Passage for reflection: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Church is predictable. Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve served nine congregations, and been part of worship services in over one hundred. In the denominations I know best, worship happens in an orderly manner and without surprises.
The church year is predictable. Each new year begins with Advent, then come Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. While that listing is correct it is intentionally incomplete; it omits Pentecost.
Pentecost is anything but predictable! Some focus worship on the church’s birthday. Others break with the so-called frozen chosen approach that marks the other 51 Sundays of the year to welcome the Spirit in fresh, new, and even unexpected ways.
The extended season of COVID-19 is becoming predictable. We know it has not only taken millions of lives but also created an epidemic of isolation unlike anything in our lifetimes.
Dry bones are predictable. We know they stay dry. There is no life in them.
Except that God has other plans.
Perhaps one of the churches that I know best is on to something. This year instead of celebrating Pentecost on one day, they’ve extended the party for an entire month.
Can you imagine a year when we need Pentecost more than we do in 2021?
In the Message version of the dry bones passage, the author begins verse 1, “God grabbed me.” And, in verse 14 it concludes, “ I’ll breathe my life into you and you’ll live. Then I’ll lead you straight back to your land and you’ll realize that I am God. I’ve said it and I’ll do it. God’s Decree.”
God is still speaking! God is still breathing!
God is using you and me to spread the message: it’s time to live again.
This post was originally published in the Lectionary for Life Series for the Center for Congregational Ethics on May 26, 2021.