Dry Bones

Sermon Ezekiel 37:1-10 June 28, 2015 Ordinary time-away from lectionary.

Dry Bones

Every generation, in its own time, needs to hear that these bones will live!-Elie Wiesel.

Every generation, in its own time, needs to hear that it can change the world.

Every generation, in its own time, needs to hear that it has the foundation, it has direction, and it will take the action steps to live.

There are all kinds of ways we can describe the feeling of being in the valley of dry bones. We can be the only one looking on at a crowd and celebrating the joy of life while surrounded by doomsayers and feeling utterly alone. We can be one of the many dry bone bodies feeling completely disconnected from the world, others, and even ourselves.

Sometimes we feel left out in the dust and out of touch with all the things whirling around us and we sense that we are just a pile of disconnected bones.

I believe the Church feels that way today, as it is confused about the future, confused about the way of the world and confused about where God is in all the awful things that are happening to God’s people. There are more articles on the Internet about what’s wrong with the church, about the reasons why people are leaving the church, about why people think the church is irrelevant and out of date. It time we stop reading and listening to these words. Even the Church denominations are scrambling to save their jobs and they are acting like the valley of the dry bones. This is not the Church the way Christ intended, no the Church of Christ is a Risen, Resurrected Church.

Ezekiel the prophet describes four visions and this one about the dry bones is the third of four.

Finally, this prophet of doom- saying comes to the place where God

                                                     is placing him in a position to point out what is good,

                                                                      what is powerful,

                                what is beyond expectation and what is God’s way of doing.

God’s way of doing is one of power and might, of resurrection, of new life and new strength.

What does your life need?

What does your church experience need?

What does your faith need?

What gives you life now?

What experiences fill you,

                          energize you,

                                     and refresh you?

What encourages you,

establishes you with a solid sense of being,

and keeps you grounded?

What keeps you going and gives you hope?

Initially, all Ezekiel can see is a valley of bones, many of them, all laid to waste, all completely destroyed and devoid of any hope for life.

They are dry, they have lost any potential for reviving.

The bones are scattered in a way that it would take a forensic scientist weeks to figure out which bones belongs to which body.

And then God comes and puts Ezekiel in his grip.

                                                 “The hand of the Lord came upon me.”

God takes charge and God transports Ezekiel to see what God sees.

No one is null and void.

No one is a wasted being,

no one is without hope.

God takes Ezekiel and puts him to work.

“Prophesy”, God says, “Talk to the bones, tell them what to do”, God says.

Ezekiel tells the bones to hear God’s Word.

The bones,

              those wasted dried out disconnected pieces, hear God’s vision!

 They hear God’s purpose for them.

                          They hear God’s active Spirit of life.

                                  Something moves this waste land

                                            and the bones begin to move toward their appropriate parts. And as the song goes,

the foot bone connects to the leg bone,

to the knee and so on until all the skeletons are formed.

And then the tendons attach and the muscles and then the skin.

There is a vast valley of fully formed bodies.

And then God calls for the winds to come and life is breathed into them.

                               They are lifted up and are now a vast army ready to move for God,

                                                                         ready to renew the homeland,

                                                                                       ready to re-create the way they live.

Imagine being in Ezekiel’s shoes and being the one to witness a vision such as this! Thank goodness we have amazing media talent these days and they have recreated some very imaginative portrayals of this vision.-look it up on YouTube-you’ll be amazed.  

Sometimes that’s exactly what we need, an imagination so big and so beyond what could possibly be, so that God can work through it to create and show us what can and will happen beyond our expectations.

                       God’s vision is beyond what we can see and therefore we need

                                                             God’s hand to come upon us

                                                                and

                                 transport us to see what we couldn’t manage to see for ourselves.

It’s not easy to speak the words of God. Ezekiel had to go with God on this one and speak God’s word to a group that was beyond hope.

He had to speak to a group that had completely given up and were beyond reach.

He had to get up and put his trust fully in God’s sight of what could be and what would be and tell it as God saw it, not as he saw it.

Sometimes we cannot see God’s vision for us.

Sometimes it isn’t until we put ourselves in the hand of God that we begin to see what God wants us to see. And when we do, watch out!

God’s vision gives hope, or perhaps its hope that gives vision. A vision requires expectation. A vision requires that something will happen. A vision that requires expectation also requires a plan. And a plan requires action.

It is time for us to allow God’s breath and Spirit to enter our hearts.

It is time for us to see God’s vision.

It is time for us to stop the doom-sayers and start being part of the way of God recognizing God’s resurrection power.

We don’t need to feel out of touch or disconnected.

We don’t need to feel isolated and apart from others and God.

God’s vision for us is one united together to help each other and

                                                     to walk side by side across bridges

                                                                                     and

                                                                              down streets

                                                                     and into new lands.

Our thoughts, our ideas, our imaginations are God’s doing and God’s blessing for us.

I don’t have a one, two, three step process for how this happens, I wish I did. But, I think that’s why we have this valley of the dry bones story.

No matter how cut off we feel or out of sync, no matter how disconnected we think we are from life, God comes through to the present situation and with a command gets those bodies to quit laying around in nothingness and lifts them out of their wastefulness, and gets them on their feet.

We are all created and put together in the same way.

We are all connected by bones and tendons, muscles and skin.

We have the same Creator who comes from the four winds and breathes the breath of life in us.

We have the same God who stands us up and calls us a nation, an army.

And together God has placed a vision upon us.

Hear the Word of the Lord!

These are not easy, idle words that Ezekiel speaks

but the words of God who revives,

resurrects,

cuts thru death

and puts back life

and sets people up on their feet

and gets them moving

and shows them the way.

Hear the Word of the Lord! Watch what God does! Watch how God opens graves, revives, and sends out. Watch how God puts people to action to pull all things together for God’s glory.

Every generation, in its own time, needs to hear that these bones will live!-Elie Wiesel.
Amen.