{"id":5590,"date":"2017-04-05T06:00:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=5590"},"modified":"2017-04-05T06:00:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T11:00:04","slug":"ebrethren-4-5-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2017\/04\/05\/ebrethren-4-5-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Can these bones live?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Matt DeBall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Matt DeBall, coordinator of Donor Communications<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hand of the LORD came upon me, and\u2026 set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones…. [God] said to me, \u2018Mortal, can these bones live?\u2019 I answered, \u2018O Lord GOD, you know.\u2019 Then [God] said to me, \u2018Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.\u2026 I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live\u2019\u201d (Ezekiel 37:1-5).<\/em><\/p>\n

Nothing reveals death and destruction more clearly than a large heap of bones. For Ezekiel, this vision represented the destruction of his beloved people\u2014the destruction of God\u2019s chosen nation. Ezekiel must have been horrified and full of despair as he surveyed this valley of death.<\/p>\n

Though our circumstances may not be as dire as Ezekiel\u2019s vision, they can sometimes feel very similar. Even without intentionally searching, it\u2019s easy to find decay in our world\u2014in the brutal destruction of human life, in the ever-widening chasm of animosity between opposing groups, and, in general, in the diminishing focus to care for all people. If God asked us if broken forms could be restored, our words might mimic those of Ezekiel\u2014whether of despair (\u201cO Lord, [only] you know [if it\u2019s possible]\u201d) or even disgust (\u201cO Lord, [surely] you know [it isn\u2019t possible]\u201d). What reason could we have to respond differently?<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the God who asks the question is also the God who answers it. In Ezekiel\u2019s vision, God instructed him to prophesy to the bones, and in response, God breathed new life into them and regenerated those broken bodies. This was a promise of restoration for Israel, but was it just a vision or a metaphor? Surely such things don\u2019t happen in real life.<\/p>\n

As we approach Easter, we remember that God does more than tell wonderful stories. We remember Jesus, the Savior, who became a lifeless bag of bones but did not stay that way. Though the conditions of nature declare that dry bones cannot be re-animated, the Creator and Redeemer of all life is not bound by these principles. What was only a shadow of hope in the vision of Ezekiel is fully realized in the resurrection of Jesus. And what God has done once, God can surely do again.<\/p>\n

The resurrection power of God still works today. The new life of Jesus is the new life that we experience in following him. The resurrected body of Jesus is represented each year in the new life of plants and flowers. Though we may not see renewal in all areas and realms of life, God invites us to speak to any pile of bones, declaring God\u2019s promise for restoration.<\/p>\n

May we have the courage to accept God\u2019s promise for restoration and declare it to a world full of death and decay. May God once again breathe new life into dry bones.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the work of the Church of the Brethren at www.brethren.org<\/a> or make an Easter gift to the ministries that you love at www.brethren.org\/give<\/a> .<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

(Read this issue of eBrethren<\/a>)\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt DeBall, coordinator of Donor Communications \u201cThe hand of the LORD came upon me, and\u2026 set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones…. [God] said to me, \u2018Mortal, can these bones live?\u2019 I answered, \u2018O Lord GOD, you know.\u2019 Then [God] said to me, \u2018Prophesy to these bones,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[357],"class_list":["post-5590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebrethren","tag-ebrethren"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}