SENT: Jesus Brings New Life December 27, 2015 Reinbeck UMC

SENT: Jesus Brings New Life

December 27, 2015

Reinbeck UMC

That is a strange scripture for the Sunday after Christmas. Or is it?

Ezekiel was a prophet during the Babylonian exile. The Israelites had been dragged 500 miles away from their homes, and their land, and their temple.

God shows Ezekiel a vision. It is a valley of dry bones. This was an ugly vision. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of bodies. Not even one was intact where there might be some hope that there could be a survivor or two. They were just bare bones; dry and dusty. At one time each one was someone’s child, someone’s spouse, someone’s parent. But they had been killed and left to suffer the indignities of rot and decay, sun and weather, animals and birds and bugs. There was nothing left of them. No hope. No life. They were dead, dead, dead.

God asks Ezekiel, “Ezekiel, tell me, can these bones live?”

Ezekiel had to stifle a laugh. Maybe he thought God lost his mind. Maybe he thought it was a joke. Maybe he was just overwhelmed. So he hedged his bet saying, “I don’t know, Lord but I’m sure you have a trick or two up your sleeve.”

Ezekiel probably thought, “Whew, I weaseled my way out of that one.” He thought he was pretty sly, and assumed the test was over.

God did have a trick, but Ezekiel was not off the hook. Sure, God could have done anything he wanted without any help. God, however, said, “Ezekiel, go preach to the bones.”

Ezekiel probably thought to himself, “Well, at least they won’t be checking their watches to see if I am running long this time.” But what kind of congregation was this?

You might say it would be a challenge to preach to the dry bones. For United Methodist pastors that is a code word. When the DS says “this church will be a challenge.” You better not get rid of your moving boxes.

 This, however, was more than a challenge… it was a dare. God said, “Ezekiel, I dare you to believe in my ability to bring life from death.”

So Ezekiel started to preach. He told an opening joke and was getting ready to move into the message itself when the strangest thing happened. Ezekiel said, “As I preached, there was a sound and… oh… a rustling! …The bones moved… they rattled …they came together, bone to bone. Then tendons and ligaments formed. Then muscles, then skin stretched over the bones. God breathed breath into them and as soon as Ezekiel was done preaching they marched to the fellowship hall and had cookies and juice.

What happened there? Not to put down Christmas, but frankly, a baby in a manger is child’s play, compared to this story in Ezekiel.

Mike Slaughtrer from Ginghamsburg UMC says, “God does some of his best work in the graveyard.” And this is a great example. In light of Christmas, I might add that “God does some of his best work in barnyards.”

It might be a barnyard of graveyard; or a desert, hospital, or war zone;…Be it the dry places, the scary places, the dark places, the hurting places, the broken places, the hopeless places, the filthy and stinky places. If you want to see the glory of God, that is where you have to go.

But that is a good thing, because we are surrounded by those places. Just on the other side of those doors …are nations in which Christians are persecuted, are refugee camps. Just on the other side of those doors is Nigeria and Costa Rica and Haiti; plenty of dry places, scary places, dark places, hurting places, broken places, hopeless places, filthy and stinky places. Those are exactly the places God chooses to do some of his best work!

 Just on the other side of those doors… in our neighborhoods, schools, work places, and homes there are plenty of dry places, scary places, dark places, hurting places, broken places, hopeless places, filthy and stinky places. Those are exactly the places God chooses to do some of his best work!

And do you want o know the truth? We don’t have to go on the other side of the doors. Look within your own heart and you will find plenty of dry places, scary places, dark places, hurting places, broken places, hopeless places, filthy and stinky places. Those are exactly the places God chooses to do some of his best work!

But after the creation of the world, God chose not to work ex nihilo. That means out of nothing. The world was created ex nihilo - out of nothing- but that is not the way God works any more. (At not at least most of the time) Most of the time God doesn’t do a solo act.

God could have raised the dry bones by himself, but he chose not to…. he appointed Ezekiel to preach them into new life.

God could have had Jesus just “poof” appear as a 30-year-old rabbi. But instead he chose to use Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and Herod and the wise men and (you know the whole cast of the Christmas story!) God chose to work through those people to bring new life to the world.

God could fix the problems in the world, our nation, our community, our families, and our hearts all by himself. But instead, God chooses to work through the church as his hands and feet in the world.

God chose to work through Ezekiel 2600 years ago…

God chose to work through Mary and Joseph and the shepherds 2000 years ago.

God chose to work through the church and the people in the church to carry his good news for 2000 years.

NOW God CHOOSES to work through you and me and the rest of the church to be the hands and feet of the kingdom in our world today.

But how do we do that. 13 years ago, the Charge conference adopted a tremendous series of statements: a vision, a purpose, mission, and a theme. Can any of you recite them? Neither can I. And neither could the leadership team. So we have been working for months now, to distill all of those statements into one Biblically sound statement that we can all remember and use. One that we can use as a measuring stick for our existing ministries, a blueprint for new ministries, and a guide for each of us in our discipleship. It was hard work. But I think they have done it.

Look at the front of your bulletin and read that Ministry Statement with me. (If you don’t have one, it will be on the screen)

The ministry of the Reinbeck United Methodist Church is to help each other experience Christ’s LOVE, KNOW God’s Word, GROW in Christian discipleship, and GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ ….. ALL BECAUSE OF Jesus.

If we experience Christ’s LOVE, KNOW God’s Word, GROW in Christian discipleship, and GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ…ALL BECAUSE OF Jesus; our dry bones will begin to take on life.

If we experience Christ’s LOVE, KNOW God’s Word, GROW in Christian discipleship, and GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ…ALL BECAUSE OF Jesus; the filthy and Stinky places of our lives will be transformed into sanctuaries for God’s grace.

If we experience Christ’s LOVE, KNOW God’s Word, GROW in Christian discipleship, and GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ…ALL BECAUSE OF Jesus; the brokenness, the hurts and the hopes of our families will begin to take on newness and life.

If we experience Christ’s LOVE, KNOW God’s Word, GROW in Christian discipleship, and GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ…ALL BECAUSE OF Jesus; the loneliness, the alienation and the mistrust in our neighborhoods will be transformed into a true community of love and respect.

  If we experience Christ’s LOVE, KNOW God’s Word, GROW in Christian discipleship, and GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ…ALL BECAUSE OF Jesus; the hopeless places of the world, the farthest places of the world, the most frightening places in our world can begin to experience hope through the powerful love of Jesus working through someone we touch, who touches someone, who touches someone who makes a difference in those faraway places.

God chooses to work - not by himself- but through each of us, and all of us together to shed light on God’s kingdom vision, bring life to God’s plan for humanity, and be the flesh and bone of God’s love for each and every person both inside and outside of this building. That is our ministry. And this new ministry statement is intended to help each of us individually, and all of us collectively to be God’s hands and feet in each of our ministries, and each of our lives, each and every day.

Can we do that?

Experience Christ’s love… sure, we can.

Know God’s word… sure, we can

GROW in Christian discipleship… sure, we can

GO share our faith, bringing others to Christ… Sure, we can.

Ezekiel was God’s hands and feet, preaching new life into dry bones.

Mary was God’s hands and feet carrying the promise of eternal life into this world.

Let us be God’s hands and feet in this place. What God has in mind for the future, we don’t know… but we do know that if Ezekiel can do his part, and Mary can do her part, we can do our part as we LOVE, KNOW, GROW, AND GO and we will be part of whatever God has in mind.

Thanks be to God AMEN