference. I now know how it feels to let the breath lead and now I can’t imagine it any other way.

In light of this, it’s interesting to consider the fact that all throughout Scripture, the same word that is used for “breath” is also used for “spirit”: Pneuma in Greek and Ruach in Hebrew. In a lot of ways, this makes perfect sense because the Holy Spirit is closer than our very breath. So I wonder if this idea of following the breath could also be applied to following the Spirit. I wonder what difference it might make if, rather than forcing our own movement, agenda, or action, we instead chose to follow the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Because I’m learning that just as our literal lives depend on our breathing, the flourishing of our faith depends on the ways we surrender to the Spirit’s leading.

If you are listening in real time, according to the liturgical calendar, this past Sunday was Pentecost. It’s the day we recognize and celebrate the coming of the promised Holy Spirit and ultimately, the birth of the Church. As someone who just graduated with a master of arts in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership, it’s a celebration that has come to mean a lot to me because my understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit, though still very limited, has grown leaps and bounds the past couple years. And I know I want my life to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. In yoga and in life, I know I desire to let the breath lead.

So what might that look like in the context of our faith?

Author and pastor Robert Mulholland shares a very helpful analogy. He believes a faith that “follows the breath,” a faith that is whole and alive, a faith that flows, is a faith that is intentional about both breathing in and breathing out. Think about it: As living human people, we must literally breathe in and out. If we don’t breathe in, we’ll suffocate and won’t have anything to breathe out. And if we don’t breathe out, we’ll just be holding our breath. We need both in order to stay alive.

Similarly, if our faith doesn’t flow and follow the Spirit by both breathing in and breathing out, it will die.

We must breathe in the Spirit of God and we must breathe out the Spirit of God in the world around us as we participate in the building of God’s kingdom, here and now. Both are vital and worth our consideration.

You can’t breathe out without first breathing in. So, first, what does it mean for our faith to breathe in?

Breathing in is our connection with God. It is out of our connection with God that we are enabled and empowered to be the people God calls us to be. If we are going to be disciples who make Jesus Christ visible in the world around us, then we must be connected to Christ. We cannot become like Jesus apart from Jesus.

I’m reminded of the familiar passage from John 15, when Jesus shared these words with his disciples just before heading to the cross. He said:

“4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

So maybe this connection, this abiding, this breathing in, looks like prayer. Maybe it looks like rest. Maybe it means studying and meditating on Scripture. Or sitting in silence and listening. Or going for a walk. Or writing in a journal. Or arranging fresh flowers. Or baking a cake. Or singing a familiar hymn. Or listening to this podcast. Really, breathing in involves practices that give us life and remind us of the presence of God.

Breathing in is absolutely necessary. But if we stop there, if we breathe in and are filled with the Spirit and then don’t breathe out, we are missing the point. We are holding our breath. And we know we can only do that and live for so long.

I think the author of James knew this to be true. In James 2:14-17, we read:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

A faith that only breathes in is dead. Breathing out is the necessary outworking of our faith. It’s the fruit on our branches. It’s our participation in God’s redemption of the world. And it is work that matters, here and now, because it is work that will last.

As N.T. Wright puts it in his book Surprised By Hope:

“These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether… They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.”

A faith that breathes out might look like a person or community who embodies the fruit of the Spirit in the world around them, the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It might look like a person or community who sees the heartbreaking headlines that remind us our world is not yet like the kingdom of God, and then chooses to participate in the work of making those things right. It’s the helping hand, the kind word, the faithful advocacy, the sacrificial giving, the ministry of presence when there’s nothing left to do. It’s practicing what we preach.

As we let the Spirit lead, we will cultivate a faith that breathes in and breathes out. We will care about and participate in both the inner and outer work of the Spirit. And as we do, our faith will flow.

As Robert Mulholland writes,

“Spiritual formation in Christ [breathing in] and mission with Christ [breathing out] are the inseparable components in our participation in God’s redemption of all creation.”

So today, if you long for a faith that is living and active, remember to seek a faith that flows. A faith that lets the breath, the Spirit, lead. A faith that takes a deep breath in; and a faith that lets a deep breath out into the world around us as we seek to be the people God calls us to be. May it be so.