“Religion is fueled by the craving for certainty. Faith is fueled by the craving for intimacy. I think. Maybe.”
“Love is the most ruthlessly demanding thing. So we prefer a religion of rules. Especially if the rules don’t impinge on us too much.” Ken Wilson
HONGI
“A hongi is a traditional Māori greeting in New Zealand. It is done by pressing one’s nose and forehead (at the same time) to another person at an encounter.
It is used at traditional meetings among Māori people and on major ceremonies and serves a similar purpose to a formal handshake in modern western culture, and indeed a hongi is often used in conjunction with one.
In the hongi, the ha (or breath of life), is exchanged and intermingled…” wikipedia
I can’t help but notice the similarity to prayer. We breathe his breath he breathes ours. Our lives intermingle. Like the blood and bread in communion we share the common body. In prayer we add the breath of life, His, full life, mingled with ours and all it involves. We become one. He becomes our strength, our life, our shield, our rest, our peace. His yoke is easy, His burden light.
Instead of managing our behavior outside of Him we do what He does and see what He sees.
“If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:18,25
“In the wilderness you don’t follow your feelings. It says the children of Israel were led by a column of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the cloud moved then they moved. When the cloud stayed still then they stayed still. I mean it’s really as simple as that.
Walk in the Spirit. If you begin to be led by your feelings then you’ll make the wrong decision every time. Most of the time, the right decision doesn’t feel good. Doing the right thing is usually difficult. The easiest thing to do is to quit, to give up, to go back to Egypt. But I’m telling you, get to the place where going back is no longer an option – then going back is no longer a temptation.”
Chip Brogdon
The breath as a kiss. Kissing is sharing breath.
2Cor. 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
Gen. 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens — 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground — 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Song 1:2
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — for your love is more delightful than wine.
Ezek. 37:9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”
Worship
One Greek word- Proskuneo – “meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand), to fawn or crouch to, homage (do reverence to, adore): worship.” It occurs 59 times in the New Testament. It originally carried with it the idea of subjects falling down to kiss the ground before a king or kiss their feet.
Worship is sharing that breath, that we may live, His life.
With His breath we enter into the song of creation. We sing with Him we breathe with Him, we rest with Him.
(from a previous post)
Gen. 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
“ Sing the song!” the heavens seemed to cry. “We never could have been without the melody that you alone can sing.“
The Singer, Calvin Miller
Psa. 33:4 For GOD’S Word is solid to the core; everything he makes is sound inside and out.
The Message (The word ”sound“ here is an adjective) But I am taking license using it as a noun.
Ex. 15:2
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
And thus we live.
Acts 17:28
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
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