A Song of Hope in a Strange Land

A Sermon Inspired by Ezekiel 37:1-14

Part 2 of #DaysofHope Sermon Series 

(a worship series adapted with permission from 
HOPE: Living with Confident Expectation Creative Brief 

by The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection)

Abraham Rattner, In the Valley of the Dry Bones (study for "Ezekiel"), chinese ink, Smithsonian American Art Museum

“I haven’t felt this disoriented by world events since 9/11,” my friend Mike said to me this past week in a text message conversation as we tried to make sense of all that is happening around us in the world alongside God’s promise of hope throughout Scripture.

Last week, as we turned to the Psalms in search of hope, Psalm 40 reminded us that we are to live by putting all of our hope in the Lord. When we put our hope in God, we are trusting God’s promise that there is a better future coming, no matter how bad the present seems. We learned, from Walter 

Brueggemann, that the Biblical witness testifies that we live life through three seasons:

1.     Orientation – when things are going well and we are pretty happy

2.     Disorientation – when life falls apart and it feels like everything we ever knew for sure gets thrown out the window

3.     Reorientation – when the broken pieces of life start to come back together again to create a beautiful mosaic of a new normal

Today, we are going to turn to the prophets to discover how we can live with hope when life falls apart. The prophets largely operated in seasons of disorientation in the life of Israel, preaching and ministering to the people when everything Israel felt like they had ever known about themselves got thrown out the window. And, though the prophets are famous for their harsh warnings and their direct challenge to live according to God’s justice, the dominant message of the prophets are words of hope. Hope for people who God loves even when life falls apart.

Because, my friend Mike is right. We have not experienced as difficult a season of disorientation like this collectively since 9/11. Yet, seasons of disorientation are part of our life. Every generation has at least one such season that comes to dominant their collective memory…that moment of history where you will always remember where you were when you heard. Just imagine the seasons of disorientation we have faced over the past 100 years.

As a nation, we’ve seen two world wars, several regional wars like the one in Korea and Vietnam, a cold war that went on for decades, the attacks on 9/11 and the ensuing war on terrorism. There have been assassinations, like JFK and MLK, that seared the images of history in our minds. There was the Great Depression and then, periodically, several recessions. And there have been fatal school shootings every year since Columbine in 1999, robbing us and our children of their sense of safety. And, now, the coronavirus and the great lockdown.

Israel knew what it was like to live in a season of disorientation. In 605 BC, Judah, the land of the Israelites, was a tiny nation caught in the middle of a fight between the superpowers of Egypt and Babylon. These two empires were locked in a battle for control of the trade routes of the ancient world, trade routes that just happened to run right through Judah. When the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians and took control of Judah, the king of Babylon collected tribute money from Israel for its protection and took some leaders, names you might recognize like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to be advisors back in Babylon.

Yet the Israelites disliked life under the Babylonian rule, and so in 597 BC, backed by the Egyptians, they rebelled against their conquerors. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar defeats the uprising, plunders God’s temple in Jerusalem, stealing gold and other valuables, and takes the scholars and leaders of Jerusalem back to Babylon with him. One of the leaders taken in this first phase of exile is the prophet Ezekiel.

In 587 BC, the Israelites rise up against Babylon again, and this time Nebuchadnezzar brings the whole power of his armies and empires to completely crush the rebellion. Listen to how the Scripture recounts the scene of total destruction in 2 Kings. “Now Zedekiah rebelled against the Babylonian king. So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s rule, on the tenth day of the month, Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem with his entire army….He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all of Jerusalem’s houses. He burned down every important building. The whole Chaldean army under the commander of the guard tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem. Then Nebuchadnezzar the commander of the guard exiled the people who were left in the city.”

Israel is left hopeless. Its city has been leveled. The Temple, the place where God dwelled among the people, has been destroyed. Its king brought low and led away in chains. Its army and soldiers killed. The people are left in complete and utter hopelessness, forced to live in Exile in Babylon. The Psalmist captures the Israelites despair in Psalm 137as he asks, “By the water of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion….How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

This history is the backdrop to Ezekiel’s vision that we read in today’s Scripture lesson. Ezekiel is prophesying to a people living in exile. A people whose holy place has been destroyed. A people whose hope is dead. A people who wonder if they will ever find their way home. A people that worry life will never get back to normal. A people who feel like a valley of dry bones. The Babylonian exile is one of the most important stories in the Old Testament because it is the defining historical event for how Israel knows and understands itself. It becomes part of the story for every Jew, every Christian, every person who worships the God of Israel after.

Because, we can see ourselves in this story. All of us have been in exile at some point in our lives. Even before this current crisis, all of us have found ourselves in a hopeless situation at some point, wondering if life was really worth going on, asking where God is, questioning why God isn’t saving us yet? If the prophets’ words can bring hope to the Israelites in exile, then they can be words of hope for you and me in our hopeless situations, too. Even in this exile moment we are experiencing right now, where over 67,000 people have died in the US from COVID-19 and 3.8 million individuals (more people than the populations of Chicago and New York City combined) have applied for unemployment in the six weeks since the coronavirus outbreak.

Yet, Ezekiel offer the Israelites and now us hope even in the midst of exile. Ezekiel has a vision of a valley of dry bones. For years, Ezekiel has been living in exile, hearing reports of the destruction back in his homeland, watching the soul of his people gradually wither and die. Ezekiel knows that his people have become as lifeless as this valley of dry bones. They have lost heart because it’s hard to sing God’s song in a strange land.

And, so, God asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live? Can this people who have lost their heart, their spirit, their soul…can they find life again?”

Ezekiel answers, “God, only you know.”

And, before we hear another word, we know the answer is yes because we know the God who Ezekiel names is the God of Israel, the God who created the world—the entire universe—and everything in it, the God who delivered the Israelites’ ancestors from slavery in Egypt, the God who made a covenant—who established an intimate relationship—with them, the God who raised up judges and kings and prophets to lead them, and the God who called them back to life and faithfulness again and again and again even when they chose death and disobedience. We know these bones can live again because the God who Ezekiel names can make a way where we see no way. That God is a God of miracle.

And, so, God says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the bones and tell them to live again. I am going to resurrect my people and send them home to the promised land I gave them, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

I imagine Ezekiel watching the valley of bones, one by one, reform into living breathing bodies, turning to God and saying, “Wow! What good news of great hope! When can we expect this deliverance, Lord?”

Seventy years. God’s people would wait in exile for seventy years before they would return to their homeland, before they would be able to rebuild the temple, the one that Jesus would teach and preach and pray in.

When we want deliverance, what God offers is hope. We like quick fixes, instant gratification. We like to order from Amazon, and get the package in two days. We want to be able to order our groceries online and pick them up at the store in two hours without ever leaving our cars. Of course, those things that used to happen quickly are moving more slowly right now. God does promise deliverance, but reminds us through the words of the prophets that we may not experience in the timeframe we would like. God’s deliverance often comes slowly, but, as we wait, God offers us hope, hope that breathes the new life of God’s Spirit into our tired, weary, dry bones.

Often, this hope comes to us through other people, like the prophets. Where have you experienced hope in the midst of all that is going on through the words or actions of another person?

Last week, Mrs. Louise Smith, a beloved member of Adamsville First United Methodist, turned 104 years old. Usually, there would be a big party at Ms. Louise’s assisted care facility, and church members, community members, family, and friends would gather to celebrate the record-breaking birthday. Yet, in this season, such a gathering isn’t possible. So, instead, those same loved ones sent cards and organized a drive-by parade to show Ms. Louise that, even while we can’t be together, she is not alone!

Part of the way we feel God’s help and hope and care in this season is through the people who demonstrate that to us. How can you reach out and care for people who are having a hard time right now? Do you know someone who lost their job or some of their income? How can you be a blessing to them right now? What about the homebound members of our church and community? We are all getting a sense right now of what their everyday reality has been like. How can you communicate your love and care to them?

Hope takes on flesh and blood in Ezekiel’s vision, because that is how God is. 

When God wanted us to know God’s love, God put skin on and came to live among us as Jesus. When we want others to know God’s love, we show up through relationship. The volunteers of the Adamsville First UMC “Come and See” Community Kitchen have been showing up for over 70 seniors, some of the members in our community who are most at risk, by delivering hot meals to their homes twice a week since mid-March. Through their love and relationship, they are inviting others to see the hope God gives us even in this crisis. No matter what we are facing, God will always be with us. God will always be for us. And that the source of our hope.

Isaiah, another prophet who God used to bring hope to God’s people, reminded Israel of God’s faithful love. May we also hear and be reminded of God’s goodness today through Isaiah’s words:

“Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn’t grow tired or weary. His understanding is beyond human reach, giving power to the tired and reviving the exhausted. Youths will become tired and weary, young men will certainly stumble; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will fly up on wings like eagles; they will run and not be tired; they will walk and not be weary.” (Isaiah 40:28-31). 

Thanks be to God. Amen.