• Breathe. 144p. NOOMA(r) series #014. DVD (run time approx. 14 min.), with 32p. booklet. Zondervan, $12.99.

By now, you've probably seen at least a clip from one of the NOOMA DVDs, so this review probably won't change your mind about the series one way or the other. As the father of two teenage daughters, we've definitely had opportunities to see past entries, and there are widely divergent opinions even within our family regarding the series -- from "very cool and thought-provoking" to "interesting but weird" to "pretty but too cosmic" (and those respective answers probably aren't coming from who you're expecting them from).

But for those of you still unfamiliar with the NOOMA disks, or who are wondering whether this particular entry will be useful for your church or group, read on....

The particular theme of message #014, Breathe, is the "literal" connection between breath and spirit -- for which the same words are used for both, in both the Hebrew (ruah) and Greek (pnuema -- thus also providing the answer to the future trivia question "Which NOOMA DVD was the first to use the word 'nooma' in it?"). The message draws from, among other thoughts, the idea that God breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7), and that the name YHVH (which we turn into "Yahweh") itself is made of vowels and thus is meant to sound more like breathing ("Yod" "Heh" "Vav" "Heh") than an actual name. Which leads to the closing questions of this message:

• "Do you believe that God is inherently in every single person?

• "If so, when we treat someone disrespectfully, does it mean we're really treating God disrespectfully?

• "And if we do things with love and care for others, are we inherently doing it for God?"

The video itself, shot in a subway setting, is well done, as is the background music, which is moody and evocative without being intrusive. The booklet is a very abridged version of the message on the DVD, particularly including the questions and Scripture passages brought up along the way, and features far more image than text.

This would not considered an in-depth study by any means (or even a structured one), but the right group could take one or more of the questions above (or the several others preceding it) and run with them. That said, it's more likely that a night's discussion could be built around the DVD in a youth or young-adult group than in the average adult small group. A more structured adult group, however, might still be able to do something a little different one night and take this message to supplement an existing lesson.