See This Valley of Old Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:17-45

See this valley of old dry bones--

O, bring these bones to life!

--Lying helpless upon the stones--

O, bring these bones to life!

Holy Spirit, send forth your breath!

And raise this people from their sin and death!

See this valley full of old dry bones!

O, bring these bones to life!

See God's prophet now standing there--

O, bring these bones to life!

--With the word of the Lord to share!

O, bring these bones to life!

Prophesying, God's word to give!

Now, breathe upon us so that we may live!

See this valley full of old dry bones!

O, bring these bones to life!

Jesus called out for Lazarus,

"O, bring these bones to life!"

Christ is calling to each of us,

"O, bring these bones to life!"

In the Spirit of God to stand

Alive forever, such a wondrous band!

See this valley full of old dry bones!

O, bring these bones to life!

More than once, haven't we all been captivated by the wonderful story which we just heard from the book of Ezekiel about that valley full of old dry bones? As I heard those verses read I saw, with my mind's eye, a picture of bones of horses and the bones of men and women lying everywhere along a wide desert valley with buzzards sitting in dead trees, picking their teeth after a sumptuous feast. Certainly, this is a pretty grisly picture. And, yet, it is this kind of picture that makes an impression upon us and has the ability to teach us something.

Most of us haven't had much experience with bones. If anything, the most experience we have had with bones was perhaps in our high school biology class. Do you remember your high school biology class? Well, I remember mine!

Over in the corner, up by the teachers desk there was a skeleton. Every time I went to my biology class I looked at that skeleton and thought of Halloween. And I think that skeleton had been there a long time. In fact, there were stories that the skeleton was actually the bones of a former teacher who had taught at that school many years before. This kind of made the saying ring true that "old teachers never die, they just become skeletons for the biology class!" (or something like that).

But, one day, as we sat there in biology class one of our classmates asked the biology teacher if the skeleton was real. And our teacher answered, saying that indeed the skeleton was real and had been purchased by the school from a company that specializes in such things. Persons would donate their bodies to medical schools. The medical schools would use the bodies to teach medical students. Then, when the medical schools were finished with the bodies, the bones would be cleaned and then wired together to make skeletons for classrooms around the country to study. We were reminded that normally those bones wouldn't be connected together, at all; that when a body deteriorates there isn't anything to hold the bones together.

But, hearing this suddenly gave me a lot of respect for that skeleton in the classroom. For those bones were, no doubt, what was left of someone who cared for kids and who wanted kids to learn about science. Those bones weren't just bones hanging in the corner -- they were what was left of a real person's body. And that person probably still had loved ones living. And those bones just weren't dead, useless bones, either. The amazing thing is that that person was still doing something useful with what he or she had left.

But that is more than can be said of those old dry bones of Ezekiel's vision. Those bones were lying there without any purpose, whatsoever. Those bones were lying there without any hope. Those bones were doomed to lie there in the valley in the heat of the desert sun forever. And Ezekiel looked at those bones and knew that they represented Israel. He looked at those bones and realized that they represented the people of God. For Israel, at that moment in history, had been desolated. Israel had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Her cities had been destroyed and her ruling class and most of her learned people had been taken into captivity, back to Babylon, to eke out a miserable existence along the Canal Chebar at a place called Tel-Abib.

To many people who had grown up in Israel it looked like there would be no more Israel. It looked like God's promises to Abraham of perpetual Israeli nationhood would not be fulfilled. To any person who cared about Israel, Israel looked like a wide, arid, Mesopotamian valley full of old dry bones. And Ezekiel asked the Lord, "O God, can these bones live?"

Why does such a scene make our imagination come alive? Perhaps it is because there have been times in our lives when we have also felt this way. Many of us who have served as pastors have sometimes looked at the churches we have served as being like a valley full of old dry bones.

After we graduated from seminary back in 1975, my wife and I were appointed to serve in a nine church parish out in Iowa. Some of the churches were fairly healthy and had a pretty lively program and Sunday attendance. But there was one church at the town of Cooper that we were really concerned about. It looked like it was on its last legs. I mean, it looked as though the District Superintendent would come at any moment with some boards and some nails to close the church. Ten, maybe fifteen persons would come to church on Sunday morning. As Linda and I looked at these folks, it appeared as though they were the skeleton of what was once a lively church. They were all that was left of a once active Body. And, like Ezekiel who asked, "O God, can these bones live?" when Linda and I looked at this little church we also asked, "O Lord, can these bones live?"

One of the sure fire signs of a dying church is when the folks there are afraid to try something new. In trying to hang onto the church they love they try to keep everything just as it is, hoping beyond hope if they do this they can keep their church just a little bit longer.

The Cooper church was a little bit like this. When we suggested that they start a Sunday School program once again, they asked, "Why? We don't have any kids coming to our church!" never stopping to realize that maybe the reason they didn't have kids coming to church was because they didn't have a Sunday School program. Nevertheless, with a little bit of coaxing they started a Sunday School program.

And when we suggested that they needed a wheelchair ramp so persons in wheelchairs could get into the church they asked, "Why? We don't have any persons in wheelchairs coming to our church!" never stopping to realize that maybe the reason they didn't have persons in wheelchairs coming to church was because there wasn't a wheelchair ramp. Nevertheless, with a little bit of coaxing they built a wheelchair ramp.

And when we suggested that they needed a new kitchen and rest room facilities, they asked, "Why? We don't have enough potluck dinners and the old latrine out behind the church has never failed us!" never stopping to realize that maybe the church would be used a whole lot more for potlucks and other events if there was an adequate kitchen and some flush toilets in the church. Nevertheless, after a little bit of coaxing, they built an addition onto the church with a little kitchen, a meeting room, and a couple little rest rooms with flush toilets.

And all the while they did these things they began to notice an increase in Sunday morning attendance. They began to notice that there was more money in the offering plate. They began to notice that sinew and flesh and skin was coming upon those bones. They began to notice that the Body was beginning to breathe Spiritual breath, once again; that it was beginning to get back up onto its feet; that it was beginning to live!

Indeed, there are times in our lives that we have asked the question, "O Lord, can these bones live?" Maybe we have even asked the question about ourselves. We may have asked that question about ourselves when we may have felt old and tired, or ineffective, or powerless, or weak, or sick. We might have asked, "Can these bones live?" when we felt depressed and useless. But, when we allow the Spirit to blow, when we have opened ourselves to choosing life, when we have been willing to take some risks, when we have been willing to do those things which make for vitality, rather than preparing for failure, it has been then that those bones, indeed, have come to life. It has been whenever God's people have allowed God's Spirit to blow life into their nostrils that they have certainly become a great army, strong, powerful, invincible to the glory of God!

There is the story told by an army chaplain about an experience he had when he and the brigade he was with was forced to sleep out on a field without tents, but only in their sleeping bags, and the cold, cloudy sky overhead. On awaking the next morning, the chaplain realized that several inches of snow had fallen in the night. Looking out across the field where the soldiers had bedded down, he could see little mounds of snow. Beneath each little mound, the chaplain realized, was a sleeping soldier. The whole scene looked a bit strange, and almost like a large cemetery of fresh graves. But, soon, one by one, here and there an awakening soldier began to stir, rise, sake himself and stand in momentary amazement at the sight. Indeed, it was a beautiful symbol of the resurrection.

Can these bones live? With God's Spirit working with us, with his breath blowing in our nostrils, with us open to his power and his presence -- yes! These bones can live. And with such life we may be, together, full of life, standing on our feet--a vast army, indeed. Amen.