Sunday, March 29, 2020

“Hope in the Time of Pandemic” (Ezekiel 37:1-14)


     We are living in stressful times.  I think that I can safely say that most of us—if not all of us—are somewhere between “kind of stressed” to extremely anxious.  An infectious disease outbreak can do that to a person because they are one of the most distressing forms of disaster to deal with psychologically because of the uncertainty they cause.  With other disasters we know what we are up against if they impact us because we know that we have survived and that the worse is over once the event is over.  COVID-19 is a whole different creature . . . an unknown . . . that we know very little about.  It is creepy to think that we are dealing with something we know nothing about, that it is among us, and that it isn’t going away without a fight to come back another day.  It is weird to think that it is not acting alone . . . that it recruits carriers who unknowingly spread the virus putting the lives of others at risk . . . and, that we could potentially be that carrier.

     Thus, it is that we are doing the things that the government and health experts have asked us to do.  We have practiced social distancing . . . we stay six feet apart if we go out into the public . . . we stay home except to do the essential business we need to do to stay home . . . we clean everything we touch . . . and, we wash our hands constantly.  We have shut down schools, businesses, and houses of worship.  We are living our lives in a new reality . . . a reality we are not used to.  And, it is stressful.

     It is stressful to be separated from what we know . . . separated from how we normally live . . . and stressful to be challenged to think differently about what we always thought about life and God’s presence in all of it.  Such stressfulness can make us feel helpless and hopeless in the time of this pandemic.
 
     Remember, we are not alone.

     Think back to the scripture reading we heard earlier . . . about Ezekiel’s vision.  Ezekiel was a prophet called by God to prophesize to the people . . . the people who ignored God’s call upon their lives, refused to listen to the warnings, and then received their consequences as the Babylonians came and destroying their homeland, killing its people, and hauling the survivors back to Babylonia to live in exile. These were a people who had lost everything . . . families and friends, homes and businesses, and the Temple where God dwelled.  They were cut off from God.  They had lost it all!  Here was a stressed group . . . here was a group who had lost all hope.  Losing it all put them among the walking dead for they considered themselves as being as good as dead.

     It was to this group of people—God’s people—that Ezekiel is called upon to speak and share the vision God has given him.  It is a grim vision of a battlefield strewn with the bones of all those killed . . . a stark reminder to those who stumble upon it.  For as far as Ezekiel can see he sees bones . . . lifeless, dry bones.  And, God questions him, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

     I imagine that Ezekiel thought to himself that there wasn’t any chance these bones could ever live, but he deferred by answering God: “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”  From that point on we witness in the story the power and glory of God as God makes those bones come to life.  God tells the prophet to prophesy the word of the Lord . . . that God will bring them to life . . . that they will live once again.  And, it happened just as God said it would.

     It was a pretty elaborate and powerful demonstration and illustration being provided to Ezekiel about the people of Israel . . . about what God could and would do for them.  God wanted them to know that if God could bring bones back to life, surely God could do the same for them as a people.  Such was the message Ezekiel was to deliver to the people stuck in exile.

     It was a message of hope for an exiled people still mourning the loss of family and friends, home, business, and temple . . . still mourning their way of life . . . of relating to God.  There is hope in the darkness they were enduring.  Standing in the multitude of dry bones brought back to life, the people are offered a new alternative of reality and of relating to God.  Because God is present, they can breathe . . . stand ready for the future . . . and look forward in hope.

     I like that idea of “they could now breathe”.  How many times have we been told to “calm down and breathe” when we have been stressed out and hit full panic mode?  God is telling them that they are not abandoned just because they have lost their homeland and the temple.  No, God is still with them . . . God tells them, “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live . . . then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it.
     I think that the message that Ezekiel shares is relevant to us in this time of pandemic.  We are not alone; God is with us . . . God will always be with us.  Through these uncertain times . . . through the stress of it all . . . God is with us . . . and, we will pull through it.  We will pull through it, but we are quickly learning that it will not be life as it once was . . . it won’t be “new life”, but “renewed life”.  Ezekiel’s vision is a resurrection story, but not a pretty one.  But resurrection stories are not pretty because resurrection is not new life, not the perfect promise of newborn baby, but renewed life, life that is forged from death . . . even the risen Jesus bore his scars.  It is a message of hope born out of brokenness . . . a new beginning.  God is present.

     In these uncertain times our worry and stress can become barriers blocking us from living our lives in love with God and others.  Our worry and stress can blind us to the presence of God . . . God’s grace and love . . . and, God’s call to love as we have been loved.  It is ironic that this pandemic is exploding during the season of Lent . . . that it has become our vision of the valley of dry bones.  It has made us stop, think, and recalculate our bearings of how we relate to God and to one another.  It is a whole new way of seeing God and others, and how we respond.
 
     We need to remember; God is with us.  Because of this we have hope in the time of pandemic . . . hope in our worry and stress.  We are not alone; we are the children of God.  We just need to breathe and know . . . God is with us . . . always with us . . . so, lets get with God.  Amen.
    

No comments:

Post a Comment