March 26,202
“Good Bones”
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
March 26, 20223 Based on Ezekiel 37:1-17
My aunt and uncle live out in the Texas hill country. It’s dry there, like really dry.
There’s a creek on their property… at least in theory there’s a creek. In the 30+ years I’ve been visiting them there I think I’ve only seen water flowing one time. Every other time I’ve been there it’s been dry. It’s that dry. It’s that hot.
There was one time when we were hiking along the dry creek bed and I saw something I hadn’t ever seen before. The full skeleton of a deer. It was a buck with a full head of antlers, and it was bleached white from years exposed and baking underneath the sun. It was the first time I had ever seen real bones in person. They were a bit eerie of course, because you knew you were looking at something that used to be alive. We went up to it to get a closer look. I picked up one of the bones and it was so dry it cracked apart under its own weight.
I thought of a lot of things as I was looking at these remnants of a deer, I wondered what would this deer have looked like when it was alive? I wondered how it died. I wondered how long its remains had been laying here. I’ll tell you one question that would have never crossed my mind: “Can these bones live?”
I mean when you see bones that dry, that lifeless, that fragile this is something no reasonable person would never ever even consider. Can these bones live? I mean it’s absurd. Our answer is obviously and emphatically “No.” We’ve seen bones. Bones do not come back to life. It is the exact opposite of their nature. They are the most dead a thing can be, and they have been for a long, long time. All that’s left for them to do is erode and decay further until there is no trace of the thing left.
Now I want you to imagine this place that God leads the prophet Ezekiel to in our scripture today. In his vision, God picks Ezekiel up and places him right in the middle of this place. It’s a desolate and remote valley. The ground littered with dry bones. Can you picture it?
It's an extreme image. Not something we should regularly see. It’s supposed to conjure for us an idea of a place that is the most abandoned, irredeemable, dead place. There isn’t hope in a place like that, all that is there is loss.
I imagine any person who finds themselves planted in the valley full of dry bones asks themselves the same questions I did upon seeing the deer… Who were these people? What did they look like when they were alive? What was their life like? And then …How did they die? How long have these bones been here? Why did this happen?
These are the questions anyone of us would ask because when confronted with dry bones all we can see is death. All we can is the loss of what once was but now is so long gone that all that’s left is dry and brittle.
This is what people see. But this is not what God sees.
God shows Ezekiel a vision of a valley dry bones, and I imagine Ezekiel asking himself these same questions. But God asks the question…“Mortal one… Can these bones live?”
And Ezekiel responds “Well God… only you know”
Which I think is Hebrew for “umm… What did you just ask me?!” Because the reasonable rational side of our brain knows the answer is “no.” or at the very best most generous… “I don’t think that’s possible but I hope it could be.”
But God doesn’t bat an eye or wait for Ezekiel to catch up.
God says: Here’s what you’re going to do… prophesy to these bones, tell them that God is going to breathe life back into you, that God’s going to layer you with sinews and muscle and flesh, and you will live again.
Then Ezekiel does as God says. Maybe a bit reluctantly, maybe a bit in disbelief but Ezekiel does this absurd thing that only God sees as possible.
He starts to prophesy to the dry bones, he starts to tell these deader than dead bones that they will live again. And the impossible thing that only God can see starts to become reality. The bones begin to form, flesh begins to grow on them and Ezekiel sees these bones become reborn. But then Ezekiel sees these bodies and realizes that they still aren’t alive.
I imagine Ezekiel being so overwhelmed at seeing this impossible thing happening, feeling unbelievable hope restored and then having it all fall flat.
No God… These bones cannot live.
But God doesn’t abandon the project or lose hope. God still sees what is possible. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the Breath. To call the Spirit to blow into this valley and fill each and every lung of these lifeless bodies.
So Ezekiel listens again, and even though his hope is rocky again, he trusts God’s vision, and calls on the Spirit to fill these lifeless bodies with breath.
“Can these bones live?” God asks…
Well Lord… only you know.
In reality bones don’t normally do this. There are bony places we will encounter that won’t come back to life. But sometimes God leads us to places that everyone else in this world would call dead, because God sees what we cannot see there. Possibility, a chance of redemption, a chance at new life.
A friend this week turned me on to a local poet who lives in Bexley, Maggie Smith. Though she is local she got some national fame for a poem she wrote. It’s called “Good Bones” I want to read it for you:
“Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children.
The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world.
Any decent realtor, walking you through a real dump, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.”
Maggie Smith, "Good Bones" from Waxwing. Source: Waxwing magazine (Issue IX, Summer 2016) Adapted for language
Not every place has good bones, but some do.
There are places that should be let go of or torn down because they are too far gone, or just not right.
But every now and then God is like that realtor who finds a place that everyone else has given up on but she sees the potential and possibility God is like that realtor who sees good bones where no one else can. and just wants to bring the right people in who can also witness this vision. Who can do the work of what others think is impossible. Who can sweat and labor and begin to call on the bones to build themselves back up, to layer them with strength and movement and possibility. And then call on the Spirit to breathe life back into them.
So, I'm not sure if you've ever felt like you have been placed in a valley of dry bones. But I know have. And I'm pretty sure you have too.
Maybe it's your job. Maybe it's your relationships that have become dry and brittle. Maybe it's your health. Maybe it’s your faith. Maybe it’s the church.
Or maybe it's just the state of the world that leaves you feeling as if you are surrounded by nothing but grief and loss. And while not every dry bone we encounter will be able to be brought back to life, sometimes God places us in an exact valley on purpose. Because God sees good bones and God wants us to see the vision to.
This place could be beautiful right? You, could make this place beautiful.
Mortal, can these bones live? Lord, only you know.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Ne irascaris Domine” William Byrd (c1540-1623)
Be not angry, O Lord,
and remember our iniquity no more.
Behold, we are all your people
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Have you ever felt washed up, brittle, worn-down to the bone?
All: Have you ever felt grief lay heavy on your back?
One: Have you ever felt like hope was out of reach?
All: Have you ever wondered, can these bones live?
One: If you have, then you are in the right place, for this is God’s house.
Hope lives here.
All: So, come. Rest your weary bones.
Let us worship Holy God.
*GATHERING SONG “We Seek You With Our Questions Lord” KINGSFOLD
We wonder why things come to pass
and how to come alive.
Where do your living waters flow?
How can dry bones revive?
Who are you, God, who meet us here
with wisdom and with sign?
We seek you with our questions, God,
we yearn for truth divine.
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Ed Kinschner
Jesus of Nazareth,
I confess: I forget that you know this feeling.
I forget that you, too, have wept.
I forget that you, too, have lost.
I forget that you, too, have gathered at the tomb,
have grieved for a friend, have felt the sting of humanity.
Forgive me for all the times I place blame on you.
Forgive me for all the times I create distance, imagining that you could never feel what I feel.
Forgive me for allowing the valley of dry bones to be a sea of space between us.
Pour yourself into the cracks in my heart. Bring these bones back to life. Bring me closer to you.
With gratitude I pray, amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE #469 “Lord, Listen to Your Children” CHILDREN PRAYING
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “Benedictus es” Giovani Pierluigi da Palestrina (c1525-1594)
SUNG PRYAER FOR ILLUMINATION #281 Veni Sancti Spiritu
SCRIPTURE Ezekiel 37:1–14
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. 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.
He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?”
I said, “Lord God, only you know.”
He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the Lord’s word! The Lord God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. 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.”
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. 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.
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.”
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.
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.’ 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. You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. 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.”
One: Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
All: Thanks be to God
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Annabelle Bown
SERMON “Can these bones live?” Rev. Trip Porch
*HYMN “Can these bones live?” LAUDA ANIMA
When the past is dead and buried
Lifeless in the barren ground
What good can emerge from ashes?
Where can any life be found?
Breathe in deep the rushing Spirit
Life is growing all around
When our hearts are bowed in sorrow
And the grief is newly wrought
Crying, “If you’d only been here”
Weeping for what we have lost
Resurrect our hearts and spirits
Living God whom we exalt
When our spirits feel so broken
Wrapped in linens and entombed
Without hope and without feeling
As the storm clouds ‘round us loom
Hear the words of life from Jesus
“Come out, be unbound” and bloom
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
One: We believe that God loves us—
All: God loves us enough to weep when we are gone.
One: We believe that God does not give up on us—
All: breathing new life into tired bones.
One: We believe that God returns to us—
All: always seeking us when we are lost.
One: We believe that God holds hope for us—
All: so we hold onto hope as well.
One: We believe, help our unbelief.
All: In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE followed by the Lord’s Prayer
TIME OF OFFERING
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE #698 “Take, O Take Me as I Am” TAKE ME AS I AM
Take, O take me as I am;
summon out what I shall be;
set your seal upon my heart and live in me.
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
From your hands, O God, come the blessings that make life possible, even the very gift of life itself. In gratitude and thanks, receive these gifts from our hands. By your Spirit’s leading, may we use these gifts to breathe rich and abundant life onto the driest places with the assurance of love, the promise of hope, and the course of justice. Amen.
*HYMN NO.286 “Breathe on Me, Breathe of God”
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
Moment for Mission One Great Hour of Sharing Michael Ayers
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION RESPONSE “Christ, We Do All Adore Thee” Theodore Dubois
POSTLUDE “A Solfig Song” Thomas Tallis (c1505-1585)
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452
Liturgy by Rev. Sarah A. Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org.
PRAYER MINISTRY
For 3/26/2023
Please remember in prayer the following members and friends
Church Family, Relatives & Friends
Arthur Lee
John George- FIL Greg Hitzhusen
Joanie Bradt – niece of Ginger Haack
Worship Leaders
Pastor - Rev. Trip Porch
Children’s Message – Annabelle Brown
Liturgist – Ed Kinschner
Music leaders
Director of Music – Christopher Dent
Assoc. Director of Music – Ariel Alvarado
Organist – Sunghwan Kim
Cecily Early Music Ensemble
Cecily Early Music Ensemble: Barbara Ford, Kathy Pinkham, Vickie Starbuck,
Dan Barbar, Recorders; Jane Warburton, viola da gamba