A Breath of Fresh Air
Sermon
Show-and-Tell
First Lesson Cycle A Sermons for Lent and Easter
Object:
This story has been shared at many church gatherings recently. Three parish deacons were hiking across an old wooden foot bridge fifty feet above a dry and rocky creek bed. They stopped for a moment to absorb the breath-tak-ing view of distant hillsides, green pastures filled with grazing cattle, and endless rows of tall cornstalks waving in the gentle breeze.
"God's in heaven and all's right with the world," remarked Bill.
"It's days like this when we really need to stop and count our blessings," added Ralph.
"You're both right," said Sue, the board chairperson. "And one of our blessings is our church right down there," she exclaimed, pointing to the 128-year-old red brick structure with the tall white steeple. "Just look at the cemetery. Think of all of our families and friends who settled here and even built that first sanctuary. What a legacy they left us! That cemetery must be filled with stories of hard work and love and faith."
"Yep," said Bill.
"Uh, huh," agreed Ralph, eager to finish their hike.
However, Sue, wanting to continue the discussion, asked, "Wonder what would happen if this bridge suddenly collapsed under our combined weight. I wonder what it would be like if we fell and, well, that was it. We would be laid out in coffins side by side, in our church narthex, waiting for our funerals to begin. What would you like folks to say about you when they passed by on the way to their pews?"
"I haven't really given it much thought," Bill said as he looked longingly at their car parked at the other side of the bridge. "I guess I'd want folks to say I was a good husband and father, I worked hard, and I loved Jesus. What about you, Sue?"
"Well," began Sue. "I'd like folks to say I was a good worker for the Lord, I loved my family, and heaven is a wonderful place. What about you, Ralph? You've been pretty quiet. What would you like people to say about you when you're all stretched out in your coffin?"
"Well," sighed Ralph, "I'd like folks to say, 'Look! He's moving!' "
What would you like folks to say about you? About your community? About your congregation? How do you speak about yourselves? Your community? Are most of your verbs in the past tense? Do you spend most of your time thinking about what it was like in the past? Do you often grumble about the present and yearn for a future that will never be? Do your memories of a glorious and cherished past seem to be gone forever? Do you sometimes feel so used up and dried up that you have given up all hope?
Some scholars claim that congregations belonging to mainline denominations are now on the decline, watching life from the sidelines, reacting with a ho-hum line, and rapidly descending to flat line. "They have become dried up, helpless, and hopeless... just like the bones in Ezekiel's vision" (Ezekiel 37:1-2).
Do folks pass by your church building perceiving it as a coffin, holding the remains of a once vital ministry?
Does the exclamation, "Look, he's moving," apply to you or your congregation? How would you respond if the Lord asked you the same question the Lord put to Ezekiel: "Mortal, can these bones live?" (Ezekiel 37:3). The Lord promised the dry bones, "I will put my spirit within you and you shall live" (Ezekiel 37:14). What would that look like here? For you? For your parish?
The crucial word in today's lesson is "spirit" or in Hebrew, "ruah." It can also be translated as "breath" or "wind" (Ezekiel 37:5, 9-10). When God breathes life into even the driest and most brittle bones, they are filled with God's life-giving spirit. With a breath of fresh air, God's spirit, they begin to move with new life, new hope, and new energy.
Let's look more closely at today's lesson in Ezekiel. Its setting is in the midst of a fifty-year exile in Babylonia. After a long siege and fierce fighting, Jerusalem was overcome by Babylonian troops under King Nebuchadnezzar. Its city walls were nothing but rubble. The magnificent temple was in ruins. Its leading citizens were taken captive 500 miles away. The scene Ezekiel describes is the desolate plain where the refugees were settled... a place where battles had been fought; a place of death and devastation. Here in this place hopes were dashed, life was helpless despair, energy was dried up. It seemed as if even God had abandoned God's own people.
As Ezekiel gazed upon this tragic scene, the Lord asked him, "Mortal, can these bones live?" Well, Ezekiel was smart enough to avoid giving a wrong answer, so he replied, "O Lord God, you know" (Ezekiel 37:3). Perhaps the Lord is asking this same question to you. "Mortals, can this grieving family begin to revive? Mortals, can these dried up and apathetic Christians find renewed energy? Mortals, can the burdened bones not just survive, but even thrive?"
And your answer is... with Ezekiel, "O Lord God, you know." God did know and God did act, showing Ezekiel just what God's breath of fresh air could do. God is breathing fresh air into our lives even now. God is reviving that which was dry and dead: dead hope, dead faith, dead community, dead lives. God breathes ruah-spirit and suddenly "Look, they're moving"... moving with new life, new hope, and new energy.
That is God's promise to you, to the church, and to all dry bones: "I will put my spirit in you and you shall live." A breath of fresh air from the Lord does indeed give new life to a spiritually, emotionally, physically, and relationally drained and dry people. Hey, does that describe anybody you see when you look in the mirror? When you look at your congregation?
The Lord told Ezekiel that the dry bones really were the community of Israel. After the defeat at Jerusalem and their deportation to Babylonia, they had given up all hope of reuniting with friends and family back home. They had given up hope of ever again being a chosen nation of the Lord. "They say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are cut off completely" (Ezekiel 37:11). It was easy for them to hear only empty promises based on false possibilities. It also is easy for us to give up any hope for even the tiniest whisper of fresh air.
However, in scripture, hope is more than a remote possibility that something nearly impossible might happen -- as in "I hope that I will win the lottery." In scripture, especially in today's text, hope is the sure and certain anticipation and expectation of what God has done, is doing, and promises to continue to do with and for God's people. Hope is given through the breath of fresh air... and the Spirit that God has given to us. Hope includes the wisdom to see things as they are and the vision to see what they will become when the Lord breathes on them.
What does hope look like when dry bones are connected, muscles develop, skin grows, and God's breath fills them? (Ezekiel 37:7-10). Look at the font and the splash of Jesus' love that connects and renews. Look at the altar and the nourishment of Jesus himself that feeds the soul. Look at the cross and the love of Jesus that spills out and fills empty hearts. Look at the gathered people around you and gaze at the memorial gifts throughout your building. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who now live in the reality of hope coming to pass in your midst. A breath of fresh air from the Lord reduces exhaustion and renews energy for even the driest bones. There's a story about a group of senior/seasoned citizens who were on a bus tour in Switzerland. They stopped at a farm, famous for its cheese made from goat's milk. Pointing to a small herd of goats in a nearby field the guide said, "Those are older goats, put out to pasture when they are too old to produce milk. What do you in America do with your old goats?"
With a twinkle in her eye one woman remarked, "They send us on bus tours of Switzerland and let us live in Sun City."
What happens when congregations seem to be drained of all vitality and vibrancy?
What do you do when you run out of energy? What happens to dry bones when the Lord breathes new life into them? God's breath of fresh air is more than a bus tour and a rocking chair for God's people.
What signs of new life and energy do you see around you at home, in your parish?
God's exiled people were so dried up that they couldn't see anything but devastation and couldn't feel anything but isolation. They needed Ezekiel to open their eyes and to help them feel the wind of the spirit as the Lord was breathing new life into their souls.
Friends, Ezekiel reminds you that the wind of God's Spirit is blowing in your midst today... giving you new life, new hope, new energy. Open your eyes to see what that looks like. Open your arms to show others what that feels like.
Hear again God's promise to the exiles in Babylonia and to you: "I will put my spirit within you and you shall live."
In Christ, let all God's people say, "Look, we're moving!" Amen.
"God's in heaven and all's right with the world," remarked Bill.
"It's days like this when we really need to stop and count our blessings," added Ralph.
"You're both right," said Sue, the board chairperson. "And one of our blessings is our church right down there," she exclaimed, pointing to the 128-year-old red brick structure with the tall white steeple. "Just look at the cemetery. Think of all of our families and friends who settled here and even built that first sanctuary. What a legacy they left us! That cemetery must be filled with stories of hard work and love and faith."
"Yep," said Bill.
"Uh, huh," agreed Ralph, eager to finish their hike.
However, Sue, wanting to continue the discussion, asked, "Wonder what would happen if this bridge suddenly collapsed under our combined weight. I wonder what it would be like if we fell and, well, that was it. We would be laid out in coffins side by side, in our church narthex, waiting for our funerals to begin. What would you like folks to say about you when they passed by on the way to their pews?"
"I haven't really given it much thought," Bill said as he looked longingly at their car parked at the other side of the bridge. "I guess I'd want folks to say I was a good husband and father, I worked hard, and I loved Jesus. What about you, Sue?"
"Well," began Sue. "I'd like folks to say I was a good worker for the Lord, I loved my family, and heaven is a wonderful place. What about you, Ralph? You've been pretty quiet. What would you like people to say about you when you're all stretched out in your coffin?"
"Well," sighed Ralph, "I'd like folks to say, 'Look! He's moving!' "
What would you like folks to say about you? About your community? About your congregation? How do you speak about yourselves? Your community? Are most of your verbs in the past tense? Do you spend most of your time thinking about what it was like in the past? Do you often grumble about the present and yearn for a future that will never be? Do your memories of a glorious and cherished past seem to be gone forever? Do you sometimes feel so used up and dried up that you have given up all hope?
Some scholars claim that congregations belonging to mainline denominations are now on the decline, watching life from the sidelines, reacting with a ho-hum line, and rapidly descending to flat line. "They have become dried up, helpless, and hopeless... just like the bones in Ezekiel's vision" (Ezekiel 37:1-2).
Do folks pass by your church building perceiving it as a coffin, holding the remains of a once vital ministry?
Does the exclamation, "Look, he's moving," apply to you or your congregation? How would you respond if the Lord asked you the same question the Lord put to Ezekiel: "Mortal, can these bones live?" (Ezekiel 37:3). The Lord promised the dry bones, "I will put my spirit within you and you shall live" (Ezekiel 37:14). What would that look like here? For you? For your parish?
The crucial word in today's lesson is "spirit" or in Hebrew, "ruah." It can also be translated as "breath" or "wind" (Ezekiel 37:5, 9-10). When God breathes life into even the driest and most brittle bones, they are filled with God's life-giving spirit. With a breath of fresh air, God's spirit, they begin to move with new life, new hope, and new energy.
Let's look more closely at today's lesson in Ezekiel. Its setting is in the midst of a fifty-year exile in Babylonia. After a long siege and fierce fighting, Jerusalem was overcome by Babylonian troops under King Nebuchadnezzar. Its city walls were nothing but rubble. The magnificent temple was in ruins. Its leading citizens were taken captive 500 miles away. The scene Ezekiel describes is the desolate plain where the refugees were settled... a place where battles had been fought; a place of death and devastation. Here in this place hopes were dashed, life was helpless despair, energy was dried up. It seemed as if even God had abandoned God's own people.
As Ezekiel gazed upon this tragic scene, the Lord asked him, "Mortal, can these bones live?" Well, Ezekiel was smart enough to avoid giving a wrong answer, so he replied, "O Lord God, you know" (Ezekiel 37:3). Perhaps the Lord is asking this same question to you. "Mortals, can this grieving family begin to revive? Mortals, can these dried up and apathetic Christians find renewed energy? Mortals, can the burdened bones not just survive, but even thrive?"
And your answer is... with Ezekiel, "O Lord God, you know." God did know and God did act, showing Ezekiel just what God's breath of fresh air could do. God is breathing fresh air into our lives even now. God is reviving that which was dry and dead: dead hope, dead faith, dead community, dead lives. God breathes ruah-spirit and suddenly "Look, they're moving"... moving with new life, new hope, and new energy.
That is God's promise to you, to the church, and to all dry bones: "I will put my spirit in you and you shall live." A breath of fresh air from the Lord does indeed give new life to a spiritually, emotionally, physically, and relationally drained and dry people. Hey, does that describe anybody you see when you look in the mirror? When you look at your congregation?
The Lord told Ezekiel that the dry bones really were the community of Israel. After the defeat at Jerusalem and their deportation to Babylonia, they had given up all hope of reuniting with friends and family back home. They had given up hope of ever again being a chosen nation of the Lord. "They say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are cut off completely" (Ezekiel 37:11). It was easy for them to hear only empty promises based on false possibilities. It also is easy for us to give up any hope for even the tiniest whisper of fresh air.
However, in scripture, hope is more than a remote possibility that something nearly impossible might happen -- as in "I hope that I will win the lottery." In scripture, especially in today's text, hope is the sure and certain anticipation and expectation of what God has done, is doing, and promises to continue to do with and for God's people. Hope is given through the breath of fresh air... and the Spirit that God has given to us. Hope includes the wisdom to see things as they are and the vision to see what they will become when the Lord breathes on them.
What does hope look like when dry bones are connected, muscles develop, skin grows, and God's breath fills them? (Ezekiel 37:7-10). Look at the font and the splash of Jesus' love that connects and renews. Look at the altar and the nourishment of Jesus himself that feeds the soul. Look at the cross and the love of Jesus that spills out and fills empty hearts. Look at the gathered people around you and gaze at the memorial gifts throughout your building. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who now live in the reality of hope coming to pass in your midst. A breath of fresh air from the Lord reduces exhaustion and renews energy for even the driest bones. There's a story about a group of senior/seasoned citizens who were on a bus tour in Switzerland. They stopped at a farm, famous for its cheese made from goat's milk. Pointing to a small herd of goats in a nearby field the guide said, "Those are older goats, put out to pasture when they are too old to produce milk. What do you in America do with your old goats?"
With a twinkle in her eye one woman remarked, "They send us on bus tours of Switzerland and let us live in Sun City."
What happens when congregations seem to be drained of all vitality and vibrancy?
What do you do when you run out of energy? What happens to dry bones when the Lord breathes new life into them? God's breath of fresh air is more than a bus tour and a rocking chair for God's people.
What signs of new life and energy do you see around you at home, in your parish?
God's exiled people were so dried up that they couldn't see anything but devastation and couldn't feel anything but isolation. They needed Ezekiel to open their eyes and to help them feel the wind of the spirit as the Lord was breathing new life into their souls.
Friends, Ezekiel reminds you that the wind of God's Spirit is blowing in your midst today... giving you new life, new hope, new energy. Open your eyes to see what that looks like. Open your arms to show others what that feels like.
Hear again God's promise to the exiles in Babylonia and to you: "I will put my spirit within you and you shall live."
In Christ, let all God's people say, "Look, we're moving!" Amen.
