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"CAN THESE BONE LIVE?" Dr. James
L. Mayfield November 11, 2001
Text: Ezekiel 37:1-10 In a vision God caused. Ezekiel to see himself in a valley full of dry bones. Perhaps it was a field of battle where years ago the Babylonians had defeated the Jews. It must have been a terrible defeat because the passage says, the valley was full of dry bones. Each of those skeletons had once been a human being who had lived just as you and I now live with hopes and fears and plans and expectations. But a great and terrible battle had been fought; they had been defeated and killed, and now all that was left was bleached, dry bones. It is not difficult for us to understand this vision. We know about valleys of dry bones. We have been there. September 11 caused some to see only dry bones where once there had been vitality and life. Sometimes we enter a valley of dry bones when the doctor tells us our cancer cannot be cured. Or maybe we have invested years of effort in some project or dream or career, and then things beyond our control happen, and the project falls apart; the dream is destroyed; the career is ended by layoffs, and we find ourselves in the midst of a valley of dry bones. The loss of a significant relationship can leave us wandering in a valley of dry bones. Sometimes what happens is the consequence of what we did or what we failed to do Sometimes it is the consequence of what others did or failed to do. Sometimes we do not know why all that has happened has happened. All we know is, for us, our situation in life is like a valley of dry bones. In the midst of those shattered dreams, lost hopes, dried up possibilities, we find ourselves faced with the question: "Can these bones live?" That is the question God asked Ezekiel, and this is the question at the heart of today's sermon. "Can these bones live?" Looking at the skeletal remains of what was once so vitally alive, Ezekiel responded: "God, only you know the answer to that." And when we are confronted the same way, the only response most of us can honestly make is: "Only God knows." In the passage we read, God told Ezekiel to prophesy to those dead, dry bones. In the midst of that valley of hopelessness, filled with shattered, scattered skeletons of dreams and visions that had once been full of vitality but were no more, God tells Ezekiel and God also tells us to get on with task of doing what God has created us to do. For Ezekiel, that task was to prophesy. To prophesy was not to go into fortune telling business; it was to preach, to teach, to share with others God's message. God, told Ezekiel, to get on with doing what he was created to do -- even though doing it seemed to be a waste of energy because it was such an obviously hopeless situation -- a valley full of bleached, dry bones. Although it seemed a ridiculous waste of effort, Ezekiel did what God commanded, and things begin to come together. "Foot bone connected to the anklebone; ankle bone connected to the shin bone; shin bone connected to the knee bone; knee bone connected to the thigh bone; O, hear the Word of the Lord." Things began to come together not because of Ezekiel's special skill and ability but because of the mystery of God's activity in life. Not only did things come together, and scattered dry bones reconnect to become the skeleton of what had once been alive. As Ezekiel continued doing what God wanted done, flesh and sinews and skin covered the skeletons and breath, the breath of God, brought them to life. In this fantastic vision, Ezekiel saw that God's breath, God's Spirit, breathed life into what seemed locked in death and despair, and once again there was life and hope. Ezekiel had not breathed new life into the bleached, dry bones in that hopeless situation. It was God, who brought life out of death. For reasons we will never know, God had chosen to work through Ezekiel. Ezekiel had been willing to be used by God, but the gift of new vitality was the gift of God. What was dead and shattered apart, had come together and was given new life. What God's redeeming grace is able to accomplish is amazing. The men at the breakfast last Wednesday talked about this story as our story, as a kind of metaphor for what we have experienced. It was easy for us to understand the valley of dry bones. In one way or another, each of us had been there; and we were aware we had been there more than once. The challenge for us in dealing with this story was not in the vision of the valley full of dry bones. Nor was it having some sense of what it means for new hope to replace old despair. We have had some experience of that also. The challenge was and is seeing ourselves as some sort of Ezekiel. We easily recognize a wide assortment of valleys full of bleached bones. There are the dry bone valleys of the complex problems of homelessness or the destructive realities of alcohol abuse and addiction to other drugs or the various ways we humans experience defeat, discouragement and lose vitality, or there are those tragic situations in which we discover we or someone we love is facing death. It was no problem for us to recognize the contemporary relevance of the valley of dry bones metaphor. However, to see ourselves in these kinds of situations fulfilling the role of Ezekiel, was and is more difficult for us. But this is just what I understand is expected of us -- those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ, members of the Church, members of the Body of Christ. We who are called to be disciples have already been given an assignment in life not unlike the assignment God gave Ezekiel. We are to be the persons God created us to be, doing what wants us to do in whatever situation in which we find ourselves. It is true we have different gifts, and different types of contributions to make. But we all have basically the same calling. Each of us is called to live our lives doing what God enables us to do as our way of loving others as God in Christ has loved us. How we give expression to this love will vary. I cannot do what you are able to do; but God does not need me to do that; God already has you for that. What God wants is for me to do what God has given me the gifts and opportunities to do. This is what God wants from each of us -- to make use of the gifts and opportunities God has given us for living as God intends us to live. We are to go into the various valleys of dry bones and do what Ezekiel did. We are to discover what God wants us to do and then we are to do it. By the way, in addition to being Ezekiel to other people, sometimes we must be a kind of Ezekiel to ourselves. Sometimes when we are in some sort of valley of bleached, dry bones and the situation looks hopeless, God calls us to prophesy to ourselves, to preach the Word of the Lord to ourselves. All of us humans do a lot of talking to ourselves -- sometimes we will even do it out loud. I have done it driving in the car, and in the slow moving traffic on the freeway when I have looked into the cars creeping by me in the rush hour, I often see others who are alone in their cars not talking on cell phones but talking to themselves. Even more frequently our self-talk is silently done in our heads. When we are in some sort of dry valley, what are we saying to ourselves? What is the message we are reinforcing? "Prophesy," God told Ezekiel. "Proclaim the Word of the Lord." I would not be surprised to learn that on some days, especially those days when we feel more like the dry bones than like Ezekiel, that what God is telling us to do, is to preach the Good News of the Gospel to ourselves. That we are going to talk to ourselves is a given fact -- unless we are brain dead. The question is: "What messages are we telling ourselves?" God gives us the responsibility not only to share what we know about God's love and the implications of God's love with other people, but also to preach this Good News to ourselves. This is not a substitute for the responsibility God has given us in regard to others in the valley of dry bones, but sometimes proclaiming the Word of the Lord to ourselves is the first step in the instructions we receive from God. All of us can, to some extent, understand the metaphor about the valley of dry bones. The question and challenge is: "Can we see ourselves in the role of Ezekiel?" God, help us be and do what you want us to be and do so that you can work through us the way you worked through Ezekiel. Amen. Pastoral Prayer: Let us thank God for the gifts and blessings we have received. We have come here with a variety of concerns and problems. Let us ask God for guidance and help. God, sometimes it is difficult for us to focus on what we have to be thankful for. Forgive us when we become so lost in our fears of losing what we have or so consumed by our desires for what is not yet ours that we are unable to see and celebrate the blessings we have received. Forgive us when we become so absorbed in our problems that we are insensitive to the ways your grace is at work in our lives. Forgive us when we are so obsessed with what is wrong or with what might go wrong that we are unable to see and be grateful for all that is good and right. When worries and pain and problems and fears make it difficult for us to sense your presence, enable us to live by faith, placing our trust in you and your love. God, open our eyes to the ways your tough and tender love is at work among us. May the light of your love so illumine our lives that we no longer live as persons stumbling in the dark but rather as your servants doing your will in the light. May we be so aware of the extent and depth of your love at work among us and in us that our living is transformed by awe and gratitude and true commitment. This we pray in the name of the one who revealed your love and taught us to pray: "Our Father. …"
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