Yesterday was my Sabbath day.
\nI wore pajamas all day long.
\nI curled up in a chair and played video games.
\nI watched five episodes of Grey\u2019s Anatomy on the DVR.
\nI was a sloth.
\nI was exhausted.
\nI needed to stop moving,
\nstop thinking,
\nto simply be.<\/p>\n
But there is a fear
\nthat when we stop moving and thinking and doing
\nmaybe we will never want to start again.
\nMaybe once we stop
\nwe cannot start again.<\/p>\n
I got up from my chair late in the day
\nAnd my bones ached.
\nMy muscles hurt.
\nEvery joint felt like it was crying out.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get old, Katie,
\nmy dad always tells me.
\nDon\u2019t get old, because your body stops working.
\nIt starts talking back.
\nIt cries out and lets you know what aches.
\nIt tells you that you are fragile.
\nYou are merely bones and flesh.
\nYou are human.
\nYou are not invincible.
\nYou are not wonder woman.
\nYou cannot do it all.<\/p>\n
Actually, maybe I need that reminder.<\/p>\n
Maybe we need that reminder.<\/p>\n
Maybe we need this season called Lent.
\nMaybe we need to call a time out.
\nMaybe we need to remember that life is fragile.
\nLife is precious.
\nLife is fleeting.<\/p>\n
We come from nothing but dust and ashes.
\nWe will return to dust and ashes.<\/p>\n
I say those words a few dozen times a year
\nAs I stand with families over an open grave.
\nAs we gently return the bodies of their loved ones to the earth.<\/p>\n
Ashes to ashes.
\nDust to dust.<\/p>\n
And I find myself telling them\u2026
\nTelling myself\u2026
\nThat in between those two bookends
\nWe have an opportunity.
\nA beautiful opportunity.
\nTo clothe ourselves with new life as well.
\nA life that extends beyond the valley of the shadow of death.
\nA life that will overcome even the grave.<\/p>\n
Can these bones live?
\nThat is the question on the tip of our tongue
\nAs we watch our loved ones lowered into the earth.
\nCan these bones live?<\/p>\n
The prophet Ezekiel was familiar with that question.
\nCan these bones live?
\nCan life return?
\nIs this really the end of it all?<\/p>\n
He witnessed his city under siege.
\nHe saw its walls crumble.
\nHe saw the temple destroyed.
\nAnd then, he had to leave everything behind.
\nForced against his will
\nTo journey through the wilderness
\nTo a strange land
\nA foreign land
\nA hostile land.<\/p>\n
From the dust of the earth that city and temple was built.
\nAnd to dust it returned.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel also knew\u2026
\nQuite keenly he was aware
\nThat death and dust and destruction
\nWere the tools of God.<\/p>\n
He was called to name the sins of Judah
\nThe transgressions of Jerusalem
\nWith his very body
\nHis bones and his flesh
\nHe bore witness to the impending destruction.<\/p>\n
He starved himself long before the siege.
\nHe shaves his head long before he was taken prisoner.
\nHe begins to experience in his very bones
\nThe fear and trembling
\nThat would soon be upon the people.<\/p>\n
And part of him has to wonder\u2026
\nCan these bones live?<\/p>\n
Can this dead and lifeless people repent?
\nWill they see the light?
\nAre they able to change their ways?
\nWill it be too late?<\/p>\n
Babylon arrives.
\nThe city is destroyed.
\nThe people are sent away.<\/p>\n
Ashes to ashes.
\nDust to dust.<\/p>\n
When I find myself on my knees
\nLaid low in humility
\nBrought to nothing
\nI remember I am dust and ashes
\nI am the stuff of the earth<\/p>\n
And in that moment
\nSometimes there is a quiet acceptance.
\nI am dust and ashes.
\nNothing more.
\nNothing less.
\nI have reaped what I have sown.<\/p>\n
But somewhere in me there something else\u2026
\na spark.
\nsomething that dares
\nthat yearns
\nCan these bones live?
\nCan we begin again?<\/p>\n
Even if it way too late\u2026
\nIs it ever too late?<\/p>\n
After all,
\nWe began as dust.<\/p>\n
And as dust,
\nYou, God,
\nYou breathed life into us.<\/p>\n
That spark I feel.
\nThat yearning.
\nThat calling.
\nThat desire to live
\nTo truly live and love and move and serve.
\nTo do it right.
\nTo do it well.
\nThat is Your presence in me.<\/p>\n
Your breath in us.
\nStirring\u2026 calling\u2026 pushing.<\/p>\n
The city was in shambles.
\nThe people were scattered.
\nAnd there was this divine spark
\nSpeaking in Ezekiel\u2019s soul.
\nStirring\u2026 calling\u2026 pushing\u2026<\/p>\n
And that spirit led him out of himself
\nOut of captivity
\nOut of complacency<\/p>\n
Can these bones live?<\/p>\n
It was a question Ezekiel wasn\u2019t sure if he dared to utter.
\nIt was a question that he longed to speak aloud but couldn\u2019t.
\nIt was a question of hope.
\nAnd hope was now a stranger to him.<\/p>\n
So God asked the question instead.<\/p>\n
Can these bones live?<\/p>\n
Can your bones live?
\nDo you believe that I can breathe life into you again?
\nAre you willing to risk that it is not too late?<\/p>\n
Ezekiel isn\u2019t sure.
\nLord God, only you know\u2026
\nOnly God can do it\u2026
\nIf it could be done.<\/p>\n
And God calls him to stand.
\nGod calls him to speak.
\nGod calls him.
\nAnd he answers.<\/p>\n
Out of dust and ashes.
\nOut of hopelessness.
\nOut of grief.
\nOut.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel speaks.
\nAnd the bones start to shake.
\nThe earth starts to quake.
\nEverything is at once falling apart and coming together.
\nA great transformation.
\nEverything changing.
\nEverything becoming.
\nBones.
\nFlesh.
\nSinew.
\nSkin.<\/p>\n
And then there was breath.
\nGod\u2019s breath.
\nThe Holy Spirit rushing like the wind.
\nFilling those bodies.
\nStanding them up.
\nCalling them back to life.<\/p>\n
We are ashes.
\nWe are dust.
\nWe are bones.
\nWe are sinful people, brought low by our deeds.<\/p>\n
And yet\u2026
\nThere is that spark\u2026
\nthat breath\u2026
\nthat glimmer of God\u2026<\/p>\n
Telling us it is not too late.
\nIt is not too late to stand.
\nIt is not too late to live.
\nIt is not too late to love.
\nIt is not too late to repent.
\nIt is not to late to act.<\/p>\n
On my own, I can\u2019t do it.
\nI will burn out.
\nI will falter and make mistakes.
\nOn my own I\u2019m not strong enough.
\nI am dust and ashes.<\/p>\n
But\u2026 and\u2026 I am more than dust and ashes.
\nBecause I am also the Lord\u2019s.
\nAnd this body.
\nThis flesh.
\nThese bones.
\nAre filled with the Spirit.
\nAnd this body.
\nThis flesh.
\nThese bones.
\nAre part of the body of Christ.<\/p>\n
When I stop, for just a moment.
\nWhen I let my bones and flesh rest.
\nIt is then that I remember
\nGod is with me.
\nGod is in me.
\nGod is in us.<\/p>\n
Can these bones live? God asks.
\nCan this scattered and broken people live?
\nCan this church live?<\/p>\n
Only you know, Lord.<\/p>\n
So, come, Holy Spirit.
\nCome, Breath of God.
\nCome and knit us back together.
\nCome and fill us with your life.
\nHelp us to stand.
\nRaise us up.
\nSend us out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday was my Sabbath day. I wore pajamas all day long. I curled up in a chair and played video games. I watched five episodes of Grey\u2019s Anatomy on the DVR. I was a sloth. I was exhausted. I needed to stop moving, stop thinking, to simply be. But there is a fear that when…<\/span><\/p>\n