In the valley of dry bones, ...
1. ... We don't have all the answers, 37:1-3.
2. ... God's instructions may seem strange, 37:4-8.
3. ... We cannot be successful without God's Spirit, 37:9-10.
4. ... God deserves all the honor, 37:11-14.
David Coburn King, North Carolina
Two things that give passion to this passage: "Our hope is lost, we are cut off completely" - poignant outcry! And, "The hand of the Lord came upon me". Powerful. I want to preach this one just for that intensity . . am not quite sure where to go. kbc in sc
Kbc,
Turn to the Holy Spirit, face His mighty breath, and He will lead you...
Be filled...
Rick in Va
thanks, David Coburn King, North Carolina, for your outline. That'll preach and gets me off to a good start!
My bible (NIV) has "Son of Man" instead of "Mortal" in these verses.
Can the Son of Man bring new life and breath to us, and change us from dry bones to the People of God?
Mary in Australia
Based on Leonard Sweet's material in Homiletics, I am working on the idea of "God's Recycling Program", which is the church. God takes our dry bones, and through JC and the church, recyles us into living witness.
Doug, UT
I'm new at this, so it may be a repeat, but can't find my earlier contribution. I am using Leonard Sweet's idea from Homiletics, and preaching on "God's Recycling Program" being the church. God takes our dry bones, and through Jesus Christ and the church recycles them into living witnesses.
Doug, UT
I'm new at this, so it may be a repeat, but can't find my earlier contribution. I am using Leonard Sweet's idea from Homiletics, and preaching on "God's Recycling Program" being the church. God takes our dry bones, and through Jesus Christ and the church recycles them into living witnesses.
Doug, UT
"Can you get any deader than that?"
Dry bones in the desert.....Lazarus in the tomb...
Can you get any deader than that?
The bones connected with life in them....Lazarus walking out of the tomb.....
Can you get any better than that?
"Son of Man" is term that can be translated "Mortal One." the idea is of a representative figure representing humanity in the presence of the Divine. Distance is implied between a mere human and the God of the awesome "otherliness" displayed in other of Ezekiel's visions, particularly the one in ch. 1.
All this makes it more significant that the prophet, as the mortal has a crucial role in this resurrection. He is not just an observer. Notice that it is Son of Man, the Mortal, who must beckon the Spirit (v.9), calling to the four winds. What does this mean for our relationship to the Spirit and its resurrection power today?
pHil
In The Storyteller's Companion to the Bible, Michael E. Williams, ed, he points out that God no only has Ezekiel looking at the bones in the valley, but God has Ezekiel walk through and among the bones, feeling their futile state. To follow the instructions of God and speak to the bones is insane, but that is what Ezekiel does. And through the faithfulness of Ezekiel, God puts life back into those bones again. Futility. Insanity. Yet God brings life. revd
God asks Ezekiel a question. "Can these bones live?" Is it possible that there is a hint of a challenge to Ezekiel. Today, if in the same place, many of us would immediately start making our task list and prioritizing it, or brainstorming ideas to try to realize a solution. Ezekiel doesn't try to figure it out, he puts the ball back in God's court with: "God only you know". This I believe is what waiting on God is all about, waiting for instruction. God does tell Ezekiel the answer, but not just the answer he also tells him his part to play -- prophesy. Good outline - kbc in sc. I agree it will preach. Scott P. in NC
I'm not sure why Y2K came to mind . . . , but it did. I began thinking about what the "Y2K State of the Union" address will sound like. If we walk through our land today and look closely at the lives of people everywhere, I think we will see a lot of hurting people--a lot of "dry bones." But according to this passage this does not have to be, because God will call His people out of their graves; He will put His Spirit into them; and they will live. The "Y2K State of the Union" address does not have to be one about "dry bones." It can be one about "life." I don't know if this helps anyone, but I think I may follow this tack awhile. Art in KY
Several commentaries mention this as the hope for a reunited Israel, returned from exile, flourishing. Is the church today a valley of dry bones? Bill Easum told our Presbytery recently that he quit preaching in churches because he couldn't stand looking out on a sea of "prunes sitting in the pews". Pretty graphic, very accurate for my denom. - our average age is 62. Although I don't dare call my congregation a sea of prunes, any suggestions on how to make this homiletical leap? Pam/Tpa
Pam,
Paul, in his letter to Timothy, gave him this advice: "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."
In Hebrews we learn: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
I think that at times, those in the pulpit take on too much responsibility as to whether their words will have the desired effect or not. I think that this might be a form of pride that does not have the faith to believe that God can do a work on His own, without us artificially stimulating it.
You may be the Ezekiel of your congregation, whose job it is to do nothing more than obediently breathe the Word of God into the "prunes in the pews". Trust God. Submit to His Holy Spirit. Yep, this sounds trite and too easy. Well why would God make it any harder. Obedience bears fruit. Obedience may very well be that which produces sinew, muscle and flesh on a valley full of bones or a church full of prunes. Ezekiel obeyed. Why can't we?
Rick in Va
revd,
Thanks! Loved the insight "that God not only has Ezekiel looking at the bones in the valley, but God has Ezekiel walk through and among the bones, feeling their futile state."
That's incarnational ministry at its best. Entering the graveyard, the bone yard, the slum, the hospital room, the funeral home, the AIDS clinic, the unemployment office... all those places where people tell themselves that they don't matter, all those places where some tell others that they are "other" and unworthy, all those places where people buy the lie that "they are what they own" or what they can purchase or what they earn.
Also, let's remember that this story is not about individuals; it's about all of God's people. Therefore, I would suggest that this can be applied to nations as well. We are called to go to nations and governments who are dead, who are crushed under the international debt, and even to those countries which are imposing the debt and hiding behind bigger and better bombs, and saying, "Come, Spirit, from the four winds and fill these slain, that they may ALL live."
Rick in Canada, eh?
Two trains of thought:
Imagine Zeke's sense of hopelessness at first sight, having been brought by God to such a place. Yet, he is called to prophesy words of hope, and, though no one is there to listen (except God) Zeke speaks. Did those words have anything to do with the work of the Spirit that was accomplished?
What doesn't happen in the world today because we, the people who are led by God, don't even speak?
Or: Imagine those old bones as isolated individuals within the church... seperated, drying, ineffective - Now, united and given life as a ressurected body by the Spirit of life.
Shades of 2 Pet. 2:9&10
Tom - OK
In verse 11 God says "these bones are the house of Israel". This would be God chosen ones which today would refer even more to the body of Christ. Before we can prophesy to the breath to breathe life into a lost and dying world we better make sure the bones (or plums) are not dried and withered. This vast army needs life brought to it. The river of life of Ezekiel 47 must be waded into. The leadership must lead the way or they two will be left behind on the banks to criticize those who are swimming in the current. As a leader we must do exactly what Ezekiel did first find out, from God, whether or not these bones can live. Seek the face of the Almighty, if anyone can bring it to life he can. Then do what HE tells us to do, be obedient (again like Ezekiel). Then call upon God to breathe life into our dried up fruit (prunes). Then with this vast Army that God has resurrected (before our eyes), we can go out to the dead places of our society and bring life into them (hence the picture of the river Ez.47, flowing and bringing life to everything it touches). The only caution I would give is that we don't get to caught up in the process of the raising of the army that we forget to move out to the places of death. Also as a leader becareful not to try to breathe that life into them yourself, you may raise up an army but it will always be so severely crippled that it will only hinder/encumber the body of Christ. Hope this wasn't to long. ScottP. in NC
ScottP in NC,
It wasn't too long at all...
It'll surely preach to the preachers...
Rick in Va
This passage mentions two ingredients necessary to bring life to dry bones: the Word and the Spirit. The Word by itself can only produce lifeless bodies. It is the Spirit that brings life. I am thinking of two parts:
1. The Word issuing forth
2. The Spirit within
--Rod in Pixley
Rick: I love the image you invoke by saying "You may be the Ezekiel of your congregation, whose job it is to do nothing more than obediently breathe the Word of God into the "prunes in the pews"."
All of the readings this week seem to me to be pointing to the transforming power of God - power beyond anything we can imagine, power to bring life from death, power to bring hope from despair.
Mary in Australia
Rick in Canada, You have gone to the place I am going. Where is it that we find hoplessness? That is where God calls us to be prophetic in proclaiming hope. revd
Bravo, Rod!
Good insight. I think, also, there needs to be something in there about about Ezekiel's obedience to speak the Word. God commanded: prophesy, Ezekiel obeyed and prophesied, and the Spirit filled them with life. Paul says "we are co-laborers with Christ". He's speaking of himself, Apollos, and Cephas; but I think we can also count ourselves in there as we labor for the Kingdom. Anyone who truly speaks the Word of God does so according to the command of God: "Go and preach the gospel". If we are not obedient and preach the Word then the Spirit may lead them somewhere else to hear the Word that the Spirit can breathe life into them. That's not to say that God is totally dependant on us to preach the Word, but I do believe us (the Church) to be His vehicle of choice.
Thanks for the vote of confidence Rick in Va. would love to have some direct contact with you, drop me a line at dspollardsr@coastalnet.com.
ScottP in NC
Great Sermon Seeds Here! Thank you all. I think there is another lesson in Ezekial being taken into the presence of the bones...it is in entering the dry bone experiences of life that we realize we are hopeless to do anything about it apart from the Spirit of God. It is Ezekiels obedience to God and his delivering God's message that allows the dry bones to hear the word of the Lord and come to life! There is no life possible without the Lord! The bones cannot receive the new life unless someone is willing to walk among them and bring God's message to them.
I'll be using the old "dry bone" song (you know, foot bone connected to the ankle bone, ankle bone connected to the leg bone...come hear the word of the the Lord) for my children's message.
Rick in So. Cal.
There was a movie some years ago which is a beautiful illustration of this passage. It was called "Saving Grace" and is the story of a village in italy named Montepetra. The village fell into a bad state of disrepair. industry dried up. Stores closed. there were no jobs nor schools for the children who roamed the streets. The only water available was at the base of the mountain, and it had to be carried up the hill to the village by hand. worse still, the city was under quarantine, and no one from the outside was allowed to come to the village except a food truck which came every couple of days to bring food to the residents there.
Evil city leaders had declared a quarantine because of illness, but that was a hoax. The townspeople had decided sometime ago that life would be easier if no one worked. they concocted the hoax, convinced the government it was true and the village was essentially shut down. Barricades were set up at the entrance to the town. the people of montepetra became apathetic, listless, lazy and often mean spirited. There were rival gangs in the town bent on destroying what was left of the village.
One day a little deaf girl left Montepetra and hitch-hiked to Rome to see the pope. she believed that if she could make it to the Vatican to see the new pope, he would have compassion and send a priest to her village. One day Pope leo found her in a Vatican chapel sobbing hysterically as he walked through the building. she told him why she had come, and he promised that he would see to it that her village had a priest.
Pope Leo had his own troubles. he'd just been named pope and was having trouble in that role, feeling overwhelmed and cut off from the world. one day he dressed in old clothing and began to work in the Vatican garden. His planting instructions blew over the fence and he went out to retrieve them. the gate shut behind him. he was locked out. He walked through the streets incognito, swam in one of the fountains, ate pizza and slept with the homeless. Then he hitch hiked to Montepetra. he sneaked in riding on the food truck - an ordinary guy in dirty clothes, unshaven for more than a week. He fit right in. No one recognized him except the little deaf girl, and he swore her to secrecy.
he set about repairing the town's aqueduct so the village could have water. No one would help. After some time, two boys came to serve. Then a gang blew up everything they had done. women and children came to rebuild. the structure was dynamited. More people came to help. they worked until finally the great day came. The fans on the great water wheel begin to turn, and water rushed through the aqueduct into the dry and dusty village. by then the whole town was rejuvenated and began to dance. Pope Leo had resolved his own personal crisis. he returned to rome just in time for easter sunday.
the movie is rich with christian symbolism: *the wind which carried the gardening instructions over the wall and beckoned Pope Leo to follow;
*the living water which rushed through the aqueduct and transformed the village into a community of joy
*Pope Leo, who came to the village as an ordinary man and led by his words of compassion and his actions
*the dry and dusty town whose people had shriveled up in despair
*the little girl whose faith triggered the transformation
It is the best modern illustration that I have seen concerning Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones. the power of the living water of christ to transform these dry and dusty hearts of ours is there. come Holy Spirit, breathe on us. May we dance with joy in you.
preacher pat
I can't think of a more powerful picture of God redeeming his people than the bones being knit together to make the new creation. Its a hope rising from dispair as we walk amidst the dry bones of our lives. Thanks to you folk who droped your ideas. John Canberra Australia
I see this passage as a promise to an exiled people that they will return once again to their home. Indeed the homesickness is killing them.
I'm kicking around the idea of approaching this as a promise for all to return home...home to a garden paradise...leaving the place of cursed death and dry bones and going back to the garden where the breath that was breathed was from God himself.
I see this not only as Israel returning to the homeland but also as a promise to all to return to the garden. Apart from God's grace and power, apart from paradise, we are lifeless and hopeless. There is a lot of similarity here with the garden story.
John near Pitts.
I just can't help but comment on Bill Essaum's comment about the sea of prunes. What an incredible put down of the elderly! Are we supposed to be guided by some one who has that kind of attitude? So what if my congregation is made up mostly of elderly folk..they need to hear the gospel as much as anyone. I am disgusted that our church is given such credibility to Essaum. Who does he think he is? The elderly in the congregation are faith filled people who continue to teach me and guide me. I will take what I learn from them and do my best to develop a church for the youth who follow. Mary
Pam in TPa, Was the "prunes in the pews refering to the elderly or those who were dried up and becoming withered in there walk with God, regardless of their age?
There is nothing more precious than the elderly saint who has dedicated a lifetime to serving the Almighty, and nothing more hideous than the person (regardless of age) who has closed his/her bowels of compassion and lost the fire of his/her committment to God.
O BREATH OF GOD, BREATHE ON ME!
ScottP in NC
A funny thing I see see is that i imagine that if that was me......God setting me down in a "killing field" where dead bodies are every where and then he asks me a question. after seeing all these rotton corpses i would be thinking that i had better answer the question right! apparantly that was ezekiels thought as well... "oh lord, you know"
Troy in TX
anyone know the words to "dem bones gonna rise again?" All I remember is... "I know'd it;know'd...Indeed I know'd brother, dem bones gonna rise again. I'd really like to use it but I can't remember the verses....
Jim in Iowa
To those of you who were wondering about Easum's comment about the "prunes", he was refering to people whose faith was dried up, who were more attched to the way things used to be than to reaching out in the name of Jesus. He is big on the Great Commission. I was thinking of it as a parallel to the lack of openess to God's spirit that often exists in the church as a body, a community. Israel was blessed to be a blessing and regularly would forget that part. So do we. It takes someone like Easum to shock us into remembering. I suppose OT prophets were shocking in their time too... Pam in Tpa
Sorry, Jim in Iowa. "Dem bones" isn't about this story, it's about Adam and Eve.
Lord thought He'd make a man Dem bones gonna rise again. So he took a little mud and he took a little sand. Dem bones gonna rise again.
Chorus [which is what you wrote above]
[All verses follow the above pattern.]
Took a rib from Adam's side.... Made Miss Eve for to be his bride....
Put em in a garden, cool and nice.... Called that garden Paradise....
"Apples, peaches, pears and such.... One of those trees you must not touch!"....
'Round that tree old Satan slunk.... At Miss Eve his eye he wunk!....
"My, Miss Eve, them apples look fine!... Jes' take one, the Lord won't mind."...
"Adam, you must leave this place.... And earn your bread by the sweat of yo' face."...
[At camp, where I learned this (too many years ago!), we ended with one or both of the following "silly" verses.]
That's all there is, there ain't no more.... Eve got the apple and Adam got the core!....
To this story there is an omen.... Never underestimate the power of a woman!
Rick in Canada, eh?
John near Pitts...
I must confess to a bit of uneasiness with the idea of returning to a garden paradise. I don't think we are called to go back to Eden.
This story, as well as the gospel reading (a pre-cursor to the Easter story about to be told), is not about a return to Eden. If anything, this is about a return to the Promised Land, which is only a "type" of the people's true home. And even this return wasn't to an ideal past (David's kingdom, etc.); it was a movement forward to another kind of kingdom. In the same place, yes, but a wholly new situation, created not by the efforts of the people, but by the will and promise of God.
I suggest that this story is about a new creation, one which seems impossible, one which we can't manufacture, or even imagine! One which comes, not by avoiding death, but which comes _through_ death.
I don't think we are called to go back to Eden. I think we are called _forward_, into something new called the "kingdom of God."
Rick in Canada, eh?
Thanks Pam in TPa,
I thought that was what he was talking about. It wouldn't be smart for anyone to refer to the elderly as "prunes in the pews" whether a Pastor or a preacher just passin' through. I think he makes a good point.
ScottP in NC
I have to take exception to this "prunes in the pews" business, as it was stated: "prunes in the pews...our average age is about 62." Age has nothing to do with whether we are, or are becoming or have become a "prune." Some 21-year-olds are prunes. Some 75-year-olds are bright rays of sushine. Let's not open our great dps doors to "ageism!"
Bill in TN (age 61)
Just a thought as to what I will be preaching this Sunday. For those really late nighters:
God asked Ezekiel to walk among the "dry bones." These were probably his own countrymen, victims of a slaughter in war -- perhaps the battle that resulted in his own people being exiled or oppressed. What grief he must have felt!
If we are to offer hope and new life through Christ, we often must wade into their grief, and our own! Then we must be obedient to speak the Word of God. The word of Hope. The word of life and wait for the spirit - the wind - to move.
Just a thought. KDW in Indiana
The words are here, and they are a song that goes with Ezekiel...
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones Ezekiel connected dem dry bones Ezekiel connected dem dry bones I hear the word of the Lord.
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone, Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone, Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone, Your leg bone connected to your knee bone, Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone, Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone, Your hip bone connected to your back bone, Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone, Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone, Your neck bone connected to your head bone, I hear the word of the Lord!
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun' Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun' Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun' I hear the word of the Lord!
Disconnect dem bones, dem dry bones Disconnect dem bones, dem dry bones Disconnect dem bones, dem dry bones I hear the word of the Lord!
Your head bone connected from your neck bone, Your neck bone connected from your shoulder bone, Your shoulder bone connected from your back bone, Your back bone connected from your hip bone, Your hip bone connected from your thigh bone, Your thigh bone connected from your knee bone, Your knee bone connected from your leg bone, Your leg bone connected from your ankle bone, Your ankle bone connected from your foot bone, Your foot bone connected from your toe bone, I hear the word of the Lord! I hear the word of the Lord!
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me (Ezekiel's ordination) and carried me out (his transportation) in the Spirit of the Lord (he was provided inspiration) and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, (the situation) And caused me to pass by them round about; (his chance for observation) and, behold, there were very many in the open valley (his calculation) and, lo, they were very dry (sort of dehydration)
Lawrence in Guam