"Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones..." So goes the spiritual rooted in today's reading from Ezekiel 37. In that passage the dry bones are Israel, and the picture is bleak. The scene is horrendous, an apparent battlefield where the dead have been left as they fell, with no burial. It is a scene of utter devastation in which God raises the question, "Can these bones live?"
In a day when the membership numbers of traditional denominations seem to be in perpetual decline, when reports of the waning influence of religion in America are cover stories in Newsweek, and when some are writing the Church's obituary, it is easy to transfer God's question to our day. "Can these bones live?"
Too often, however, this question is primarily about institutional survival. And much energy is expended talking about what venture or program or new worship gimmick might inject life into dying churches. But of course the dry bones live only because Yahweh acts, because Yahweh bestows the life giving Spirit on them.
I'm all for doing new things, for trying new programs and so on. But I hope we don't forget that it's not about us. It's about what God is doing.
Lord, show me where your Spirit is at work, and draw me into that work.
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