Hymn Reflection - Be Our Inhale

Unbound text author David Bjorlin reflects on "Be Our Inhale" by Eli Cooper-Nelson.

In the midst of so much injustice in our world, it can often feel like the only faithful response is more doing. We must write more letters, attend more protests, volunteer at more community organizations, and, in the realm of congregational song, sing more congregational songs that counter this injustice head on.

I do believe these actions are all absolutely necessary. Yet, I have become more convinced that if we are going to do any of this work well over the long haul, we also need to be well. We need to balance the exhalation of action with the inhalation of contemplation. This is what drew me to Eli Cooper-Nelson’s “Be Our Inhale.” Cooper-Nelson, no stranger to prophetic texts addressing injustice, here was quite literally drawn to the imagery of the Spirit’s breath during a hike on the shores of Lake Superior (another reason this Duluth native was drawn to the text!). He found that the grueling trek became more doable if he connected back to his own inhalation and exhalation, which, in turn, connected him to the sprawling and interconnected web of life around him.

The text, then, starts with an opening couplet that could serve as a powerful breath prayer: “Be our inhale; Spirit, come. / Be the exhale we flow from.” From there, the Spirit is reimagined through different breath-related images and metaphors: “our in-the-moment sigh,” “fresh breeze,” “the air upon our face,” “cool relief,” “Wind of change,” “birdsong.”

The delightful piling on of these different facets and functions of the Spirit already widens my imagination of who the Spirit is and what she does, which is reason enough to recommend the song (especially with Pentecost coming up!). But what I am drawn to most about the text, at least at this particularly fraught moment in time, is the way it calls on the Spirit to be the Spirit for us. For or only when the Spirit inspires (literally “breathes into”) can we sync our breath to hers and find our most fundamental identity as human beings, loved and accepted by God before we do anything. Indeed, this call for the Spirit first to be so we too can be is reinforced by the repetition of that key word “be” fifteen times in the text! All our human doing, in the end, finally gives way to God’s being.

All these discoveries are reinforced by the deft tune that Ben Brody composed for the text. At the end of each phrase there is an added quarter rest, a pause on the melodic journey that gives the singer space to enact the message, to catch their breath and reflect on the message. The content of the text is thus well supported and its meaning further deepened by the form of the tune.

So when I find myself overwhelmed—whether by the raft of injustices in the world or the daily reminders of my own finitude and fallibility—this text reminds me of where our true hope is founded: the God who is our source and summit, “you our journey, you our home.”

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David Bjorlin is the Assistant Professor of Worship at North Park Theological Seminary and a widely published hymnwriter. His latest collection, Hope Will Not Fail, was released in 2024 by GIA.

Eli Cooper-Nelson holds a Master of Theological Studies in Liturgy from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Evanston, IL). His graduate work focuses on ritual, habit, and the inclusion of infants in worshipping communities. He is a social service provider, living and working in Chicagoland.

Benjamin Brody serves as Chair of the Music Department, Professor of Music and Director of Church Music Studies at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. At Whitworth, he teaches courses in church music and music appreciation, and serves as Director of Campus Worship.