Dry Bones

Have you ever been through a time when it felt like all hope was lost?

Your body and mind and even your soul felt beyond exhausted and there was nothing left to give? Your community was done, too. It just seemed that for everything you had been through, there was simply no expectation left?

That is the context for both of our passages this weekend as we enter into our final weekend of Lent before Holy Week. We will be taking a quick peek at the famous story of Lazarus from the gospel of John. However, our main focus will be on this gorgeous passage from Ezekiel 37 which is often called the “Valley of Dry Bones.”

The scene opens on the starkest, driest valley filled with a jumble of bones that are completely clean of decay. They are from lives long-gone. Who remembers these souls when they were alive?

And yet, the hand of the Lord asks the prophet, Can these bones live?

Over the course of the coming verses, this prophet, this son of Adam, becomes a collaborator in the process of resurrection as the bones revive and the spirit of life is breathed into them anew. Because nothing is beyond God’s ability, including the ways we can take part in God’s re-creation of the world.

‘Dem bones do have life left in them because there is no situation beyond hope.

Much to ponder as we head into Holy Week.

Blessings, Pastor Janie

_{Artwork: “Valley of Dry Bones” by the Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity of A Sanctified Art, LLC}