Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Preached 04/06/2014

They say that art reflects life.  Or life reflects art.  Well, for the purposes of this morning, we’re going with art reflects life.  Not just generally.  Sociologists have done a study they say shows that popular horror stories also reflect the culture’s current greatest fears.  Think about this.  During the Cold War, movies like Godzilla and Spiderman were popular- and indicated a fear of radioactive mutation.  For the sake of time, we won’t trace all the examples, but the trend does continue back in time.

And so today, what’s popular?  Vampires and Zombies.  The Twilight Series or books and movies, Walking Dead, the TV show and comic book.  28 Days Later, the hugely popular movie series, TruBlood. . . this list could go on and on.  So, zombies and vampires it is. And what does this tell us about our deepest fears?  Let’s go back to Ezekiel before we answer that question.

Ezekiel must have been terrified when he saw that valley of dry bones.  He had been there before, earlier in his time as a prophet.  And when he was there before, it was most definitely not covered with bones.  But this time, of course, was different, and there were bones upon bones upon bones.  I’d say that in itself would be enough to terrify anyone.  I for one would be attempting to quietly slip away from God’s watchful eye at this point.

Ezekiel, however, was braver than I am, and stays.  Maybe this valley of dry bones wasn’t entirely unexpected.  Up to this point, Ezekiel has already had many strange visions, and been asked by God to do many strange, painful, and likely quite terrifying things.  And Ezekiel has been through a lot outside of his prophetic experience too.  He’s part of the first group of Israelite exiles to Babylon.  His people have already been conquered, defeated, and slaughtered in mass. 

 Death and destruction were familiar.  The skeletons weren’t the scariest part of this experience—Not for Ezekiel, and not for us.  If you remember from the beginning, skeletons were not our big cultural fear and fascination, and my guess is that they weren’t in Ezekiel’s time, either.  The real horror, the very scariest part of this story, is still coming.

Let’s go back to the text, the middle of verse seven “Suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.” Finally, we reach the climax of the terror. If I would have been trying to slip away from the dry bones, I would have been screaming and running at this point. Ezekiel is facing an army of our greatest fear in this cultural moment.  No, not zombies and vampires.  But remember, those zombies and vampires fascinate and scare us for a reason.  It’s about the deeper fear behind them.  So what do zombies, vampires, and the army of assembled bones in front of Ezekiel have in common?

The end of verse eight “but there was no breath in them.”  Zombies, vampires, the multitude of assembled bones-- they’re all “undead.”  They’re not completely dead, but they’re not really alive either.  Now, since Ezekiel was written thousands of years ago, it may seem preposterous to say that our cultures share much in common.  Our greatest fear as humans, both in Ezekiel’s time and in our own time, is being, or becoming, the living dead.

God says to Ezekiel “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They to clarify—they is the house of Israel here-- They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ The people of Israel are alive, technically, but have no hope, and no breath. The Hebrew word here is ruach, and it means breath, but it also means spirit, what we might call our souls, our core, our very being.  The army of assembled in front of Ezekiel represent those who are alive, but who are without that ethereal thing- that ruach, that Spirit, that breath, that piece that makes us who we are and gives our lives purpose and meaning. 

 
In their exile, those people of Ezekiel’s time lost ruach, their connection to God.  They no longer had the temple where they believed God lived.  They no longer had the King, who they believed to be God’s regent on earth.  They no longer had Jerusalem, which they believed to be God’s Holy City.  They no longer felt God’s protection and God’s promise.  And without feeling this connection to God, they felt lifeless, hopeless, and purposeless.

Ezekiel and his people feared it.  We fear it too.  Ezekiel found himself confronted with the reality that he and his people were already living out their own worst fear.  And scripture still speaks, right?  That’s why we keep reading it, and you pay me to keep preaching about it.  We, too, are already living our own worst fear.  I certainly don’t mean to say that we have no connection with God or our faith is lifeless.  You all know this isn’t true.  You all, and Calvary as a whole, do amazing things in Jesus’ name, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, even caring for vulnerable animals, and people continents away.

But you’ve already recognized that we need more of God’s breath in this congregation if we are to truly live, to fully come alive with God’s Spirit filling us, and animating us, and reinvigorating our bones.  And I know, we’ve been working at this discernment all Lent, and it’s long, and it’s hard.  But it’s worth is to have God’s breath fill us completely once again.  And that’s just what God promises to do, for Ezekiel’s people, and for us.  As our scripture reads: “I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back. . .¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord. . .¹⁴I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.”  So this morning, we’re going to trust in God’s promise of life.  And we’re going to try some visualization as our act of discernment.  This scripture passage from Ezekiel is, after all, a highly visual one. 

 

But it stops short.  We don’t find out what happens to that multitude of dry bones that God’s breath fills.  So we’re going to keep the story going, close our eyes, take a deep breath in and out, and see and hear this scripture one more time (see link below).  And then, we're going to keep going, and to ask God to show us what God would have those reanimated bones do, and what God would have us, this church, do, as we are reanimated and refilled with God's ruach in our New Beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB9lIPCssos