Let all that has breath praise the Lord!  (Psalm 150:6)

There is an old children’s bedtime prayer that goes, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my Soul to keep. If I should die before I 'wake, I pray the Lord my Soul to take.” This eighteenth-century prayer seems a bit morbid today, but it’s important that we talk about death…with children…teens…and adults.

Last week I had the opportunity to give a short, lunch-time talk at Brophy High School (in central Phoenix) on the topic of “Life After Death in Christian and Other Perspectives.” I had thirty-five minutes, at most, to cover the subject, while the gathered students were enjoying their pizza.

With such a short time, I dove right in. I started with, “In order to talk about life after death, we have to know what we mean by ‘life.’ The ancient Hebrews spoke about life in terms of nefesh (soul). One’s nefesh was the totality of who one was, one’s whole being, body, mind, spirit, heart, strength, one’s person. The nefesh wasn’t just some inward essence, but one’s entirety, every fiber of one’s being. The Hebrews also spoke of one’s ruach, the breath or spirit.  The breath is significant for life. Without it, we return to dust. Nefesh and ruach go hand in hand. 

In English-language Bibles we use two words that signify our essence: our soul (nefesh) and our spirit (ruach), and we wonder what it is that lives beyond this life.  Jesus once got a question about this. A young man asked him, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked him to say what he knew from the teaching of the Torah.  The young man said, “Love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, strength, soul and spirit. And love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus told the young man, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”   Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “You will live eternally.” Jesus doesn’t seem concerned about which part of our humanness lives on beyond this life. He simply says, “Love God with your whole nefesh and your ruach, and your neighbor likewise…and you will truly live.”  

Here at Pinnacle the Men’s Fellowship group is reading together the book, When Breath Becomes Air. The story is about a young doctor who finds out that he has terminal cancer, and in his remaining time before he dies, he ponders deeply what it means to live.  Breath signifies life; when breath becomes air, that which is life departs. So, live life fully now. The ancient Hebrews understood this. In the book of Job we hear, “The Spirit (ruach) of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (33:4).

When I was in seminary a friend preached a sermon entitled, “If I should wake before I die.”  This turn of phrase caught my attention. It reminds me of Jesus’ words about living truly, to wake to love and life before we die. What happens to us beyond this life is God’s business. For here and now we are to tend our soul (nefesh), in loving God and loving others. And remember to take a deep breath (ruach) every once in a while.