Wednesday morning Bible study

From the Revised Common Lectionary, our Bible readings for this coming Sunday, March 29, 2020, the 5th Sunday in Lent, Year A, are these:

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Psalm 130

Romans 8:6-11

John 11:1-45

Reading these Propers, as we call the set of readings appointed for the day (which I posted here on my +Time blog day before yesterday, Monday), we perceive a “theme” for the Sunday, and the theme is resurrection, being resurrected, brought back from the dead. If I were preaching Sunday (I’m not), I might enjoy working with Ezekiel and the Dry Bones, a good old Sunday School Bible story if ever there was one:

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

When pulling together a mid-week Bible study session, I never tried to arrive at class with a sermon equivalent, but an introduction of sorts that would put everyone in a frame of mind for whatever discussion we’d have that day. This is different in that there’s no class assembled to chat with each other and get conversation going. So what I think I’ll do, and I’m thinking as I type this, is put together some observations about this story, and the resurrection theme of which the lectionary framers made the stories of Ezekiel and the Dry Bones the introduction, and Jesus raising Lazarus the climax.

An immediate take is that God who in the beginning said “Let there be” and it was so, can do anything simply by his Word. That’s a theme of the seven day creation story in Genesis Chapter One. That’s also a theme of the Easter story when, Episcopal priest the late Martin Bell, author of The Way of the Wolf, wrote, God stepped into Jesus’ tomb on Sunday morning, said “Get up, Son”, and they went home and colored Easter eggs.

So, Word. Just as, in Sunday’s gospel story, Jesus, whom Gospel John acclaims as the Word of God, stands outside his friend’s tomb and shouts, “Lazarus, come out!!!” and the man who was dead stumbles out, obedient to the Word.

Although it's not offered as history but as Heilsgeschichte, a holy story, we see the same power of the Word at work in Ezekiel's vision of the Dry Bones, God's authoritative and commanding Word working through Ezekiel the prophet. Adonai Elohim, the Lord God, tells Ezekiel what to say, Ezekiel says it, and the music starts, the bones begin to stir and reconnect, and, word after word from God, they are remembered (which means putting the members back together, reassembling the parts), and as the story ends, what once was dead is alive again, a vast multitude.

Like Judaism, our heritage, we Christians are a religion of stories, and our stories witness to the life-giving power of God's Word, power to bring us out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life, as our Eucharistic Prayer says.

We have experience with that in real life as individually and in community we continue to recover from Category 5 Hurricane Michael, still hurting and healing, yet in some ways coming back together better than ever. With this covid-19, we are there again, hoping and praying that the power of God working in us does infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, lifting our spirits as we work through this crisis.

At any event, what I’d do with Ezekiel is look at the Sitz im Leben, the situation in life from which Ezekiel speaks as God’s prophet. Ezekiel is in exile, remember?! He begins (Ezekiel 1:1f) “In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” Ezekiel is among those in forced detention of Judeans in Babylon after the Babyonian conquest of the kingdom of Judah in 598/7 and 587/6 BC. The homeland is desolate. Jerusalem is destroyed. The southern kingdom, Judah, is dead. The people have been carried away into captivity. Ezekiel’s heart is heavy, and the hearts of all Judeans in captive exile with him. So heavy that the people’s yearning and fury is well and truly told in song:

Psalm 137:

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,

when we remembered you, O Zion.

As for our harps, we hung them up on the trees in the midst of that land.

For those who led us away captive asked us for a song,

and our oppressors called for mirth:

"Sing us one of the songs of Zion."

How shall we sing the LORD'S song upon an alien soil?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

Remember the day of Jerusalem, O LORD,

against the people of Edom, who said,

"Down with it! down with it! even to the ground!"

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,

happy the one who pays you back for what you have done to us!

Happy shall he be who takes your little ones,

and dashes them against the rock!

In exile, the people are in anguish, homesick, enraged at their captors. And so the Lord commands Ezekiel to speak words of encouragement with promise of resurrection, that Israel will live again. Ezekiel tells God’s promise as prophecy in the story of the Dry Bones, a story that carries God’s assurance. The bones are dead Israel, and God will bring all Israel back to life.

It’s a good story, Ezekiel and the Dry Bones, and teamed with Jesus and Lazarus it's a great story. A good spell. A gospel. Blessed assurance!

Along with the world around us this morning, we are in our own exile, sheltering in place. We need encouragement, hope and promise of relief, life again, especially from the Holy One. Ezekiel and the Dry Bones is a creation story, isn’t it. A new creation by God’s Word, full of hope and love.

This morning as you shelter in place against covid-19, try to identify with God's people Israel in Babylonian Exile: like them, how might today's "exile" affect your own feelings, your mood, your state of mind?

The Babylonian Exile lasted a long time, years. Imagine God's people Israel dealing with their frustration and anger and boredom to keep their sanity, to keep from going crazy: how might recalling their struggle and determination lift your spirits and help you use your time in exile fruitfully?

As illustrated in Psalm 137 (yes, it has a shockingly murderous ending!!, but did you ever feel road-rage against a stupid driver?!), in exile, God's people Israel developed bitter hatred for their Babylonian captors. Remembering their feelings, what feelings of blame and resentment may begin to stir within you as our "exile" continues?

Songs, music, art, Psalm 137 as an example, can be an outlet for facing, expressing and dealing with anger and frustration. Draw a picture, or write a poem or song, or a paragraph or two, about how this shelter in place exile is getting to you. If you don't feel creative, sing (scroll down) "By the Rivers of Babylon" with Boney M. Then sing "Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones". If you don't know the tune, make up one.

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones,

Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones,

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Toe bone connected to the foot bone

Foot bone connected to the heel bone

Heel bone connected to the ankle bone

Ankle bone connected to the shin bone

Shin bone connected to the knee bone

Knee bone connected to the thigh bone

Thigh bone connected to the hip bone

Hip bone connected to the back bone

Back bone connected to the shoulder bone

Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone

Neck bone connected to the head bone

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna rise again.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Read the lesson again, Ezekiel and the Dry Bones. Now visualize God: calm, loving, coming present in your life in exile today, as God came present with his people Israel in the Words of Ezekiel’s encouraging prophecy of hope and promise. We shall overcome, people will get through this time of trial, just as they did, to rebuild the city walls
and the Temple,
and put Jerusalem back together.

RSF&PTL
T+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3QxT-w3WMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYK9iCRb7S4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FgDles4xq8

Boney M "By the Rivers of Babylon"

"Rivers Of Babylon"

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion

When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land

When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Requiring of us a song
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land

Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart
Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight

Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart
Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion

By the rivers of Babylon (dark tears of Babylon)
There we sat down (You got to sing a song)
Ye-eah we wept, (Sing a song of love)
When we remembered Zion. (Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)

By the rivers of Babylon (Rough bits of Babylon)
There we sat down (You hear the people cry)
Ye-eah we wept, (They need their God)
When we remembered Zion. (Ooh, have the power)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSC9ev6rxeA