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Karen Hollis | October 26, 2025 Pentecost 20 | Creation 4
Air: We are exploring creation through the elements because of inspiration from 13th century theologian, Thomas Aquinas, who said: Sacred writings are bound in two volumes - that of creation and that of Holy Scripture. The quote knocked around in my mind and I wondered . . . how could we do a reading of sorts of creation while indoors? I don’t know how effective my attempt was – a starting place, at least. We come to Air, on final Sunday of this series, and it strikes me that this element is intimately present with us, whether inside or outside, in a forest or on a mountain.
Air is different from the other elements, for instance, even more so than water, it doesn’t hold its own shape. While we can’t see it, we can feel it, smell it, see the effect it has on other things. We look to the trees to see if the wind is blowing, we might step outside to gauge the temperature of the day. The picture of the forest might seem out of place there, but I imagine every one of you can tell me what the air smells like in a place like that.
If we zoom out for a moment, we remember that the air is the atmosphere. The gravity of earth is strong enough to hold onto these air molecules, which gather most densely near the surface and become more scarce as you rise in elevation. The atmosphere is the reason we can’t see the stars during the day. The light from the sun comes in and the air molecules act like a big lamp shade, scattering the light all around the sky.
Air is a place of gift exchange. For instance, we receive oxygen from trees and plants, and gift to them carbon dioxide when we breathe out. We receive fresh air and often forget that we are also gifting them essentials for life. One of my favourite experiences is to stand in the forest on a day where it’s warm enough for the sweet aromas of the underbrush to be released into the air, and just drink it all in.
Due to temperature fluctuations in the atmosphere and other things I don’t understand, air moves sometimes slowly and sometimes rapidly from high pressure areas . . . and the effect is wind. Some of us may take notice of the patterns of wind. When I take my border collie out to play frisbee, the first thing I feel for is the direction of the wind. I try to position myself to throw into the wind, so the air will lift the frisbee and give Joy a little more time to get under it and snatch it out of the air.
Fall is a particularly windy time of year, as temperatures on the earth are shifting between seasons (and some days are much too blustery for frisbee). There’s literally energy in the wind . . . though Ruah tells us there is more . . . wherever there is wind, there is also breath and spirit – they are one in the same.
Let’s listen for more about the role of wind in our readings from the second book of sacred writings. Julie . . .
Psalm 104:1-4 Praise God, O my soul. Eternal God, you are great indeed. You clothe yourself with light like a garment. You spread the heavens like a tent; you lay out the beams of your dwelling on the waters above. You make the clouds your chariot, and ride on the wings of the wind. You make the winds your messengers.
Ezekiel 14:1-14 The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
Sermon:
My husband and I were in the desert in the spring and got caught in a sand storm. Luckily we weren’t yet on the highway. I had seen kind of a wall of sand in the distance and didn’t didn’t know enough to be worried. We were off the road at a gas station and James had to quickly run across to the car rental place. In the 2 minutes he was gone, the wind rose up from breezy to dangerous. There were sand particles everywhere and I had to quickly close the windows to keep it out of my eyes. James had to briefly take cover on his way back to the vehicle, as we watched power lines sway, debris blow into the road. He made it safely back and we just sat there, holding on to the rocking vehicle, minute after minute, praying that we would stay upright. It was really scary. Almost as quickly as the wind kicked up, it died down again and we watched the wall of sand continue to move across the landscape . . . about 10 minutes later, when we were on the road again, our phones received a high wind warning.
The wind is powerful. As we know, the wind is both a creative and destructive force. Like the ocean, it cannot be tamed. At times we fear it, because it’s so powerful . . .
This is Ruah: the universal power of God in the wind that moves over the earth. But Ruah is not altogether impersonal; she is also our very breath, that is intimate and essential for life. The breath is a simple gift of life and a dynamic force that can move us.
Ruah is the wind of heaven, the gasses that make up the air, and something that is empty. She is the human spirit, animation, vigour, courage, patience and impatience. Ruah is the spirit of all things living, as gifted by God, and the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the very energy of life that endows humans with gifts . . . and as we hear in Ezekiel, can inspire in some the ecstatic state of prophecy. Ruah is powerful enough to do harm and loving enough to give life.
Listen, can you hear her? Even if we can’t hear the wind outside, we can always listen for our breath.
Ruah appears 10 times in our passage from Ezekiel . . . as Spirit of the Lord . . . I will put Breath into you . . . come O Breath from the 4 Winds. The text covers the whole range of Ruah, from the personal to universal.
In his vision, the Holy Spirit shows Ezekiel the power of YHWH to restore the people of Israel. Remember YHWH or LORD (in all capitals) is another way of expressing “I Am,” the divine name of God, the name that in Judaism is so holy, it cannot be spoken (only breathed).
Even with all the power of earth and heaven, notice that YHWH doesn’t act alone. YHWH says to Ezekiel: “Speak a prophetic message to these bones.”
What does that mean? Speak a prophetic message? We know prophets, such as Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah . . . they come with messages of hope, more often messages of warning, are often ahead of their time, having received insight from God about the current circumstances of their community. A prophet is one who speaks truth to their community, no matter what. YHWH offers to Ezekiel a vision that doesn’t give details of how everything will work out, but offers words that bring life. YHWH partners with Ezekiel and sends him out to share these words with the people . . . to remind them they are still living, to remind them of their belovedness, they may make choices as if they were surrounded by life instead of death.1 The message that arrived on the wind came to the people through Ezekiel . . . because he was listening.
Last year I was watching Killers of the Flower Moon. Early in the film two of the main characters are near an open window when a storm starts to blow in rain. Ernest goes to close it, but Mollie, an Indigenous woman, says, “no, leave it open, we need to listen to the wind.” They sit in silence, with rain spilling in the window, just listening.
I was stunned by that scene . . . I thought, I can listen to the wind. The truth is, I often avoid it or brace myself against it. Have you ever observed animals in the wind? A horse will go tearing around the pasture, heads and tails up high, then prance in circles, as they look this way and that. Eagle will hang on the wind, feeling for updrafts and shifting with each gust. What do they hear? What do they perceive? What can they teach us about being present with the wind?
What if we, too, paused to listen? As we watch the world change before our eyes, as norms erode, as foolish choices lead to lasting change, does it feel like we’re in a kind of valley, with hills around us growing taller, more difficult to climb? Does it feel like we are in the middle of something insurmountable? We have lost the world we knew; that world is now a memory of the past, and we’re living through an ever-changing present that leads to an unknown future.
Here in this time, where the world is being remade, God’s breath continues to hover and move among us. What if we listened? What if we opened a window or stepped outside? Sometimes when the wind is at its fiercest, I wonder if the pressure driving it is desperate to be heard. I wonder if it pushes and pushes, hoping we will stop and acknowledge it, not just brace against it. What holy messages does she carry? What is God speaking to us in this time and place? Messages of challenge? Messages of hope?
Ezekiel stopped, listened, and heard words that spoke in his time and continue to echo in ours. Hear these words that are ever ancient, ever new:
YHWH said: “And you shall know that I am the LORD when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.” We may be in a challenging and scary time . . . and, God is with us, God is for us, and God is as close as our very breath. Thanks be to God.