Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14 says:

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

      I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

 11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

 

If you’ve read the text before and decided to skip it as I regularly do when I am dominated by my American/lazy ways, reread it so that it is fresh on your mind.

I hope that no one takes me as trying to be preachy or simply listing Bible-study ideas or that I think I am something that no one else is. In fact, maybe the things that Christians talk about on a regular basis should be things that are Bible-study worthy… But PLEASE understand, as my close friends do, that I know I fail at an incredible amount of things. My life has only proven that without Christ, I am not only bound to fail but WILL fail. I know that I have many shortcomings and that Christ is still working on me and always will be! Also, to my two friends (about 50% of the readers of this blog) who were at the Bible study that I greatly miss when I said this, I am sorry. I am writing this primarily to remind myself of the commitment I spoke aloud to other believers. I need to be reminded why and what statements and ideas I have dedicated myself to.

With all of that said, at the beginning of this year I was prompted with a question. Marty – a great man/singer/preacher/small group leader/now church planter – asked those of us at his small group what changes were we really going to focus on making this coming year. What spiritual journeys are we focused on embarking this coming year? Little did I know that God had been building up knowledge inside of me to answer this question the entire past semester. I wrote a 10-page paper on Ezekiel 34-48 focusing on chapters 34, 37 and 47 (which my dad said he enjoyed reading!). I waited the entire conversation to add my $.02. I speak a lot during get-togethers but I am tentative when to speak because I generally dominate the conversation. Knowing this would probably be a lengthy rant – as this blog might be becoming already – I decided to not speak. Finally towards the end of the small group I was about to burst. Marty asked if there was anyone else who wanted to speak. The Spirit was saying… now! Now! NOW! Since no one answered Marty said, “If no one has anything to say,” before I interrupted him. Thus it began…

I have been thoroughly upset with the church lately – as is every member of the church. Know that I am trying to not focus on complaining but changing. So I started with telling everyone else this vision I have been having. Ezekiel’s vision is one like nothing else in the Bible. In it we see resurrection that leads to life and prosperity; resurrection that happens by the Spirit – as it did with our beloved King. In it we see dead, lifeless bones with no meat or purpose to them. They simply are. Interestingly enough, the Lord asks Ezekiel if these bones can live again which we just read Ezekiel’s answer to. Then the Lord tells the mortal to command the bones to hear the Word of the Lord! Live again! Be active, be human, LIVE! And the bones are resurrected. Then the Lord tells the mortal to command the Spirit to enter into these bones! Now what does this mean? Can we command the Spirit; do we have some sort of power that commands the nature of this world? I’ve been wrestling with this for a while. Expect another post… In the end these lifeless, dry bones are resurrected, the Spirit enters into them giving them breath and making them human once more.

So many times in the church I feel as though there is no life. There may be enthusiasm, but is there life? We (myself included) sing songs to a God Who we claim brings life to our bodies and quenches our every thirst. Yet I feel as though I am involved in a play in which dead bones are bouncing about and singing as though part of a collection of entertaining marionettes. We sing, we (don’t) dance, we shout, we claim that we have victory. Yet we go into the week expecting to be defeated, to end up depressed, to end up right back where we were last Sunday morning. The glory of Easter does not stop at the forgiveness of sins! More is to be said! Jesus overcame the grave; His Spirit resurrected Him, conquering sin, evil, and anything standing in His way of restoring us! Jesus’ resurrection is not to stop with Jesus. Our resurrection is not a far away date. Jesus is looking to make us human again! We are to be alive, to be restored, to be human again! We are not to be constantly dominated by anything Satan throws at us. We are to dominate through the name of Jesus who has resurrected our dry bones.

My focus to change for this year is to learn to command dead bones to come back to life, to reveal the worthless things that fill our lives, and to pray my guts out so that the Spirit will resurrect our lifeless bodies into something that He truly finds joy in! I am most likely going to fail and that is something that I’m wrestling with is ok… But I have to throw myself out there and step out in faith! Who knows, I might walk on water! And I might see Christ resurrect a few piles of lifeless bones.

Learning How to Live, as we were supposed to live

Over Christmas break a song that dominated my mind was "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". It is a song that, along with "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer", so many people know from their childhood and sometimes tragic youth group Christmas caroling experience. But contemplating the concept of Christ, this song fits perfectly. It explains so many theologically incredible points. The whole idea makes me emotionally confused; that a holy God would make Himself limited to the rules of a physically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, etc. fallen world to come and suffer for people who will definitely continue to stab Him in the back after they kill Him. I definitely feel the great sorrow and guilt of my problems and short-comings that nailed Him to that tree but also feel the victory that comes through His blood! This Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is living in us (which I will address in a different post) so that we may have a community marked by His power and love. When I see His infinite love in this context and His desire for us to live focused on this point I begin to question a lot that the church does. Many have said that blogs of our generation are filled with church-hating propaganda, and that is not what I am desiring to do. I desire to change it. 

            I have questioned God before why God didn't make independent, self-sufficient beings. He knew that if sin entered the world we would be selfish. We would not seek to meet the needs of others especially when it requires us to give up our own time, energy, money and other resources. So why would God create beings that would need each other but not take care of each other, thus causing hurt continually to other humans. But we must not focus on the state of this fallen world, rather the intended design. God's idea of a people following after Him is one marked by its community to each other and devotion to Him. These are one in the same thing. When a teacher of the Law asks Jesus which commandment is the most important He answers that it has two parts that are one in the same: to love the true God and love your neighbor. You can't fully love God without loving your neighbor. You can't fully love your neighbor without loving God. The two are parts of the same message and commandment. To love the person next to you at all times of the day will certainly teach you to be selfless and care whole-heartedly about the other person's needs. In this light we see why God created us to be dependent on others and ultimately Him, because He works through other people. The true beauty of the people of God is not that they are better than the other religions or that they are a "special" people, but rather that we are a loving people. We are a people marked by our care for one another, our selflessness of everything that we are and have, and our interdependence on the people around us who live in this beautiful reflection of the community that we see in the Trinity. 

            So this is the beautiful web of interdependence that God has created us to be in. It is the primary focus of Christ's teachings (the coming of His kingdom, well what is His kingdom? Expect another post...) and the passion of His life as a man. This is what we are to focus on as well. If this is the only thing that we are supposed to do - becoming this loving Christ is what we are called to strive for, fight for, pray for, and live for - then why do we fail so miserably? If we are to take care of the homeless, poor, starving, elderly, illegal immigrants and all other neglected groups of minorities why do so many depend on the government? Why do we call the cops to remove a bum from our church property as we drive off in our gas-guzzling SUVs? Unfortunately the Black Eyed Peas and Snoop Dogg can show up Christians when they make songs about "Where is the Love?" and talking about loving others at their concerts. How can this be! Surely we have many shortcomings but how come people view the church as judgmental (being moralistic to unbelievers) and hurting many situations? Is it because we are failing at what we are attempting to do? Or is it possibly because we are not trying as we think we are; are we practicing what we truly preach? Or maybe that's the problem; we're preaching the wrong things. Love is not self-seeking.

            We need to focus on understanding the love of Jesus. He was so overwhelmed with compassion and love for people that He couldn't help but give everything of Himself to them! Once we understand that and let ourselves be transformed by this compassion maybe, just maybe, we will have compassion for others.

            Mother Theresa had messed up feet. She didn't have any disease or disability from birth. She would go through the piles of donated shoes to the orphans and take the worst pair for herself, so that no one else had to wear them. Years of this sacrifice took a tole on her feet so that she could not walk right...

            My intent, as I stated before, is not to tear people down but rather unveil the lies that seem to dominate the minds of North Americans. Love is sacrifice. Love takes on suffering. Love is... loving others... and trusting God to take care of us. In this beautiful community that is supposed to be marked by the power and love of God how are we trying to love others? How are we trying to love our close family/friends (Jerusalem), our neighbors (Judea), our greater community (Samaria), our world (the ends of the earth)? How are we trying to change the ourselves, our friends and the church to become this incredible community that God has given us plans to build?

            Loving people is a tough struggle. We must fight our guts out to learn how to live, as we were supposed to live.

 

 

“Love.”          - Jesus

Love

Over Christmas break a song that dominated my mind was "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". It is a song that so many people know from their childhood and sometimes tragic youth group Christmas charolling 

rhythm

In my practical issues in youth ministry my professor (Jason Lief) said something that has been making me want to jump out of my shoes! Background: We are learning the best way to get across the gospel is through story telling. Stories help you to relate, stick longer in your mind, and can communicate things that a 3 point sermon simply cannot no matter how hard you try. Stories communicate our history as the people of God - a community that has its origins dating to the beginning of time. When we learn our story we find our identity and place in the story. Our identity allows us to stand against peer pressure, cultural pressure and even temptations. When we understand who we are and why God wants us to follow His example we find motivation and purpose, dominating many of the enemies schemes. In a postmodern world that is seeking experience and guarding its heart and mind with the "dragons of cynicism and skepticism" we must connect in an intimate way to the heart of the person, sneaking past the guards through story telling. Thus a youth pastor must be an artist of story telling, stretching the imaginations of an inarticulate generation.

So in this context we look at what is our story and how we tell it. In Sarah Arthur's The God Hungry Imagination she tells about how C.S. Lewis and J.R Tolkein are Christians who desire to tell the story of God under the radar, challenging the imagination of youth and adults alike without being explicit as to turn them off. The thing that has driven me crazy since Monday is the way that Lewis and Tolkein tell the story of creation. In the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia series we see both Middle Earth and Narnia being created by song. In Narnia Asian, the Christ figure, sings Narnia into existence. In Lord of the Rings there is a communal sense of creating Middle Earth (Correct me if I am wrong for I have not read either series and am doing this without the book present). And that is how I read Genesis 1; it is written as poetry, a story told through poetic rhetoric. We see God hovering over the chaotic waters and speaking things into existence. This is not a monotone voice in which God says, "land". Rather it is a symphony. Here we see God dancing with His creation and constantly singing over what He has made "good". Now we are to fit into this song, this dance of life. Every person, plant and created being is a part of this song. Sometimes we are out of tune, as Rob Bell would say. But we are still a part of the great composure that is God's "good" creation. It is this beautiful melody that our life is a part of. We become loyal co-creators by living our lives in sync with God's original masterpiece. It is His composition that we live in. Such a beautifully festive, emotional and joyful noise it is! The world is constantly writing its choruses. Our decisions strike the chords of its verses. Creation unites as one in the beat of its rhythm.