Lenten Luncheon Sermonette

We want to thank everyone for coming out to these wonderful Lenten Services over the past 6 weeks.

It’s always a great witness to the community when churches can gather together, and even greater for those who gather when we can do it over some delicious meals.

Today we want to thank the women of Wayside UMC for the food, the staff for helping get this set up once again, and for Father John and the Vienna Ministerial Association for holding down the fort each and every week making sure we get everyone signed in and welcomed properly.

I’d also like to thank Jane Irvine for helping us with our music today, she’s a dear friend to us here at Wayside and are glad to have her subbing in and playing for us today.

Let us pray...

Gracious God we give you thanks for this time that we’ve set apart today to gather and worship together. May your spirit be here among us as we continue to praise you through song and word. May you bless this food which we are now to eat and those whom brought it to these tables. Allow us to be the body of Christ for the World that so desperately needs you now. In your name we pray, Amen.

Today’s scripture might seem a little familiar to some of you, who may have heard it or part of it within the last few days. But there is so much hope found in God’s Holy Word, that I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of hearing any of it; but can only be strengthened by it the more and more we read it.

Would you hear these words.

Ezekiel 37:1–14 CEB

1 The Lord’s power overcame me, and while I was in the Lord’s spirit, he led me out and set me down in the middle of a certain valley. It was full of bones. 2 He led me through them all around, and I saw that there were a great many of them on the valley floor, and they were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord God, only you know.” 4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the Lord’s word! 5 The Lord God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. 6 I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the Lord.” 7 I prophesied just as I was commanded. There was a great noise as I was prophesying, then a great quaking, and the bones came together, bone by bone. 8 When I looked, suddenly there were sinews on them. The flesh appeared, and then they were covered over with skin. But there was still no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The Lord God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.” 10 I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company. 11 He said to me, “Human one, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely finished.’ 12 So now, prophesy and say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. 13 You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. 14 I will put my breath in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the Lord. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the Lord says.”

The word of God for the people of God… Thanks be to God.

This story is one that I remember from my childhood. Something about the stories of BONES and DEATH catching my ear as a young child who struggled to pay attention sometimes, after I had completed the Children’s Bulletin activities (from word searches, to crossword puzzles, to coloring with a pencil because I was too lazy to get up and find some crayons). But as someone who grew up in the church; I had plenty memories of stories that directly involved Jesus; those I could remember.

But if it wasn’t Moses, Joseph, Jonah, or Noah… I honestly didn’t remember too many of them.

Oh yeah, Adam; how could I forget that one, my older brothers name is Adam and I sure loved to remind him that all of the worlds problems started with an Adam.

But today I want us to look at this familiar text that gets some traction this time of year; with the prophet Ezekiel.

Here we have Ezekiel retelling the vision he had from God where he finds himself in a fairly spooky place; in the middle of the valley of dry bones.

These bones represented lives lost, therefore, it would appear that all HOPE was lost to.

But one thing we’ve learned over the years, is that with God; there’s always HOPE.

Today we look at how following the words and instructions of God, even in the midst of death and lifelessness; we too can have HOPE.

A commentary I was reading in preparation for today’s message points out that...

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: Old Testament ( 1) The Vision of the Dry Bones. 37:1-14.)

1. The spirit of the Lord. takes Ezekiel, in a prophetic ecstasy , to the valley strewn with the dried bones of human bodies. 4. Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the bones the promise of life. 5. I will cause breath to enter into you.

The Hebrew word rû˒aḥ is translated “breath” in verses 5, 6, 8, 9, 10,

“winds” in verse 9, and

“spirit” in verses 1, 14.

The context usually determines the translation.

Breath is a sign of life, identical with wind or air, and becomes, in this prophecy, the living principle itself, spirit.

As I previously mentioned this story wasn’t one that I remembered as a kid; but now that I have kids; I can’t help but think of it for other reasons. Like most kids, my kids love Disney movies; and like a good parent I force them to watch the GOOD era of Disney movies before any of the new stuff or remakes; so my kids are well versed in the movies of my childhood.

While eating bone-in chicken wings one night; my pre-teen daughter looks at our pile of discarded chicken wings and says the one thing that could make a nostalgic father proud; when she said “that looks kinda like the Elephant graveyard huh?” - referencing the Lion King movie we had watched previously during Covid Quarantine.

It hit me all of a sudden, that the image she associated with a movie; was a movie scene that I did remember as a kid when it came to today’s scripture. I had remembered a non-Noah story from the Old Testament; I just needed my memory jogged by some specific imagery.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who can envision what the prophet was describing.

Piles of bones, laying all around him.

Only mine had a touch of Walt Disney Animation associated with it.

But this text reminds us that not only are we surrounded by death, destruction, and our world is beginning to look a lot like a massive graveyard of dry bones; desperate for the touch of God, the breath of God to be breathed back into it.

It’s also a reminder that our world, just like those bones (not my chicken wings and not the elephants) that Ezekiel saw would soon indeed be filled with life giving breath!

So now that we are imaging what Ezekiel was describing, can we answer the question that was asked back then too?

Can these bones live? Are these bones merely representative of the Israelites separation from their promised land?

Does it represent our own lives and the separation we have from seeking a way back to God?

Surely some of us have felt some of that separation in the last 3 years during a global pandemic?

How are we to answer this question, if God was asking us today, in 2023?

Do we have the HOPE that God does in fact make a way for us all to return?

Can we envision our spiritual bones with new flesh and blood?

Can we allow this question to sit with us long enough, to encourage us to be more hopeful in these trying times, awaiting the breath of life that is to come in the day of the resurrection, when Jesus returns?

As we end this years Lenten journey, I often wonder if God’s question to us this year, is instead of focusing on just the dry bones of others around us;

What if we looked at our own spiritual dry bones - and see where we can better connect with the world around us.

Where can we help breath new life, share the Good News of Jesus Christ, be the hands and feet of Christ amongst others.

So that instead of seeing the dry bones that once were; we were agents of change helping them shake and rattle no more.

Let us pray...

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for these past few weeks we’ve been able to share together as a community of believers. We give you thanks for food, fellowship, and friendship around these tables. May they continue to be opportunities that go beyond this season; to share in the work of Christian Community, Holy Fellowship, and Christ likeminded missional work together. Over the next few days, we’ll be asked a different question, Can the bones of a crucified man live? And we all know the answer to that question as well; Yes. Yes they live. They live just as we live in Him, with Him, through Him, and most certainly for Him.

For it’s in His name we pray, Amen.