Ezekiel 37: 11-14
When I was a high school senior, our mixed choir went to Disney World for a competition. We stayed in the fancy music hotel and sight read the music printed on the curtains (it’s from Mary Poppins, by the way—or it was in 2006). Our agenda was fairly tight since we were there to compete, but we also had time to play. This was pre-“everyone-has-a-cell-phone-with-an-alarm,” so we called the lobby to schedule our wake-up call. Bright and early at 8:00 am, the phone rang and Goofy was on the other end with the loudest, boldest wake-up call I’ve ever received. He was not gentle or subtle. But after his loud message, we were awake and ready for all that awaited us.
If God could, would God channel Goofy for us, friends? If we have been asleep for too long, assuming that the exhaustion and lifelessness we feel must be the order of the day, perhaps the wake-up call we need is not a gentle nudge. We are more than dry bones asking if we can live again. We are alive.
Ezekiel’s vision of bones in the valley represent the whole people of Israel, who have been sleeping for too long. God’s promise to us is the one made to them: we can expect resurrection. No matter how dead or dry our bones may feel, God knows they can experience life again.
Even now, we enter another Advent season to wait for the new birth we need. We bend our bodies close to Bethlehem, longing for Christ to bring new life into our world once more. God wants to wake us up, so we will be ready to explore the hope, peace, joy and love that await.
Consider
In what ways is God bringing you to life? What stories of resurrection do you see around you?
Pray
God of new life, wake us up to the moments of resurrection that surround us. Wake us up to new life with you. Amen.