Can These Bones Live?

March 29, 2020 Fifth Sunday of Lent Ezekiel 37:1-14 Do these old bones have life? Year A Children’s Sermon Object: A bone Boys and girls, have you ever sung the little song: "The toe bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the shin bone...now hear the word of the Lord." That little spiritual comes from our lesson from the Bible for today. I brought a bone with me this morning (show bone). Did any of you bring a bone with you? Of course you did. You brought all kinds of bones just under your skin, didn't you? You brought your hand bones, and your ankle bones and your foot bones. You don't go anywhere without your bones, do you? I'm glad for my bones. We would be in trouble if we didn't have bones, wouldn't we? We wouldn't be able to sit up or walk and all kinds of things. I'm glad for my bones. But I'm also glad for my skin and muscles that cover my bones. But, you know what's even more amazing than skin or bones or muscle? It is the gift of life. My bones are part of my living body, and I am up here sitting with you and you are here and smiling and beautiful and it all happened because there is a loving God who gives us the gift of life. That's what the story about the dry bones is really all about. It's not about bones but about the God who gives life to bones and muscles. I'm glad God loves us enough to give us the gift of life and in return I'm going to make my life the best life of which I'm capable just to show Him how grateful I am. That's a good idea for all of us. Take these bones God has given us and use them to his glory. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan Prelude Opening Prayer Scripture Ezekiel 37:1-14 Common English Bible (CEB) Valley of dry bones 37 The LORD’s power overcame me, and while I was in the LORD’s spirit, he led me out and set me down in the middle of a certain valley. It was full of bones. 2 He led me through them all around, and I saw that there were a great many of them on the valley floor, and they were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?” I said, “LORD God, only you know.” 4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the LORD’s word! 5 The LORD God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. 6 I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the LORD.” 7 I prophesied just as I was commanded. There was a great noise as I was prophesying, then a great quaking, and the bones came together, bone by bone. 8 When I looked, suddenly there were sinews on them. The flesh appeared, and then they were covered over with skin. But there was still no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The LORD God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.” 10 I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company. 11 He said to me, “Human one, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely finished.’ 12 So now, prophesy and say to them, The LORD God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. 13 You will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. 14 I will put my breath[a] in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the LORD. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the LORD says.” Footnotes: a. Ezekiel 37:14 Or spirit Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon I just watched the daily news conference of the governor, and every day he tells the number of corona virus cases in Illinois and the number of deaths. Today there were 17more deaths. There is a total of 3491 cases in Illinois and a total of 47 deaths. Will County has the 4th most deaths in the state with 110 cases and 4 deaths. The 110 cases have been reported from every area of the county. This lent has truly been a valley of the shadow of death season. Every day I listen to a meditation from a spiritual leader that I admire, and every day she says a prayer for the souls who for whatever reason are departing their earthly bodies. That is an astonishing thought to think about. Last week I didn’t to talk about the events of our world. But this week it is appropriate. This week, the fifth Sunday of lent is the week before holy week begins. I have no choice but to talk about death. The gospel lesson for today is about Jesus journey to his death in Jerusalem. He stops by a friend’s house only to discover that he has died. Jesus brings Lazarus back to life. This week however, I chose to focus on Ezekiel 37. This is one of the most dramatic messages in the bible. It also has a very timely message for us. I think that this is one of the most important lessons in all of history. Every generation in history seems to have had that moment of challenge. This is not the first time in history that church has been cancelled in order to keep people safe. In 1918, when there was the flu pandemic, church services were cancelled. In history there has been pandemics, wars, economic crashes that have challenged our whole society. I feel like I have seen all of those challenges just in my lifetime, and this may not be the last challenge to our way of life. The challenge in Ezekiel’s time was the exile of the Babylonians. His people had been defeated, they were forced to abandon their lives and to walk away and live for generations in a foreign land. The experience challenged them to the core. But have you ever noticed that sometimes it is the aftermath that is the biggest challenge? When you are going through a crisis, your adrenaline has a way of helping you to survive. You are not thinking of processing life, you are just doing what you have to do to survive. It is only after everything is over, that you look around and your realize that you are 100 miles away from where you want to be and that the only means of transportation is one step at a time. And you ask what do you do now to get back home. That is probably where Ezekiel was, when he dreamed that he was in the valley of the shadow of death, surrounded by human bones that had laid out in the sun for so long they were dry. I have listened with interest as survivors of corona virus speak of their condition. I was really touched as one man said that he got so sick that he just knew that he was going to die. He went to the hospital and waited to die, but the thing is, he didn’t die. He just had to live with the pain, he was still sick he was still here. Sometimes the road to recovery is harder than death. You are living, but your spirit is dead. The vision that Ezekiel has about the shadow of death – is more about the death of the spirit of his people. His people are alive but they have no hope. The community that they knew is dead. I have seen several pictures of Chicago this last week, of the structures, but no people. Frequently I come here to the church at night to pray over the seats in the sanctuary, over the hallways, over the rooms. I pray for the future of the ministry that will take place in each place. I said those same prayers last night, but this time it was different. As I looked at the empty seats, I got an eerie fear. What if the seats are never filled again? What if the church cannot recover from this shut down? What if there is no real future beyond all of this. The fear came from not having any answers. Ezekiel stood in the middle of a dream, and he too did not have the answers. His community had lost hope and felt they had no future. So, he asks God a question - can these old dead bones really live. He goes into a full conversation with God. God says you know the answer. Ezekiel knows that the answer is no. I want us to pause for a moment and put ourselves in that conversation with God for a moment. As we deal with the loss of life, with the loss of wellbeing, with the loss of income, with the loss of special moments that we will never recover. We can’t help but to ask God will these bones live? And we come to the stark reality that only God knows. We have no resources to solve our own problems. We can only look to God for the answers. This lent is our valley in the shadow of death moment. It is only is the valley of the shadow of death that we have the strength to be honest with God and to ask – Can these bones live? God gives Ezekiel an interesting answer. He tells Ezekiel to go back and to prophesy to the people. God says I am going to open up that grace, I am going to raise you up and take you home. Home can mean a lot of things – it can be a place, it can be a situation, it can be a feeling. Home is always restoration to wholeness and peace. Only God can move us from the valley of the shadow of death to wholeness and peace. He does that by giving us words of hope. Dr. Bernie Siegel in a wonderful book, “Love, Medicine and Miracle”, told of a man who was very ill with cancer. He was given a new medicine for which his doctors had high hopes. Sure enough, the man went into remission, returned home and spent the next month recovering. He did such things as fly an airplane. Then he read a report in the newspaper that the drug he’d been taken was ineffective. Immediately he had a relapse and returned to the hospital where he was soon terribly ill. The doctors despairing for the man, decided to tell him an untruth, but for worthy reasons: They told him the medicine he’d taken was defective, and they had received a new shipment which was good. They again administered the medicine, and before long the man seemed to recover. Again, he returned home and began to get better. Finally, though the doctors had to tell the man the truth. He immediately returned to the hospital and the next day he died. Hearing some words of hope makes all of the difference in our outlook on our situations. The moral of the story is that news of today is relevant – it tells us the truth; it gives us the facts. But it is not the source of our hope and our peace. The word of God is that for us. I love the vision of this story in Ezekiel – because he looks are a group of dry human bones, but then he starts to preach to them about the hope of God. and right before his eyes, he sees flesh and bone start to appear on the bones. They start to appear as normal people. But he appeals to the four winds and the breath of God comes in the bodies and they are restored to life. They are restored alive and well. The original meaning of resurrection is the restoration of community life. The day when the community has enough hope to restore itself and come back to life. The day the community had enough strength to do what it needed to do to go forward. That is what these valley moments do for us. they help us to find the strength to move forward. When I look at the pandemic of 1918, I see similarities to this moment in time. But even then, church may have been canceled, but Easter was not. This corona virus pandemic seems to take away even Easter, the ultimate celebration of resurrection. But this just reminds us that Easter is not about egg hunts, or bunnies or new clothes There is a strict formula to the date of Easter, Easter is the first Sunday after the full moon after Passover. But Easter is not a date on the calendar. Easter is resurrection. One man, Christ experienced death so that the community could be restored to full health. This Easter, when it comes, we will understand and experience the true meaning of resurrection and restoration. We are alive for such a time as this – the day when community hope will be restores. The hand of YHWH, the Breath of Life, was on me, And in a rushing-breath YHWH brought me forth and set me in the center of a valley - Full of bones! - And led me all around them, all around. Here! - Very many on the face of the valley, and here! - utterly dry. And said to me; "Child of Adam, earthling, can these bones live?" my people. And I will put my breath within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own earth, and you shall know-deep-in-your-heart that I the Breath of Life have spoken, and made it happen - proclaims the Breath of Life."'" (Translation by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/8/01) Amen. Stewardship Moment It has been said that this is the lentiest lent every – it has truly been a road through the shadow of death. But it reminds of that we get through one step at a time. And each step that we take is a step with God. Intentionally thinking about what it means to be a disciple of God. Let us preach the hope of God with our mouths but also with our offering. Your offering allows our church to continue to give hope in these dark times. Please remember to give your offering – you can give online, through the mail, dropping it off. Music Benediction Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener - Rise Up - Ezekiel 37:1-14 November 2019, the virus we know as the “Coronavirus” or “COVID-19” appeared in Wuhan, China. Today, nearly five months later, that same virus is affecting people around the world. At nearly 400,000 cases worldwide, COVID-19 is on a trajectory that will continue to infect people in 150 countries for months to come –their health, their finances, and their weary spirits. This event, next to Sept 11, 2001, may be the most devastating world event of the 21st century and is already being compared to two monumental events of the 20th century: the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic that infected 500 million people around the globe, killing about 50 million, and the October 1929 US stock market crash and the following great depression that reverberated around the world through the 1930s. The Spanish flu was a three-year epidemic. The great depression lasted a good 10 years through the 1930s.The changes and devastation of COVID-19 is still in its infancy. But these kinds of devastating events don’t just impact our wallets and our health. They severely impact our emotional, mental, and spiritual health. 1918 ended the bloodiest war (WWI) in history with huge losses of life but was followed by more loss with the Spanish Flu. Both devastated the young, killing primarily those from 18-40. In 1929, the suicide rate jumped to 18.9% after stocks plummeted 13% on Black Monday (October 28) and another 12% on Black Tuesday (October 29). The economy would take years to recover. And yet the human spirit, aided by the Holy Spirit, continues to strive, to hope, and to love. Every time we face death, destruction, despair, and devastation, we call upon the Holy Spirit to renew us, refresh us, and set us on our feet again. Just as faith surged in the past after global changes and difficulties such as the industrial revolution, the revolutionary, civil, and world wars, the Spanish flu, and the great depression, we live in a time when faith is needed now more than ever. Joy Unbounded, Glory Fulfilled Pastor/Bishop Kenneth Ulmer (Inglewood, California) envisions the animating, life-fulfilling power of the Holy Spirit as like the transformation that comes over the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon figures as they're inflated. Without any air these huge balloons lay flat on the floor, limp, and featureless figures. But when the wind starts whipping up inside those balloons, they begin to rise, stand up, and stand tall. They become individuals, people and creatures that we recognize and love. Once on the parade route, these balloons take on even more life, for they are animated not just by the air within them, but by the winds that buffet and bolster them down the street. Humor: "Look, He's Moving" Three friends were discussing death and one of them asked: "What would you like people to say about you at your funeral?" The first of the friends said: I would like them to say, he was a great humanitarian, who cared about his community. The second said: He was a great husband and father, who was an example for many to follow," said another. The third friend said, I would like them to say, "Look, he’s moving!!" Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com Daylight Lasts Longer There is a couple in Arkansas who have given their six-year-old son strict instructions to come home from playing every afternoon no later than 5 p.m. He is allowed to play with his friends, but his parents are quite serious about his curfew. If he is not home by 5 p.m., they begin to worry and call around the neighborhood to find out where he is. The boy knows this, though, and is careful to arrive every day on time. One April Monday, however, the day after Daylight Saving Time went into effect, the boy was late coming home. When he finally arrived, a few minutes before 6 p.m., his mother scolded him for being late. "You know you are to be home by five," she said, "and here it is nearly six." Puzzled, the little boy pointed out the window. "But the light," he protested, "the light; it's the light that tells me when to come home." Realizing what had happened, his mother smiled and gently explained that the day before the time had been changed, that everyone had reset their clocks and, now, the daylight lasted longer. The boy's eyes narrowed. "Does God know about this?" he asked suspiciously. In a childlike way, this little boy shared John's theological vision. Martha Jesus wants you to know that with God daylight last longer than death. Adapted from Thomas G. Long, "When Jesus Arrives Late," Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing Company Mr. Hooper Is Dead In the summer of 1981, Will Lee, the actor who played an adult character named Mr. Hooper on the children's television show SESAME STREET, died. This posed a difficult set of issues for The Children's Television Workshop, producers of the show. Should they deal at all with the subject of death? If so, how would they explain it to their 10 million viewers, most of whom are under the age of six? A staff writer describes it this way: “We asked ourselves: What do we want the kids to know? What can they absorb? What might open up things we can't answer? We try to create boundaries around what we can safely teach without doing any damage.” Child-development experts who specialize in loss and separation provided some specific don'ts for dealing with death on the show: Don't say Mr. Hooper got sick and died, because you don't always die when you get sick. Don't say he was old, because children think their parents are old. Don't say he went to the hospital and died, because people go to the hospital all the time. The staff also decided to avoid religious issues, such as saying that Mr. Hooper had gone to heaven. What about the do's? Early on they decided they were going to say a few basic things. He's gone--acknowledge the reality. He won't be back. He'll be missed. They also wanted the cast to express how they felt about Will. And they wanted the kids to know that death stimulates a full range of emotions. You're sad, you're angry, you're frustrated--all at the same time. The show that resulted aired on Thanksgiving so that parents could watch with their children. In one segment, Big Bird walks on camera and says to the cast: “I just drew pictures of all my grown-up friends on Sesame Street and I'm going to give them to you.” He passes out sketches and the cast members ooh and ahh over the likenesses. He's left with Mr. Hooper's picture. “I can't wait till he sees it,” says Big Bird. “Say, where is he? I want to give it to him.” One cast member explains: “Big Bird, don't you remember? We told you . . . Mr. Hooper died. He's dead.” Big Bird says, “Oh yeah, I remember. Well . . . I'll give it to him when he comes back.” Another cast member gets up from her chair and touches Big Bird saying, “Big Bird, Mr. Hooper's not coming back.” “Why not?” Big Bird asks innocently. “Big Bird,” explains the cast member, “when people die, they don't come back.” No, they don’t. That is the sad reality Big Bird that you and I learn as we grow older. But hidden under the dirt of the grave is a story, told in the death of Mary and Martha’s brother, told in the death of Jesus their friend, told in the death of every one of you brothers and sisters of Jesus. Resurrection! It is the greatest unfinished story of our times. Its author is penning the finish even as we speak. It is His story. He knows the conclusion. The curtain will soon fall. And then shall begin the end that shall not end. Resurrection! It’s almost Easter, Big Bird…and Easter tells me they do come back. Amen. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com. Adapted from Robert H. Waterman, Jr., The Renewal Factor, New York: Bantam Books, 1987, pp. 100-101. Take Off the Grave Clothes Her name was Carol. She was the organist at her church. She was an outstanding musician, but she did something no organist should ever do. She overslept on Easter morning and missed the sunrise service. She was so embarrassed. Of course, the minister and the church forgave her. They teased her about it a little, but it was done lovingly and in good fun. However, the next Easter, her phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Jolted awake by the loud ringing, she scrambled to answer it. It was the minister, and he said, “Carol, its Easter morning The Lord is risen! . . .And I suggest you do the same!” The message is clear: We too can be resurrected. Christ shares his resurrection with us. He rises, and so can we. We too can have new life. We too can make a new start. We too can rise out of those tombs that try to imprison us! James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not to Be True, Dimensions, p. 74 Dry Bones Come to Life Through God’s Breath I said - "Pillar of the World, Breath of Life - You know-it-in-your-heart, and only you." Then God said to me, "Prophesy upon these bones! Say to them, 'Dry bones, Hear the word of the One Who breathes all life! Thus speaks the Pillar of the World, the Breath of Life, to these bones: "Here! - I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will weave muscles on you, and raise flesh upon you, and form skin on you, I will give you breath, And you shall live! And so you will deeply know that I am YHWH, the Breath of Life."'" So I prophesied as I was commanded. And while I was prophesying, there came a voice, and - here! a commotion! - and the bones came together, bone to bone. And I saw - here! - upon them muscles; Flesh arose, skin covered them; But there was no breath in them. Then God said, "Prophesy to the rushing-breath-of-wind - Prophesy, you child of earth! - and say to the breathing-wind - Thus says the Pillar of the World, the Breath of Life - From the four breathing-winds come, O breath, And puff upon these slain, that they shall live." So I prophesied as God commanded me, and the breath blew into them. They lived, and stood upon their feet, An overwhelming, overwhelming vast array of strength. Then God said to me, "Child of earth, These bones are the whole house of Israel. Here! - they say, 'Dried up - our bones, Shattered - our hopes, Cut off - our roots.' So prophesy and say to them, 'Thus speaks the Pillar of the World, the Breath of Life: "Here! - I will open your graves, and rouse you from your graves, my people! And I will bring you to the earth of Israel. And you shall know-deep-in-your-heart that I am YHWH, the Breath of Life, when I have opened your graves, and roused you from your graves,