Dare to believe

Dead is not dead to God.
 

 

"It is a challenge to live 'in the faith' in our times."

  Bishop Marie Jerge  at Synod Assembly June 7th 

 

We have a skewed perspective about the times in which we live; we are simply too close to the subject.  However, those who study these things speak of our times as 'transitional' and 'rapidly evolving.'  The technology I worked to understand 3 years ago is extinct and everyday something new is on my door step.  The economy is so unpredictable we must run to keep up with the jobs we have in order to be able to do them in the next 5 years.  For the middle class, the middle is rapidly shrinking as we are squeezed by the changing job market, the cost of living and our own expectations of how life should be.

God speaks to Ezekiel and tells him to prophesy to the dry bones of the valley - bones of soldiers  who died years before in an unsuccessful attempt at defending their homeland.  Mixed in were the bones of exiles dragged from their place of comfort and livelihood and forced into life in a foreign land and culture.  The bones were dry - no flesh, no muscle, no life.

Then God commands the bones to come together, bone to bone, and flesh to appear, and sinew to grow and skin to cover and then finally, breath to enter into them.  These bones will know life again, God announces.  Dead is not dead to God.

However you understand this powerful story, it illustrates the incomprehensible core of our faith: in the hand of God, the dead can live again. 

It is not only challenging to believe that, it is even more challenging to live your life as if it were true. When our path seems strewn with dry bones, when signs of life are difficult to find and more difficult to trust, our faith stands naked in the bright sun.  Then we tell the story of Ezekiel, the story of the widow of Nain, the story of Hannah's child, and ultimately the story of our Lord: in the hand of God, new life is but a breath away.

more than a fleeting moment

 

Spirit or breath or wind.....those are translations of the Greek word 'pneuma'.....and all of them give the impression of something fleeting, just out of our grasp, always on the move.  That description works.  God's Spirit moves among us, tantalizing us like the touch of a breeze or the mere wisp of a fragrance.  The Spirit is always on the move - bringing life to others and others to a place of life. 

If, however, you are under the impression that this moving, changing, ephemeral Spirit lacks power then I want to remind you of two things: Hurricane Sandy and the resurrection.  A wind that knocked houses off their foundations and a tomb that could not contain death.

Never underestimate the power of God's breath at work.