El Valle de los Huesos Secos

A central part of my life in Guatemala is my church.  This year Jess and I have been attending St. Mark's Episcopal Church here in Xela.  Liturgy is not always my thing, but St. Mark's is one of few (maybe the only?) churches that has an English-speaking service in Xela.  Jess and I were seeking connection and community at church and we weren't finding it at our previous church.  We have found that at St. Mark's.  It is a small congregation.  The average Sunday morning has about 5-7 congregants.  The small number doesn't stop the presence of God.  We are thankful for our church and are thankful for God's provision in that area.

The service is led by Laurel McMarlin who has also served as Bible teacher and Chaplain at IAS in years passed.  Laurel has been a great blessing for us and I am so thankful for his commitment to and clear teaching of gospel truth.  One of my favorite aspects of the service each week is the reading of four scriptures--old testament, new testament, a psalm and a gospel reading.  I love the way the scriptures relate to each other every week and it is beautiful to see the way scripture reinforces itself and to see the truth that God has been revealing to us since the beginning of his creation.

This is Laurel.  He is a champion and I am thankful for him.

Today's blog is really about this morning's Old Testament scripture.  Old Testament passages can be dry  and sometimes seems disconnected to our world now.  This passage is a beautiful one that speaks to our lives and God's love for us and his power to heal and redeem us.  The passage was Ezekiel 37:1-14.  I've included it below.  Take a moment to read it.

Ezekiel 34:1-14
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.  He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."  Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  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.'"  So I prophesied as I was commanded.  And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.  Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'"  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army.  Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.'  Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O 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.'"

This is a passage to the Jewish nation in exile being returned to God's promised land but I believe it speaks great truths to our lives today.   It is a verse that speaks about a very significant truth in my life--I am a pile of dry bones.  Death and decay have overcome my person and my life.  I have wandered from the promised land and am rotting in a valley of dry bones.  What a depressing thought.  Thanks be to God, the story doesn't end there.  "...there was a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone."  "...tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them."  "...and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet."  

It is Lent.  Easter is two weeks from today.  Egg hunts, jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, and pastel colors are fun, but Easter is about the resurrected Christ.  God himself died for our dry bones so that His promise might be fulfilled.  "I will open your graves and bring you up from them.  I will put my Spirit in you and you will live!"  

These next two weeks, I hope to spend my time and energy reflecting on this truth and demonstration of God's love.  

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

I will spare the list of my transgressions, but I know well my short-comings and the ways that I have offended God.  I know the state of my soul on my own.  But I give thanks for the truth found in these verses.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you

Romans 8:11

God has breathed into me that I may live!  In Christ, I live a resurrected life!