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DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
A. INTRODUCTION
...For a few weeks we are looking at my favorite Bible stories as verses. Email me yours! Truth is, there are certain Bible passages that stick with us all our lives. Maybe we first learned them in Sunday School, or acted them out in Vacation Bible School, or heard it in a sermon. Do you remember memorization? In older times people memorized and recited long passages and these stayed with us. Hollywood has helped with movies like "The Ten Commandments", "Sampson and Delilah", "The Passion of the Christ", "The Greatest Story Ever Told"; and the TV series on Mary, David, and Jesus.
C. SUMMARY: Ezekiel was a prophet, a spokesperson, for God. In this chapter he feels God's spirit "bringing" him to a "valley of dry bones". It was a battleground where soldiers were killed and their bodies left where they fell. In that macabre setting God asks Ezekiel if those bones can live again? "Thou knowest," he responds. God then tells Ezekiel to speak to the bones and to the winds, ordering the bones to reconnect and the winds to send breath. And it happens. God explains that the dry bones represent Israel, a nation torn apart by internal division, and carried off in defeat. Later in the chapter Ezekiel is told to take two sticks, write on each stick the name of one part of Israel, then hold the sticks together. That is God's prophecy of UNITY, one day.
D.
KEY POINTS:
1. รท, yes DIVISION, Divisiveness. "Can these bones live again?" God asks. Is reconciliation, unity, possible? In families, nations, towns, the world? Or are we forever doomed to be torn asunder and left to rot? God offers this extraordinary visual of all the pieces coming together. The old hymn, "Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Dry Bones" has us sing the miracle, "the ankle bone's connected to the leg bone, the leg bone's connected to the knee bone... now hear the word of the Lord." Human efforts too often result in Division. God's efforts aim for Unity Israel had torn itself asunder. God wanted it back together. When you read vs. 21-22, about Jews returning to Israel "from all the nations", it is hard not to imagine 1947 and the creation of modern Israel. For those who rejoice in that (like me), how do I now extend that miracle of unity to the "dry bones" all over that region?
2.
Bones & Breath. Note that Ezekiel's first task is to speak to the bones and call them to come together. The end result is a bunch of skeletons that rattle. It isn't until God breathes LIFE into them that they become a "vast army". The idea of a nation (or church, or friendship, or family) revived, that is the miracle. "Revived" is to "make live again". In our in-person Bible Studies on these topics we talk about what divides us and unites us. On the UNITY side are things like sense of purpose, common values, tradition, and pride. People mentioned industriousness, hard work, ethics, faith, and freedom. Is there a way to "breathe new life" into those age-old concepts so that people might feel bonded together enough to overcome the outward signs of division? For example, if two hard-working people worked side by side, could their common pride in "a good day's work for a good day's wage" be more important than differences in politics, race, or religion? Or would you rather work with a slacker who voted like you, or went to the same church? We do have an uncommon breath of unity in our church. That's a fact. It doesn't just happen. We work hard at it. Working hard makes you breathe hard. Breathing brings revival to dry bones, solidifying unity. Re-read the last sentence, I may be onto something!! The hard work of unity takes listening, respect, learning, sharing, compromise, and patience. Nothing on that list is easy. You will breathe hard. If you do, maybe you'll rattle some bones. That's a beginning.
3.
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" In my troubled youth whenever we pushed the boundaries of vulgarity some nicer person would ask us, "do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" We were "fouling the air" (remember that phrase?) and would head home where the first thing we did was to kiss our mother. Today's vulgarity is much more than a curse word uttered during a playground game or a hallway shove. Social media takes our worst thoughts, ideas, words, beliefs, and shares them far and wide. We "foul the air" in a thousand new ways. In the process we create division that leads to "unfriending". Think about that word!! UNFRIENDING. Ezekiel imagines RE-FRIENDING, RE-CONNECTING, RE-UNION, RE-VIVAL.
Question: Is there a way to use social media to do this? To bring bones together?
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