Our lessons today are full of ruach, the Hebrew word for breath, wind, spirit. As you read the scriptures, pay attention to all the ways you notice the action of ruach. Take time to realize how you experience ruach in your life day by day.

At the very outset of the Hebrew scriptures, we see "a wind from God swept over the face of the water". That wind is God's Spirit acting in creation. The very next words in the passage are: "Then God said". Because it takes breath moving over our vocal cords for us to say anything, we, in the anthropomorphic way we think of God, find ruach at work again. The psalmist picks up that metaphor in speaking of the powerful "voice of God", culminating in bestowing on "his people the blessing of peace". When the apostle Paul arrived in Ephesus, he found twelve disciples who were unaware of the presence of the Holy Spirit (ruach) until "they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" so that when Paul laid his hands upon them the Spirit manifested in them. And in our gospel where we find the story of Jesus' baptism with the image of "the Spirit descending like a dove on him", followed by "a voice . . . from heaven (ruach)", we can begin to imagine what that affirmation must have felt like for him.

God's ruach is versatile, to say the least. We can't put the Spirit in a box because the minute we do, the Spirit does some other unexpected, creative activity, and we are left with an empty box. We can be grateful for every breath we take knowing it is God breathing in and through us. We can be grateful for the voice of God however we may recognize the message we hear. We can be grateful for the presence of the Spirit of Love inspiring us with compassion and peace. Today, let us give thanks to the Holy One for all the ways that we see ruach working in our lives.