• Calling the Blessing Into Being, Ezekiel 37:1-14,   (see below)
  by Rev. Cindy Weber 
   

• Sources of Life   Ezekiel 37:1-14, by Rev. Randy Quinn

• New Life from God,  Romans 8:6-11, By Rev. Randy Quinn

• Bound and Unbound,  John 11:1-45, by Randy L Quinn 

• Revive us again,  John 11:1-45 Ezek. 37:1-14, by Rev. Frank Schaefer

• Bleached Bones? Look Again, Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45, by Rev. Thomas N. Hall

• A Reality Greater than Death, John 11:1-45, by MK in NC

• Accepting Death, John 11:32-44 by Jim from B.C.

• Lord, Can These Bones Live? Ezekiel 37:1-14, John 11:1-45, by Rev. Christine Ruth

• Unwrap him and let him go, John 11:1-45, Nail-Bender in NC

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Calling the Blessing Into Being
a sermon based on Ezekiel 37:1-14
by Rev. Cindy Weber

When my friend Ken Casey preached at my ordination service back in 1984, he told a story about when he was a little boy. His father was a doctor, a very busy man, and he would come in at the end of a long day, and he would sit down and read the newspaper. It was his way of unwinding. And little Ken would come up and tap him on the arm, and say, “Daddy, do you want to feel my muscle?” And his Daddy had a choice, you see, to either say, “No, son, I’m too tired,” or to put down his paper, which is what he usually did, and reach out and feel Ken’s little arm muscle. And when he did, he would say, “My goodness! Look at that big muscle! You’re going to be a strong man someday, son.”

Ken’s daddy had a choice, to either ignore Ken or to bless him. And he usually chose to bless him. With his words, with his touch, he chose to bless him.

Once when I was in seminary, I went up to New York City with a group of students, got class credit for it, even. We visited a number of different churches and ministries, and one of the churches that we visited was Riverside Church, which is a nationally known congregation. The pastor of the church at the time was William Sloane Coffin. We got to talk to Rev. Coffin for about an hour, about 12 of us just sitting there asking him questions. I sat next to him, and never being one to keep quiet, I asked a fair amount of the questions.

When we got ready to leave, Rev. Coffin walked us to the door. Now, let me explain that I was a social work student. I had no intentions, no thoughts, no leadings whatsoever toward the pastoral ministry at the time. I was training to be a social worker, and had never even entertained the idea that one day I might be a pastor. So, back to the story, Rev. Coffin walked us to the front vestibule of the church, and as we stood there in the entrance of that huge, ornate, fancy room, he shook my hand, and he said, “Cindy, you’re going to be a great woman pastor someday.”

Now, I started to correct him, and tell him that I had no intentions of ever being a pastor, but because I rather enjoyed the discomfort of all of the my fellow men students who had been telling me all week long that women could never be pastors, I just smiled, and said, “Thank you.”

You know, I didn’t think of his words again for a very long time, but since I’ve become a pastor, I’ve often thought back to that time, to that gift of affirmation, to those words of blessing, and I’ve wondered if Rev. Coffin saw something in me that I could not see in myself, if he, in a sense, called something out of me that day, called some gifts, some awareness, some insight into being in that wonderful blessing that he bestowed upon me. [continue]