These Bones will Live        Pentecost Sunday, B     June 4, 2006

“Dem Bones” was a song I learned many years ago in Sunday School teacher. My teachers taught me that song and Ezekiel’s story with flannel graph characters. How many of you remember flannel graph? As we honor our Sunday school teachers today, I remember the flannel graphs lessons and songs, and all those who taught me these stories from the Bible. Let me tell you the story in their memory.

Before the Babylonian soldiers came, Ezekiel was a temple priest in Judah. He tried to warn them not to forget what God had done for them. Through Abraham and Sarah, God had chosen them, and miraculously made them a great nation. God protected them, and gave them great kings like David and Solomon. But that was 400 hundred years ago, and people failed to listen to God’s word and their priests like Ezekiel.

Prophets like Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah reminded them that they lost their freedom because of their unfaithfulness to God’s will. They had failed to worship God, to listen to the commandments, to take care of the poor and widows. Instead, the rich had become slaves to their own prosperity, and now were slaves in Babylon.

Hope was rare during this era of Judah’s history. The Babylonians came from a country we now call Iraq. Their soldiers destroyed and pillaged the city, the temple and deported anyone they didn’t kill first. Families were scattered, and communities were destroyed. Ezekiel and the other Jewish deportees resettled in Babylon, and life was almost tolerable. But they longed for the day when they could live and worship in their temple in their country.

Ezekiel lived on the banks of the Chebar River in Babylon. He remembered God’s will for Judah and realized that only a mighty work of God could rebuild the devastated nation.

One day, Ezekiel had a vision out in a valley in one of the old battlefields where the army of Judah was massacred. Then dust swirled in the air. A mighty wind uncovered bones that remained in that dark valley from an ancient battle. The bones were old and dry. So much time had passed, there was no longer any evidence of the flesh that once covered them. But the Spirit of the Lord breathed life into them, and now before Ezekiel stood an army of men. Each forgotten face, each ancient body was restored. In this valley of death, the Lord brought life! Then Ezekiel understood that the Lord had great plans for the nation of Judah. These bones will live when God breathes new life into them!

The key is the word in this reading is “RUACH,” A Hebrew word meaning breath, and the power of God’s Spirit. Ruach is found a full 10 times in these 14 verses. Here’s the key – yeah you may have no experience, you might not know their language, you might be totally scared of their army and their culture. But with the power of God’s Word, when we follow God’s will, RUACH will be given even to these dry bones.

The name Ezekiel means "God is strong," but who could know the strength and power that the Lord chose to show to Judah? As Ezekiel watched the Lord’s work with dismay, he heard the Lord’s promise: "‘I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,’ declares the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:14). In our own lives, we may find ourselves feeling disappointed, depressed, desperate, disheartened, disillusioned by what is happening to our country and our church. We may even feel like we are dead. The valley of dry bones may represent a great loss: a failed relationship, an illness that consumes us, or circumstances beyond our control. But Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

Ezekiel’s vision led him to believe that the Lord restores his family, his community, his nation. History shows that God faithfully returned the nation of Judah to the land of its inheritance. A leader named Cyrus from Persia, a country we call Iran, allowed the Jews to return home.

As I hear the story of the dry bones, I think of a pastor and friend of mine named John. John was the pastor of a huge church downtown in a great city I’ll call King of Our Own Glory. The church once thrived as German Lutherans moved in and the city grew. They once had a great Sunday School, Youth program, two worship services, one in English, the other in German. They built a great sanctuary with a huge sounding pipe organ. Then they built an educational wing and a gym for all the activities and they thrived through the sixties and seventies.

But in a few years the neighborhood changed, people moved to the suburbs. Different people who spoke different languages and with a different culture moved in. In a few years, the congregation shrank to one tenth of its former size. At the last annual meeting, Pastor John resigned. Today, only about 20 people still worship in that huge sanctuary with that beautiful pipe organ. Today, they will hear the words from their interim pastor, these bones shall live, now hear the word of the living God. The question is, does anyone really believe it? Will they reach out boldly to their community in Christian love, calling all people to worship the God of Abraham and Sarah, and Jesus, God’s Son? Time will tell.

Some of you remember the old Lutheran Church on Lancaster Avenue, called Our Savior. That congregation also suffered when the neighborhood changed, and closed. But in 1993, a group of people from our conference including my predecessor, Pastor Guisler, and Kathy and Bob Painter called Tony Cotto to look into starting a mission church in east Fort Worth. Soon San Miguel Lutheran Church, held its first service Nov. 27, 1994, with 10 people attending.

Sadly, Pastor Tony Cotto died last week, and a memorial service was held yesterday at San Miguel. I knew Tony, and if he had one fault, he didn’t take care of himself and died an early death. But his work with the congregation paid off.

Today it is the ELCA's largest Latino congregation; on an average Sunday, more than 350 people attend San Miguel's two Spanish language services. Looking to the future, San Miguel has 150 children in its catechism classes. Most of his parishioners are new immigrants, so the congregation offers counseling services and bilingual immigration and citizenship classes. Because many members of his congregation have left family behind in Mexico and Central America, they ask us o pray for those who are lonely and isolated, and for the reunion of families. A similar thing happened in my home state New Jersey. In Trenton, N.J., Pastor Chris Gentile, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, asks you to pray for the continuing development of his culturally diverse ministry. More than 40 years ago, Redeemer made a commitment to its downtown Trenton community. It has kept that commitment through several community transitions. Today Redeemer has entered a new period of growth and diversity. Its membership has tripled in the last three years. Its growth has been fueled by recent immigration from West Africa and Central America. Redeemers’ members include African Americans, Ghanaians, Liberians, Mexican, Guatemalans, and others. On an average Sunday about 200 people attend Redeemer's two services, roughly 175 attending a service in English and another 25 worshiping in Spanish. While some of the West African immigrants are new Lutherans, most of those from Liberia have grown up as Lutherans.

Here in our congregation, our neighborhood, our city is changing. Anglos are now in a minority in at the schools in our neighborhood. What will our future be? That question will be answered not by what I say, but our faithfulness to the vision and purpose God has given us.

The resurrection story of Jesus Christ is our story. It tells us that even the dry bones will live. Jesus came to breathe God’s ruach into all people, calling them from death to life. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and preached God’s hope for all people. But this gospel is a message of new life. Not like the old life, where the temple was only for certain people, when no one listened to their priests in the temple. The new life in Christ is for all people who spoke all kinds of languages. Even the Swedes heard this gospel in their own language heard the good news of the gospel in their own language over a hundred years ago when this congregation started. Now it’s our turn. Let’s close by standing and saying together our vision purpose statements.

Our Purpose Boldly reaching out with open hearts to plant the seeds of Jesus Christ’s love. Grace Vision Statement By God’s grace, we will grow through Spirit filled worship, programs and outreach to all in our community. Our congregation has a proud history. For over a hundred years, God has blessed us and we have been a blessing to the world. As for the future, let us follow God’s vision and purpose for us, and the ruach of God will continue to breath life into us until Jesus comes down and the new creation begins. Amen