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“Dem Rattlin' Bones”
Psalm 130; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Fifth Sunday of Lent - Celebrate
the Gifts of Women
Ordination/Installation of Church Officers
March 9, 2008
Please pray with me: Oh
God, be with us as we hear these words, may they come into our hearts and
touch us as we need to be touched. Give us life that we may give life to
others. We ask this in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
“Mortal, can these bones live?”
Ezekiel 37: 3
God gets personal and asks Ezekiel a pretty important
question right there in the valley of ‘dem rattlin’ bones.’ We can ask the same
question too, can our bones live, can we who love God and neighbor survive in
this nation and world? Ezekiel was a radical in his day; son of a priest, a
contemporary of another Judean prophet, Jeremiah, and he writes his book
(594-574 B.C.E.) in oracles of passion
against foreign nations along with words of God’s judgment and assault on
Jerusalem. You see, it is the time of the fall of Jerusalem, approximately 587
B.C.E. The issue: will light overcome
their darkness; will the powerless participate in power, will good survive evil
and will life endure over death? I would be willing to say that many families
in New York were thinking just this, as Ezekiel was, after September 11th,
2001, when their family members were amidst the rubble of the Twin Towers!
“Mortal, can these bones live?”
Upon reflection, we know though
that this is an oracle of promise and strength by God through Ezekiel, and
Ezekiel speaks of great hope here and later in his book. He is in conversation
with God, brought to the valley of bones by God’s Spirit; he is on God’s side,
as God’s prophet. I’m fascinated in this book by God calling Ezekiel ‘mortal’
throughout the text (once I counted ‘mortal’ 84 times in this book in a boring
O.T. class in seminary!!); doesn’t that imply, ‘you are going to die’? He’s not
that perfect of a prophet! (interestingly enough, the KJV uses ‘Son of man’
here!) Ezekiel is concerned how a God of Spirit could bring (create) new life
into those dead in ‘all the house of Israel’ through ‘hearing the word of the
Lord (v. 4).’ Really though, Ezekiel is
asking how such a good God could possibly bring any kind of unity to the nations
of dead bones in all of Israel?
Looking into the text more deeply,
Ezekiel has lowly opinions of kings during his lifetime; after his judgment
writings of the woes of the nations, Ezekiel is now, in Walter Brueggemann’s
words of hope for communion together, a ‘partner’ with God in bringing strength
(sinew) and renewed hope, a presence, new life, he is in partnership with God to
those in Israel (W. Brueggemann, Theology of
the Old Testament, 1997, Ch. 15, p. 483). God wants them to turn from
their wicked ways and to live in unity, not disparity. But first Ezekiel answers
God, “O Lord God, you know” (not, O Lord, you know,...) probably not
knowing what to say to the leaders of Israel he has minimized, but thinking that
if anyone knows the answer, surely God will be able to provide the power for
strength and renewal.
God has faith in Ezekiel and says
to this mortal, “Prophesy to these bones, and hear the word of the Lord.” I
don’t know about you, but that word prophesy is scary these days; it meant for
Ezekiel to be a prophet and talk like prophets do of hope. The Lord God told
Ezekiel that the breath would enter him and Ezekiel and the valley of the dry
bones would live. Prophesy really means to speak while being influenced by
divine guidance, to utter prophecies–in the Greek
(N.T.) it is the gift of speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s world, it can go to extremes, we know, we’ve heard them, but to
prophesy seems to be the ‘gift’ of listening, learning, or lending information
to others in the best manner that we can, in understanding the word of the Lord.
Like Ezekiel, the goal is living in the presence of God and having knowledge of
God.
As a young girl, I always wanted
to be able to sew like my mother. She had a passion for sewing and later
quilting too. But she would show me how to sew by ‘doing it ’; she’d put new
zippers in pants, snaps for better closure of sweaters, and cut blouses into
‘dickeys’ to use under sweatshirts. Granted, they weren’t easy tasks at the
sewing machine or by hand. But I guess I thought they were. So once long ago I
asked her to “let me do it”, mend a hem in a skirt, and she reluctantly let me
do it. I could see in her eyes that she knew I couldn’t do it alone! Soon, I
called, no I cried for help, because I had somewhat of a mess–the thread was off
the needle and I had an uneven hem. So I watched some more and listened to her
to correct me. Now I like to sew, knit, mend things for us, nothing too
difficult, but if I have the time, I like it (the operative word here...if...).
God said something similar to
Ezekiel; that God wasn’t doing it all alone with those bones (nations), but God
could help Ezekiel have a part in it by telling those kings and leaders that
they could have a future in what they did through the power and strength of God;
their hurts would be changed into hope and their losses would become victories.
Their idolatry, lying messages, false prophets and kings
(Ch. 6-15) would be replaced by the truth
in the words of a covenantal God.
We know that saying, ‘speaking the
truth in love’ and I believe that is what Ezekiel and God preferred in their
partnership with each other and for all the nations of Israel. We, who love God
and neighbor can survive in speaking the truth. Sure, today’s world isn’t quite
the same for any nation since 9/11, but in our faith, in our hope and trust, the
good news for Ezekiel, like us, is that there is promise of dem dry bones’
coming to life from death. Yes, God knows. Yes, the bones can live. Yes, newness
is possible. We’ve seen it haven’t we? There is hope in coming out of our grief
and loneliness after death as we find support from each other. There is hope for
newness of ideas, experiences, and vision for the ordained leaders in our
church. There is health and hope after our baptism last week as the family and
congregation covenanted themselves to nurturing our newest and youngest member,
Kayli Mae, with water and the Spirit in her Christian life of learning who God
is. It’s being glad our youth come and hear the word of the Lord every other
week as we giggle and laugh, pray, eat, and exchange our ideas together.
“Mortal,
can these bones live?’
The good news for us is that our Lord God
placed the breath, the Holy Spirit in Ezekiel, in us, in the hope and promise
and trust of dem dry, rattlin’ bones bringing us new life in Christ, that we
might bring strength (sinew) and new life to others. The Lord, in Christ Jesus
is here, in us, as the Spirit moves us. That is such good news for all of us!
Thanks be to
God. AMEN.
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