Dem Bones

Ezekiel 37:1  I felt the powerful presence of the LORD, and his spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones. 2  He led me all around the valley, and I could see that there were very many bones and that they were very dry. 3  He said to me, "Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?" I replied, "Sovereign LORD, only you can answer that!" 4  He said, "Prophesy to the bones. Tell these dry bones to listen to the word of the LORD. 5  Tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to them: I am going to put breath into you and bring you back to life. 6  I will give you sinews and muscles, and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and bring you back to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD." 7  So I prophesied as I had been told. While I was speaking, I heard a rattling noise, and the bones began to join together. 8  While I watched, the bones were covered with sinews and muscles, and then with skin. But there was no breath in the bodies. 9  God said to me, "Mortal man, prophesy to the wind. Tell the wind that the Sovereign LORD commands it to come from every direction, to breathe into these dead bodies, and to bring them back to life." 10  So I prophesied as I had been told. Breath entered the bodies, and they came to life and stood up. There were enough of them to form an army. 11  God said to me, "Mortal man, the people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future. 12  So prophesy to my people Israel and tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am going to open their graves. I am going to take them out and bring them back to the land of Israel. 13  When I open the graves where my people are buried and bring them out, they will know that I am the LORD. 14  I will put my breath in them, bring them back to life, and let them live in their own land. Then they will know that I am the LORD. I have promised that I would do this---and I will. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Ezekiel 37 uses the imagery of “bones’ to offer hope to a hopeless nation. At the time that this was written, the nation, the holy city of Jerusalem and the Temple all lay in ruins. Ezekiel insists that this is not the end – but is rather the beginning of a new thing that God is about to do. God will breathe life into the “dry bones” and they will come back to life. We who follow Jesus add the story of Easter – a time where the dry bones came back to life. The story of Jesus invites us to discover a promise of an open grave, of new life, of a fresh beginning.   

May the journey of Holy Week shift the “old bones” inside of us. May they begin rattling and shaking; may they come together; may they shed their dryness; and may we find life.

Song:

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Head bone‘s connected to the neck bone

Neck bone connected to the shoulder bone

Shoulder bone connected to the back bone

Back bone connected to the hip bone

Hip bone connected to the thigh bone

Thigh bone connected to the knee bone

Knee bone connected to the shin bone

Shin bone connected to the ankle bone

Ankle bone connected to the heel bone

Heel bone connected to the foot bone

Foot bone connected to the toe bone

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Chorus

Dem bones, dem bones gonna rise again.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna rise again.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna rise again.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Finale

Prayer

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Blend all my soul with Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

Ed­win Hatch, 1878;

Easter Sunday

Christ Lives

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Rueben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 142.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day