My brother has one of those personalized license plates on his car. It reads “RUACH” -- an ancient Hebrew word which literally translates as “breath.” It is one of the primary images used in the scriptures to talk about Spirit. As images go, I like it a lot -- it is evocative in its powerful simplicity. Breath is essential for life -- if we stop breathing for very long we stop living. I also like it because it is very earthy, all wrapped up in the messy business of living as human beings in these very human bodies on this very physical planet. It reminds me that God is intimately involved with me right here in the midst of my life.

Both scriptures for this morning offer us portrayals of the powerful difference which God’s Ruach can make in our lives and in our world. It can be as dramatic as the difference between a pile of bones and a living, breathing human being, or as life-changing as the difference between a disconnected group of individuals who can’t even understand each other and a unified community which is bound together for common ministry.

God’s Spirit truly is the breath of life, giving life where before there was none -- new life out of hopeless situations. In the wonderful story of Ezekiel’s vision, the prophet describes the people of Israel as dry bones. There was no life to be found anywhere. They had become a people who were just going through the motions. They had no purpose left in their lives. They had no hope.

We know something of what it is like to be dry bones. There are times when circumstances seem to conspire to drain the life from us. At such times, we no longer feel connected to God. We no longer see where the future is leading us, or if we do it is nowhere that we want to go. It would be an improvement to feel like a skeleton, because then we would at least feel somewhat connected. Instead we are simply a pile of disconnected dry bones with no life, no purpose, no future and no hope. Ezekiel gives voice to an experience which touches a chord with us, which is part of why it is such a powerful passage. The core of his message is that it is precisely in such hopelessness that God’s Spirit does its best work. Even disconnected dry bones can be brought back together and given new life -- certainly not on their own, but by the power of God breathing in new life.

And the Spirit of God brings new life not only into unexpected situations, but also in unexpected ways. In the book of Acts we read the story of the first Pentecost and we find a remarkable transformation. The group which was gathered together on that day in Jerusalem had very little in common. The core group of disciples were bound together by their experience with Jesus, but very little else. Some of them were fishermen. Some of them were tax collectors. Some of them were politically conservative while others were radical extremists. The rest of those who shared in the experiences of that remarkable day had even less in common. The group who were eventually touched by the wind and fire of God’s Spirit included folk who had never before even heard of Jesus of Nazareth. They didn’t even share a common language. They were pilgrims who had come from all over the known world. Their cultures were different. Their experiences were different. Even the color of their skin was different. A computer generated list of compatible people would not have included this particular group.

And we know something of what it is like to be in a collection of folks who share little in common. The nature of our world is such today that we are more aware than ever of the people around us who are different than we are. We see them on TV every day. We read about them in newspapers and books. We encounter them on the streets of our communities. Sometimes we even face them in our church. At times the differences are relatively small and we can ignore them or pretend that they don’t matter to us. But sometimes the differences seem huge and threaten to overwhelm us. They include people who talk differently than we do, or look different, or whose whole way of life challenges what we have always believed. Sometimes we are faced with folks who simply make us uncomfortable and we would rather not be around them. But in both the first century and in this century, it is precisely such groups of people who are bound together into a community by the power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit. We are formed into community and sustained as community not because of what we have in common, but because of the breath, the Ruach, of God which we share.

One of the spiritual practices which I use when I am praying is to pray with my breathing. As I inhale, my prayer is simply “fill me.” As I exhale, my prayer is “use me.” It is more than merely air which I draw into my body -- it is Ruach -- it is the holy breath of God, filling me with new life and returning me to wholeness, with myself and with the world around me. God is as close as the air we breath, and as essential for the business of living full, rich, meaningful lives. May we be filled with the breath of God.