It's time for another true confession. When I was a kid and got really bored or sleepy in school, I used to stare at the clock or look at my watch and challenge myself to see how long I could hold my breath. (Do it!)
I was awful at it (and, if you're wondering if I'm talking about holding my breath or staying awake and engaged in school, the answer is, yes!)
And, speaking of holding my breath, that brings me to David Blaine and what he did on Oprah on April 30th, 2008. Did you see it or read about it? At the time, it was a world record and an almost unendurable piece of showmanship.
On April 30th, 2008, live on Oprah’s TV show, illusionist David Blaine--for real and without illusion--lowered himself into a clear tank of water and set about trying to set the world record.
Here we are, some fifteen minutes into the challenge. Fifteen minutes! The commentary is nearly breathless itself! ...
And now, fast forwarding to the astounding conclusion.
It was a dramatic, remarkable, and even unbelievable feat. Time magazine wrote an article about the science behind it. The prestigious and influential TED conference invited David Blaine to give a lecture on it.
David Blaine got his full fifteen minutes of fame from his feat. But then, along came Peter Collat.
Peter Collat is a Swiss free diver. Free diving is far more popular in Europe than it is here, but free diving consists of learning how to control and hold your breath so that you can freely dive deeper than anyone else. And Peter Collat did just that in February earlier this year.
Here’s a short clip, with much less fanfare, of his astounding world record. (David Blaine’s world record, remember, was 17 minutes, 4 seconds.)
I love how the Discovery channel wrote about it: “A Swiss freediver [they don’t even bother giving his name!] held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, according to news reports this week. The gasp-inducing feat ... blew away the record of 17 minutes and four seconds that magician David Blaine set on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 2008.”
So far, so good. But now listen to how the Discovery Channel tries to turn this into “news you can use”! “For most ordinary humans,” they write, “all that breath-holding can be hard to fathom. The feat might also bring up some basic questions about biology. For example: Is it really possible to survive without inhaling for that long? And is it healthy?”
They consulted an expert for that one! Here’s his answer: "It is, as a matter of fact, possible--with certain tricks," explained Claes Lundgren, a physiologist at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine in New York.
And, then, winning the award for gross understatement, here’s their conclusion. Trying to hold your breath for 19 minutes, 21 seconds, they write, “is probably not, however, good for you, and consequences can be deadly.”
Thank you, Discovery Channel! And I agree: trying to hold your breath for 19 minutes is probably not good for you. Indeed, consequences can be deadly.
And that, by the way, is the point of this sermon! Holding your breath is probably not good for you. And, consequences can be deadly!
The words surrounding breath are interesting. The whole process of breathing is, of course, called respiration. And respiration consists of inspiration (breathing in) and expiration (breathing out).
More broadly, then, we can say that life consists of just that: breathing in and breathing out; inspiration and expiration. Now, with tricks, carefully trained experts have hoarded their breath for 19 minutes and 21 seconds. But, the Discovery Channel is right: Holding your breath is probably not good for you. Consequences can be deadly!
Life is all about breathing in and breathing out; inspiration and expiration. And that makes this a very important stewardship message!
Just as holding your breath is probably not good for you (consequences can be deadly), so is holding on to what you have been given.
This is what page after page and passage after passage of the Bible says! Just as respiration is a natural and necessary process of inspiration and expiration, so life is all about receiving the blessings of God and then releasing or sharing them with others.
God blesses and we receive. We receive and we share and bless. Life, says the Bible--real life--consists of this natural and necessary ebb and flow: we take in, we give out. We give out, we take in.
Today, in addition to the day where we will each be asked to declare our intention or our commitment--our pledge--to the church next year, is also Christ the King Sunday.
Christ the King Sunday is considered the last Sunday of the church year. For the past year, with few exceptions, our gospel readings have come from the Gospel of Matthew, and today, that intense focus on Matthew comes to an end.
Our reading today was the familiar--and disturbing--parable of the sheep and the goats. Why disturbing? Because people--the nations--had no idea the way that Jesus was hidden in the world!
We’re accustomed to seeing Jesus as the one who helps, who heals, and who saves. In the story, however, who is Jesus (or, as he’s called here: the Son of Man)?
He is the starving beggar, and the thirsty traveler; into our midst he comes as a lonely stranger tattered and destitute. He is the cripple, the leper, the disease-ridden and incurable. He is the thief whom society has locked away. Jesus has so closely identified himself with these societal castoffs that in effect he is the down-and-outer to whom one responds in love and concern or whom one rejects.
Even more shocking is the standard of final judgment! The standard against which one will be ultimately measured is not one's piety or theology but simply how one responds to human need. It is in the act of reaching out to a fellow human being who stands in need that one encounters Jesus.
Even though it seemed ridiculous when they said it, the Discovery Channel is more right than they, perhaps, even realized! Holding your breath is probably not good for you. Consequences can be deadly!
Life is all about breathing in and breathing out; inspiration and expiration. But, get this (and here’s our stewardship message again): Just as holding your breath is probably not good for you (consequences can be deadly), so is holding on to what you have been given.
God blesses and we receive. We receive and we share and bless. Life, says the Bible--real life--consists of this natural and necessary ebb and flow: we take in, we give out. We give out, we take in.
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
