Sunday, October 12, 2025

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sermon Title: “Can These Bones Live?”

Trunk or Treat is less than three weeks away. It’s my understanding that Tomoka has been doing Trunk or Treat for at least 10 years. I’m excited to see all the fun and kids that night. My girls are excited, they’re both going to be mermaids this year. Make sure to invite your friends and family members. Especially if you have grandkids, this would be a great event to invite them to attend. We’d love to have you volunteer as well.

In the Spirit of this season, we’re doing a fun series called “Spooky Scriptures.” We’re looking at some scriptures that seem to tie in with Spooky Season.

My girls love driving around and seeing the Halloween Decorations in people’s yards. We have not decorated our house for Halloween, other than we do have a fall wreath up, but the girls keep pestering me, “When are we going to decorate for Halloween?”

One of the houses in our neighborhood has a big glow in the dark spider web, and a skeleton that looks like it’s coming out of the yard. Skeltons are the inspiration for today’s scripture: Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones.

In the Old Testament we have the Prophets. Its interesting, our Disciple Bible Study is studying the prophets right now. And for those of you in Disciple right now, or those who have studied the Prophets before, you know that the prophets can be tough books to read.

In Bible Times, a Prophet was someone who spoke on behalf of God. Often, we confuse prophets with thinking that they’re fortune tellers and people who predict the future. That could be in part, but truly a prophet simply means someone who speaks God’s truth to God’s people. Often, the prophets are speaking tough words of judgment that the people needed to hear.

In modern times, many considered Martin Luther King Jr to be a prophet, or at least speak prophetically.  His most famous “I Have a Dream” Speech is very prophetic. First, this idea of a dream sounds like prophets experiencing dreams or visions from God.

Here these words from his speech and judge for yourself if these words sound prophetic:

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

What powerful, prophetic speaking. Like prophets of the Bible, Martin Luther King Jr. used powerful language and imagery. He also spoke judgment over the injustices of his time. And he gave a vision of what the future could look like in a world without racial injustice.

So now you have a picture of a modern-day prophet.

But we’ll look to the Biblical Prophets now.

In the Old Testament we have the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. The Major Prophets aren’t any more important than the Minor Prophets, it’s just that the Major Prophets were longer books of the Bible than the Minor Prophets.

The major prophets were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel – our prophet we’re hearing from today, Daniel, and some consider Lamentations to be a prophetic book as well.

Then there are 12 minor prophets.

But again, prophets are people who speak God’s Truth to God’s People.

If you’ve ever read through all of Ezekiel, which I know I’ve done at least once, Ezekiel is a tough book to read. It can be confusing. You can wonder what in the world is happening as you read Ezekiel.

We believe Ezekiel was written about 571 BC. Ezekiel was writing to announce God’s judgment on Israel but also to foretell the eventual salvation of God’s people.

That’s the thing about the prophets, yes there’s often a lot of judgment for the people of Israel, not doing what is right. But keep reading further, and you’ll find messages of hope as well.

Ezekiel was a younger contemporary of Jeremiah, meaning they lived and were prophets about the same time. Jeremiah was writing to those still in Judah, and Ezekiel was writing to those already exiled to Babylonia.

While there is a lot of judgment in the book of Ezekiel, today’s scripture is near the end of the book where we get to the hope part.

Have you ever had a vision or dream from God?

I know, we Methodists don’t always like to share these visions or dreams if we have had them. We worry we sound a little crazy, or maybe too Pentecostal. But its ok, Methodists can have visions and dreams from God as well.

I will admit, I have not had a vision in the sense like what Ezekiel is describing.

And if you haven’t, that’s ok too. God speaks to us all in different ways.

God tends to speak to me more through a sense that this is what I should do, or through scripture, or through other people.

However, my husband Jesse has experienced visions from God before.

Don’t worry, I have Jesse’s permission to share this vision. I had him write it down for me. Just promise you won’t judge him or think he is crazy after hearing this vision. He said, “I was in my dad’s kitchen, and my mom was walking through where the garage door was, (I should mention that his mom had passed a few years before this vision) and there was a tall body of light holding the door open, and she came walking up to me, with her arms open to acquire something with a smile on her face, and it wasn’t to hug me, and then she was gone.”

In today’s scripture, Ezekiel has a vision of a valley of dry bones.

Remember, the people he is speaking to are living in exile. They are feeling hopeless, powerless, weary, dried up, you name it. Keeping this context in mind helps us understand Ezekiel’s Vision.

In Ezekiel’s vision, he is placed in the middle of a valley, and that valley is filled with dry bones. And he sees that the bones are very dry. When you hear dry, think lifeless. This scene is kind of spooky, it seems like something out of a Halloween Movie.

And the Lord asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3)

To which Ezekiel responds, “Lord you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:3)

And the Lord says this, “this is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6)

And then as the vision continues, we see bones come together, we tendons and flesh form, but still no breath. Then breath enters them, and they become an army.

This scene is creepy, it’s spooky, if we made a movie scene of it, it might give little ones nightmares. It sounds like a Zombie Scene, like something out of Night of the Living dead.

But even though it’s a creepy, spooky scene, then we get to the hopeful part: The Lord explains that these bones are the bones of the people of Israel. Their bones are dried up, and their hope is gone.

Remember, the people that Ezekiel is speaking to are living in exile. They are feeling hopeless, dead in their spirit, dried up in their faith, wondering if they will ever make it back to their homeland, and the Lord gives them these words through Ezekiel:

“My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:12-14)

This is a message of hope and new life. Yes, you might feel dead in your spirit, yes you might feel dried up in your soul, yes you might be feeling hopeless, but this isn’t the end of your story.

The Lord is saying, “I’m going to breathe a new breath of life into your dry, brittle, and dying bones. I’m a God of hope, new life, and resurrection.”

And this message of hope is not a message just for the Israelites living in exile, this is a message of hope for all of us as well.

Are you feeling dead in your spirit? Is your spirit feeling dry? Are you feeling hopeless, powerless, and helpless? Maybe the negative news stories aren’t helping you with these feelings as well.

Maybe you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, and wondering, when am I ever going to feel hopeful again? When am I ever going to feel joy again? We’ve been working on the list for All Saints Day, and we have 16 people on our list, 16 members who have passed in the last year.

That’s a lot. That’s a lot of grief for not just individuals in this church, but our congregation as a whole. So maybe our congregation needs to hear these words of hope from Ezekiel. The Lord will breathe new life into us, the Lord will breathe hope into us, the Lord will breathe resurrection into us.

This week at our Women of Faith Program, I shared about my Journey to Motherhood. And I won’t share all the details here. But I shared how I went through 2 years of infertility and then lost my first baby Leah about halfway through my pregnancy. As you can imagine, those months after that loss were grieflike no other.

Remember that vision I shared of Jesse’s? It was actually shortly before we lost our first baby. So, when we lost her, Jesse felt this sense of comfort that the vision was his mom receiving our baby and that she was in heaven.

Sometimes we don’t understand a vision from God at first, but understanding comes later. That was the case for Jesse.

But because of our loss, we can relate to those feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, and helplessness. We can relate to feeling like we’re living in the Valley of Dry Bones.

But then, I experienced hope, new life, and Resurrection through the births of my daughters Ellie and Isla. I shared with the group how Ellie’s name means “bright light, or shining light,” and she was truly so much light after so much pain and darkness.

Where in your life are you feeling hopeless and helpless? Is it in your grief over the loss of a loved one? Is it the constant negative news stories? Is it money worries? Is it worries about the future? Is it health concerns of you or a loved one?

If that’s you today, I invite you to see Ezekiel’s Vision. Not necessarily the creepy part of his vision, but the vision of good news. The vision of dead things being brought back to life.

Because that is truly the vision of Christianity. Every year on Easter we celebrate that Jesus overcame sin and death. We celebrate that we are a people of the Resurrection. We are a People of Hope and New Life. And this is not just true on Easter Sunday. This is true all the days of our lives.

We serve a God who does not leave us as dry bones. We serve a God who does not leave us hopeless, but a God who brings hope. We serve a God who brings new life and resurrection. We serve a God who brings light in the darkness.

This Halloween, as you are driving around and seeing Spooky Things, if you see a skeleton, don’t be scared, but may you be reminded of Ezekiel’s Vision: A Vision of dead things being brought back to life. If you’re feeling hopeless and asking,“Can these bones live,” may you hear the words of Jesus saying, “Yes, yes they can.” May you be reminded of new life, hope, and resurrection. May you be reminded that the worst things you are going through are not the end of your story. God is still at work, bringing hope, new life, and resurrection. These dry bones will live again.

Amen