Peace is the air we breathe

 

Matthew 25: 1-13
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
December 7, 2025

Photo of a small shallow bowl-shaped oil lamp with a wick resting in the pouring spout. The lamp is lit in a dark space, with a red powder scattered on the surface.

Do you ever catch yourself not breathing, holding your breath? Then you let out your breath, exhale in one big whoosh, make some noise when you do it? Have you ever been in a room when someone else has done that? It can sound like we, like they are frustrated or bored or angry or preoccupied. Like maybe we, or they, are trying to attract someone’s attention. Ask us what’s going on. How are we doing. Are we okay.



The Hebrew word for breath, for wind, and for spirit is the same word: rûach. It’s the same word used in the creation of the earth, the Spirit of God moving over the face of the waters, and the breath of God giving life to the first human being.



Breathing is something we take for granted, mostly because it happens without us ever having to think about it. Yet it is one of the simplest ways to calm ourselves, a few deep breaths in and out, or to meditate by focusing on our breathing. We catch our breath when we feel joy or surprise or fear. We rely on the strength of our breathing when we sing or swim or stretch or speak before a crowd or blow out our birthday candles.



Or when we are getting a fire going or rekindling a fire. To keep a fire burning in our hearts, in our souls. To keep our lamps trimmed and burning. A flame needs air to burn. Something that gives us calm and peace, what we need to live is also needed to feed a fire.



The Holy Spirit is symbolized by a dove, the bird of peace, but also by wind and by fire. Too often we think of peace as the absence of conflict when in truth, peace is the presence, the fire of justice. And justice takes work. And work means relying on the strength of our breathing.



Peace is the air that we breathe. Peace is self-care and community care. Peace comes with being prepared to do justice work, to meet Jesus when and where he calls us.



Peace is working on becoming an antiracist. Peace is de-centering Whiteness. Peace is the air we breathe when everyone’s air is clean and safe.



Peace is wearing a mask to protect ourselves and others. Peace is breathing the smell of coffee and cooked food and poverty and homelessness. Peace is breathing the air of Hope Dining Room, the Empowerment Center, the cold air of Code Purple nights. Peace is keeping the lamp of justice work trimmed and burning.



Peace is breathing through the tension in the air when personalities collide. Peace is the pause before we hit ‘send’, the time we spend thinking about our feelings and how they impact others. Peace is knowing who we are and learning the tools of active listening and emotional intelligence.



Peace is the air we learn how to breathe into the space where our beloved, our loved one once lived. Peace is the air we breathe in the sobs, the deep sighs of our grief, the peace that comes to us in our own time. Peace is the air we breathe when we are healing, when we face hard truths, when we’re being honest with ourselves.



Peace is community being ready to meet injustice with justice. Peace is being ready to meet hunger with food security. Peace is being ready to meet despair with hope. Peace is being ready to meet hate with love. Peace is being ready to meet gender with appropriate pronouns. Peace is being ready to meet brute force with soul force. Peace is community being ready to meet fear with courage. Need with generosity. Loneliness with companionship. Pain with compassion.



In John’s gospel, when Jesus welcomed his disciples to the Table, he said, “Peace be with you” and then he breathed on them the Holy Spirit, that Spirit that would become a fire in their hearts. At that Table, Jesus breathed the air of betrayal and desertion from the people closest to him and still he loved them with his whole heart, withholding nothing from them.



That is the peace that awaits us at this Table. It is a peace that comes not only to us but through us, like inhale and exhale, that sacred rûach expanding the small places inside us into something spacious and gracious. Peace is the air we need to breathe when we’re taking a risk, when we’re disrupting our lives for someone, when we’re forgiving ourselves and others, when we’re letting go of the past, ready to embrace what’s coming next, wherever Jesus leads us. Amen.

Benediction – UCC Worship Ways


Seekers of Christ, be encouraged!
There is bread for the journey
There is company along the way
There is so much hope and peace still to reach for within and between us
When we dare to open ourselves to God’s presence
God meets us back, faithful and true
May it be so. Amen.