"Seeing Is Believing"
Sermon Presented March 13, 2005
Ezekiel 37:1-14
When I began working on this text for today, I realized that it was the text I used for my trial sermon here July 27, 2003. I'm going to use it again because I believe we need to look at it from a different perspective than that first time. I now see it differently.
What's the difference now? It's the looming image of Perseverance Presbyterian Church - a Milwaukee church that closed its doors two weeks ago today. It's a church that had almost twice the membership as we, and almost twice the number of people attending each week! Why should they close and we remain open? Does God really have a vision for Roundy that includes a vibrant mission? What's the point of having a vision team?
These are questions that many of you have contemplated since the article about the closing of Perseverance was featured in the Journal-Sentinel. They are questions that we must consider if we are to be faithful to God and God's call on our lives. With this in mind, I would like for us to look once again at Ezekiel 37:1-14. (Read text.)
It's the middle of the sixth century B. C. E. and most of the Israelites (including the prophet Ezekiel) are in captivity in Babylon. Life's storms have taken their toll and returning to Jerusalem is only a fleeting thought. Into their apathy, God visits Ezekiel with a vision of hope.
Picture Ezekiel's vision in your mind's eye. He sees a vast valley - a former battlefield where the slain aren't buried, but left to decay. The bones are picked clean and bleached white by the desert sun. There's no life here! The picture is bleak!
Then God asks Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel gives a non-committal reply: "You're God; you tell me!" Ezekiel believes he knows the power of God and yet he also knows the seemingly impossible task of giving life to the bones. He can't commit beyond his imagination or beyond his vision.
Then God continues, "Prophesy to these bones." Imagine that! Preach to a valley full of bones. To speak hope where there's no life requires a leap of faith, even in a vision. Ezekiel must shift mentally from observer to preacher. However, nothing happens until he speaks. But when he obeys God's instruction there is a rustling and a rattling, bones join bones, sinews knit the bones together, and flesh and skin cover them. They are complete human bodies again - except that they have no life - no breath.
At God's instruction, Ezekiel commands breath to enter the bodies, and then he sees an army of people through God's eyes. They breathe in life and stand up. They're alive!
God doesn't leave the interpretation of this vision to chance. God says that the dry bones are the Israelite nation - those who cry out: "Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost." Ezekiel is to tell these hopeless ones that God will bring them new life. God will put God's Spirit in them and bring them home. Only when this prophecy is fulfilled - when the Israelites are again on home soil - will Ezekiel know for sure that God spoke and acted. Because it takes years for the prophecy to be fulfilled, Ezekiel's faith is tested.
In order to have new life, the Israelites must leave Babylon and go home. And to be honest, things aren't that bad in Babylon. Even though they are captives, they can own land and they live comfortably. To see the vision fulfilled, they must leave the familiar and move toward uncertainty. Their identity as a nation is connected to the land of Israel, and God wants them to return and rebuild. History tells us that they did return to Israel where God revived their faith and culture. The vision was right on.
I don't believe that this story was recorded for historical purposes only. I believe it's there for us to appropriate when our faith is weak and our hope is dwindling. In the story, God says: "I can do what is humanly impossible. I give new life. I fill with my Spirit." Israel's God is our God too. The power of God's breath blowing through us and in us can bring new life.
Everyone needs hope. People can survive without many of life's necessities, but we can't survive without hope. If we believe we will die immediately after a cancer diagnosis, we will wait for death instead of fighting the disease. If we are convinced that this church will die, we won't seek God's direction to save it. Does Roundy Church have grounds for optimism? Can God breathe new life into our dying bones? Should we move forward not knowing for certain whether we face a funeral or a celebration of new life?
When circumstances appear hopeless, are they really hopeless or do we just need a vision of hope? Is God present in our trials with a new vision for us? How do we get a handle on hope? For the prophet Ezekiel, hope began with a vision.
Hope often abounds in negative circumstances. People can find hope in the midst of great suffering or uncertainty. Life's tragedies often become God's opportunities. A lost job may mean a successful career change. A divorce may bring new happiness. A failure to be admitted to a chosen college may bring an opportunity for success in another school. A terminal illness may bring a hunger for God's presence and a healing of relationships. "A walk through the valley of shadows may be more life changing than a stroll on life's mountaintop." (Hinson, Weavings July-August 03, p. 11)
However, not everyone sails through affliction on the wings of hope. Affliction turns some people to jelly. It takes time to work through pain and grief, and we need God's presence and the support of God's people to find hope. The people of Israel found hope and God's direction through the prophet Ezekiel.
Some of you may feel like members of the "Dead Bones Brigade." You may have recently lost a loved one or experienced a serious illness. You may have problems in your job. You may be reeling from a broken relationship. You may wonder about the future of our church. Can you/we survive and flourish in a questionable future?
Life is more than breath. Lots of people are walking the streets of Milwaukee with breath in their bodies, but with no real life - no hope. They have flesh and bones but the Spirit of God isn't living in them. God says that when we really live, we will know that God is the Lord. When we really live, we have the energy and ability to reach out to the hopeless.
Ezekiel knew God was present in his vision, but the value of that experience wasn't from receiving the vision but from sharing it with those without hope. By sharing the vision, he brought hope to others.
God wants to take us from the valley of dry bones to a land flowing with milk and honey. God wants us to leave behind those things that cause spiritual death so we might receive life. But fear often grips us. Even though we're not satisfied with our present situation, we hesitate to give it up because that's where our security lies. At this crossroad, Jesus calls us to his kingdom - a kingdom made up of new things - new loyalties, new commitments, new priorities and new attitudes. He calls us to a kingdom united with Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The Chinese use the bamboo plant as a symbol of faith. They plant it, water it and nurture it for years even though little growth occurs. It grows very slowly, and then suddenly, maybe in the 5th year, it shoots up profusely. Faith waters a plant that shows little progress; faith keeps pouring water on the roots until change occurs. This bamboo plant will be my symbol of faith as I pray for Roundy.
I want the faith to believe:
- That God will work in us to grow us spiritually.
- That God will give us God's vision for us.
- That God will bring others to join us in mission.
- That God will bring others for worship.
- That God will bring others for community.
- That God will breathe new life into us and we will stand - individually and collectively.
Today I am more hopeful than when I began preparing this sermon. I'll tell you why. Monday a woman in my apartment building stopped to tell me of a great idea she had for a new series for Roundy and offered to brainstorm with me on it. I spoke with a visionary whose excitement is contagious. I have an appointment this week to check out a possibility for a new mission activity. Lawrence is preparing for a new series that will begin after Easter and attendance for his series continues to grow. The Vision Team is now in place. All of these are signs of hope.
But when we face facts as we see them, when the Lenten series is over, even though it has been great for us, reality is that we will probably have the same membership as before. If we use our rational minds alone, we have little hope. We don't have years to wait for a vision or for a vision to become reality. We need God's help now.
But lest you forget, I want to remind you that resurrection of Roundy Church was your dream before it ever became my dream. I was called to be your pastoral leader and when you called me, you invited me to share that dream. If we are to experience resurrection, we need a vision of what God wants from us to get us there. I don't want to give up unless it's God's will, and I don't believe that you do either. When I decided to come here, presiding over a funeral for Roundy was not on my radar screen.
The season of Lent is a desert time - a time to process
- a time for growth - a time to renew our commitment to follow Jesus.
With this in mind, we can look at Perseverance Presbyterian Church as
a cloud or a rainbow. We can see it as a time to seek God's vision of
where to go and how to proceed - or a time to give up. Roundy is not
Perseverance Presbyterian Church. What is God's vision for us?
