Faces on Faith: Breathing fresh air
I grew up in Warren, Ohio, a town in that part of a region called the Steel Valley. With three steel mills encircling the city, it was sometimes stifling to breath the air. The polluted air was especially difficult to breath during the hot summer months when a red cloud would hover over the city. One week out of the year, we escaped from the pollution to a vacation spot on Lake Erie. We were blessed by a family friend to have access to a lakefront cottage and each morning I would awaken to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. It was such a blessing to run down to the beach and breathe in some fresh air. I will never forget the disappointment I felt the year the lake was filled with pollution. We had arrived as usual on a Sunday afternoon and I remember running down to the beach to receive that breath of fresh air. To my dismay what I discovered was something like tar on the beach and in the water. The smell was offensive and in the end cut short our planned get away.
If you read about God creating the heavens and earth in Genesis chapters 1 and 2, you can’t miss the breath of fresh air. The picture of the garden of Eden certainly sounds like a place where new life springs forth. Genesis 2:7 reads, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.” It is clear that God is the life-giver for all creation. Each spring there are signs of new life in Ohio. The grass is a deep green and beautiful flowers emerge from the ground. After a long winter it is a breath of fresh air.
For Christians, Easter Sunday celebrates the new life in Christ. I call it Easter faith. If we read from Ezekiel 37 we are given a picture of God breathing new life into dry bones. In the Gospel of John, the risen Jesus breathes new life into unbelieving disciples (John 20:22). This is all to say that through Easter faith we who may be stuck in a spiritual winter can receive new life. For the early disciples Easter meant a new beginning. I pray that this year Easter will not be a one-day-and-done, but instead become a breath of fresh air. The old hymn “In the Garden” speaks to Easter faith as a daily walk with Christ. The first verse goes like this: “I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”
The Rev. Larry L. Marshall is the pastor at the Captiva Chapel by the Sea.