“Quick! Bless that Sneeze!”
“Quick! Bless that Sneeze!”
1 Kings 19:4-8, Psalm 34:1-8, Ephesians 4:25-5:2, John 6:35, 41-51
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, August 11, 2024
First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Andy Kennaly, Pastor
When someone sneezes, it is traditional to say something. Many people use the German word, gesundheit, which is a way of wishing them good health. The word gesundheit means health. Other expressions have us say, bless you, or God bless you. Either way, a sneeze gets attention, and multiple sneezes often draw a response even from strangers, it is that engrained to say something after a sneeze to wish good health.
Somewhere I heard that this blessing of health stems from religious convictions. In earlier times it was assumed that if there is a void, the devil will fill it. A sneeze takes a lot out of us, it is a bodily experience that can be quite powerful and make us feel out of control. It can take our breath away, so the next action is to breathe in. But if someone sneezes and creates that void in the body, to fill it with a breath, it was believed that they may be taking in a demon. The devil is an opportunist. So, to ward off these evil spirits, it became tradition to give a blessing. One could call it casting a spell as a form of magic. Quick! Bless that sneeze! Passed down through history, on the one hand it’s polite to bless someone for good health after they sneeze, but on the other hand it does stem from fear that evil could have its way with us in this world. Do you want to live in that kind of fear?
The scripture passage from 1 Kings recognizes the weight of life’s burdens as we follow God’s prophet, Elijah who flees into the wilderness because Jezebel tries to have him killed. Feeling the turmoil our world throws at people; Elijah asks God to take his life. He lays down under a broom tree and falls asleep. God’s angel wakes him twice and provides food and water. And God allows Elijah to rest in the shade of this important tree. He does carry a burden, and his journey is long.
The broom tree is like a big shrub. It flowers but most of the time is a brushy desert plant. But it’s significant in scripture, to indicate God’s care and provision, God being with us in difficult times, and God sustaining and sheltering when we are most at need. Elijah is given strength for the journey, and he eventually goes to Mt. Horeb where he experiences wind so strong it split rocks, earthquake that come after the wind, then fire, but God was not in any of those. After all these, the sound of sheer silence is where Elijah meets God as Elijah comes out to the entrance of the cave. God hears him describe his situation, and after listening, God gives direction for the next step.
Sometimes we wonder if God hears us, if God listens. Sometimes silence is not exactly what we have in mind as being helpful. Sometimes it’s hard to know the next step, difficult to see what’s coming. There seems to be a strong sense these days that what has come before no longer works, but what is to come is not yet fully revealed. So here we are, in the in-between time, on the threshold. This pivotal time between dismantling and a new creation can stir feelings of uncertainty, and with that comes anxiety, which triggers fear. This can be expressed through anger, or anger turned inward which can become depression.
Perhaps the Psalmist addresses this, in saying, Look to [the LORD], and be radiant, so your faces shall never be ashamed. The Psalmist talks about being wrapped in fear yet was delivered from trouble because they put their focus on God, saying, This poor soul cried and was heard by the LORD and was saved from every trouble. The LORD encamps around those who fear him [that is to say, those who have awe for God, those who have wonder in their delight of God’s mystery. That word, fear, means awe.] The encamped LORD deliver them. This is an invitation to examine what our focus is, to explore what kind of energy we’re putting out there into the universe, because that energy becomes manifest. Look to the LORD and be radiant.
That was something new I learned from my training with Labyrinths. Those meandering prayer paths have energy. The path one walks holds the energy of everyone who has walked it before, and as quantum physics would have us know, of everyone who has yet to walk it. Perhaps it has the energy of all walkers on all labyrinths? But labyrinths also need to be awakened, and if you walk clockwise around the edge, it stirs the energy. If you go the other direction it puts the labyrinth to rest. If a labyrinth is ignored, the energy goes dormant. The labyrinth as a tool is tied directly with the spiritual intent of the people who walk them. If you don’t walk the labyrinth, the energy makes no sense, but if you do walk labyrinths, you have a sense that something is there, happening, beyond what one can see. What kind of intention do we put out there? What kind of deliverance does our spirit long for?
In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul gives guidance on this as he shares thoughts about anger, putting away all bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander, and all malice. That’s twice he uses the world all. He says, to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, and as we imitate God as God’s beloved, to walk in love. To walk. This is very active, as is love. Love is not a thing, but a quality, an action, an embodiment of life. No wonder labyrinths are based on walking, on a journey to the center of ourselves.
Paul focuses a lot on anger. We should note that in Ephesians it first says, Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Here we are again at the devil finding room to wiggle into our lives, to fill those voids where we forfeit our joy or suspend our love, where evil tries to get a foothold on the peace of our soul. Do not sin means don’t think you’re separate, don’t give in to the illusion of separation, that somehow there is a gap between you and the Divine, or that somehow your differences make you better than someone else.
It is normal to be angry, and we can be angry, but not for anger’s sake, rather, for the sake of learning. Anger is a secondary emotion and always points to some other value that seems compromised. Anger can mask the real emotion, such as pain. Anger gets transmitted when people don’t transform their pain. To not let the sun go down on anger is an image to remind us that anger should be temporary because we’re called to be humble and honest about what’s really going on inside of us. If anger is not temporary, then we’ve got a problem because we are clinging, and the bitterness we carry will chew us up and tarnish our experience of joy as God’s beloved. Revenge, bitterness, anger; these trick us into thinking we are in control, when really, we are fooling ourselves.
Paul later says to put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger. So, this chapter says, be angry but put away all anger. It’s like saying two different things. This is because anger is a natural emotion for human beings, and anger comes when we sense that something we value very highly is threatened. It gives us energy to challenge the situation. Anyone can react with anger and lash out. Aggressiveness, defensiveness, cycles of revenge that seem to have no end. Finger pointing that accuses, but we need to remember that with finger pointing, there are three pointing back to invite reflection.
We might get offended, but in reflection we make wiser discernment.
The part of us that gets offended does not have the authority to define who we truly are and cannot capture the ultimate mystery of our life in God. That’s why Paul can encourage unity when he says, So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. This is high level, unitive thinking. This is contemplation that transforms a subject object worldview into an invitation to not be directed by our false self, our ego control, but is a call to unity, a reminder that we are connected to each other, and we speak “truth” from our True Self, who we are in God.
Christian faith is more than just dealing with concepts or ideas and beliefs but involves deeply spiritual transformation where God comes to us in Christ Jesus and offers unconditional love, invites us to shed what is false so we may more clearly reflect what is true as imitators of God, as beloved children, living in love.
To help us get past concepts and ideas about God, let’s practice a prayer tool this week that engages our mind, our imagination, and our bodies. Let’s call it Earthing, or Grounding. If you want to brave the yellow jackets, you can have bare feet on the grass. You don’t have to have bare feet, but make sure you’re outside, like Elijah found deliverance under the broom tree.
Let’s use visualization. Imagination. Let’s give ourselves permission to trust our inner experience, rather than fear that the devil might be filling some void in us to lead us astray; that superstition makes us weak. Instead, let’s trust that we will meet God in our inner experience, and like Elijah, find strength.
Through visualization, use your God-given imagination and see gold or white coming up through you. Imagine rays of Divine Presence that shine through you as you change from being opaque and become translucent. Perhaps there is a warmth to this, or a soothing sound. This is a spiritual cleansing, one that invites you to give up limitations and assumptions based on finite perspectives.
Take a few deep breaths, thanking God for good health, for blessings, and for God to remove fear from your life so you may practice kindness and live in love’s confidence that claims joy. Hold that image for a while until it drifts away, then bow in silence and thank the LORD for divine mercy.
When you conclude this exercise, this spiritual discipline, this practice of prayer, write about it, maybe a poem or a journal, or a letter; or share about it with someone else, make a lunch date and talk about your enlightenment over a piece of pie. Maybe there’s not much to say because what happened is deeper than words. Then you could share that piece of pie in silence as you notice the subtle flavors and the blessings of God’s provision.
However you may choose to practice holy listening, as we learn to give of ourselves to life’s larger, more meaningful purpose, we are thankful, and we trust that God is glorified, now, even as forever. Amen.