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Come Back to Me and Live- A Midweek Lenten Sermon based on Ezekiel 37
Come Back to Me
And Live
Ezekiel 37:1-14
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ assure you that the Holy Spirit has been breathed into Your Life and that you Live.
Valley of the Empty Sanctuary
Will these seats be filled?
As I look out over this nearly empty sanctuary, I think I understand how Ezekiel felt looking out over the valley filled with dry bones.
I will be honest, it is hard to do this, looking out over empty seats where there should be life. Where a sermon should bring smiles, and deeper thoughts when a call for repentance might bring some tears when the announcement of forgiveness brings from those seats a full, powerful and joy-filled amen!
And I almost hear the Lord asking me, as He once asked Ezekiel, a question. “Can these seats be filled” When will Concordia’s sanctuary be filled again with life?
And all I can answer is the same answer, O Sovereign Lord, you alone know the answer to that!
He does… but I wish I could do what Ezekiel did next… and speak and see a miracle take place.
Are we dry bones?
Is our Hope gone?
Are We finished?
As I talk to many of our people, and others who are reaching out, the words of the dry bones resonate with what I am hearing. There in verse 11, are the words of complaint.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ Ezekiel 37:11 (NLT2)
Though many people have a good attitude about this, many talk of the weariness, even the times of tears that cannot be stopped…
We grow weary, and hope isn’t gone, but it does seem a long way off in the distance. We miss each other, the handshakes, the hugs, the elbows we usually pass off to each other. Obviously, the “the Lord is with you and also with you’s” and the hands that reach out an receive the body and blood of Christ.
We are weary, we feel isolated, we feel like the people who Ezekiel wrote too – who were scattered and distant, and not “at home”, even as we are stuck in our homes. They weren’t literally the bones in the valley, but they certainly felt that way.
Which I think we understand, at least in the present moment
Again we don’t know our hope is gone, but it feels like it. We don’t know the effect on our people, but it doesn’t seem good.
So we cry out to God, together… and ask that the Holy Spirit breaths new life into us…
And God has promised that Spirit, the one Jesus calls the Comforter, will do just that.
Come Holy Spirit – Come comforter –
He will bring us back!
He will return us Home, He will gather us
There is our hope, as the Holy Spirit has already, because of the blood of Christ, defeated death. That’s symbolized by the cartilage, muscles, and skin coming back on the skeletons.
But then there is a pause, and life is breathed back in – the Spirit of God, which breathed life into us… once again comes and breathes life into us, and the process of bringing us into the presence of God.
Making us know God is at home with us, wherever we are.
Helping us know that He will restore us to each other…
He is bringing He people back to life – His great army as Ezekiel describes.
And it won’t take as long as it took for Ezekiel’s vision to come to pass.
For God has already guaranteed this promise of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us, first at the cross and resurrection, and then in our Baptism. The Spirit has come to us, we are its temple – and God will never ever leave or forsake us.
This is our greatest asset in times like this, the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life as we say in the creed, the description of why we have hope, the description of what makes life, life.
This is our hope in this, the word of the Holy Spirit.
There is an old prayer I would like to end with…
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them, the fire of your love!”
Come, fill the place, and every place where people are watching.. AMEN!
This Child Asks, “God, what can I do to please you?”
The Pantheon, a place once dedicated to worship of idols but reborn to host the worship of God. May our lives tell a similar story as we realize what God does to us in baptism!
Devotional Thought for our days:
4 But even though we were dead in our sins God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ – it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved – and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve – it was God’s gift to you. No one can pride himself upon earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are we owe to the hand of God upon us. We are born afresh in Christ, and born to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do. Ephesians 2:4 (Phillips NT)
195 Just now, Jesus, when I was considering my wretchedness, I said to you: Allow yourself to be taken in by this son of yours, just like those good fathers, full of kindness, who put into the hands of their little children the presents they want to receive from them… knowing perfectly well that little children have nothing of their own. And what merriment of father and son, even though they are both in on the secret!
St. Josemaria’s words give a definition to my greatest fear in life. That because of my wretchedness, because of who I perceive myself to be, I will never, ever do anything for God that pleases Him.
It just won’t happen, despite a desire to do it, despite an attempt to dedicate my life to serve Him, and led people to Him. There are days when it seems to happen, but those days are far apart, and seem more like an accident than anything I really do.
The challenge is in getting my mind off of my wretchedness, and see what God is doing around me. It’s not easy to do at times, as my own failures and wretchedness dominate my landscape. The sins that seem so obvious, and even the things I strive to do like my sermons, seem to fall so short, so often failing to show people what they need to know, the presence of God in their lives.
But it is that very presence I need to see, as God works through us, His hand masterfully, artfully guiding us, doing the work He planned for us to accomplish.
It is only by seeing His presence, by resting safely in His arms, that I can see this. It is only by relenting, and meditating on His love, that this assurance, this peace, can comfort a soul that is not as wretched as it thinks.
I know God does work through me, like the Father who helps the child create the gift to be given back to the Father. Or the Father who makes the gift the son brings truly become something special. What I need to do is let this amazing, wonderful truth sink deeply into my heart and soul, creating a joy that is described as unspeakable by the Apostle Peter.
I would imagine that I am not the only one….. so let us pray for each other!
Lord, Have mercy on us, and give us the ability to know this joy, to know that the Spirit works through us, doing what is pleasing to the Father! AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 876-880). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
