April 5: Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
♫ Music:
Day 51 - Thursday, April 5
Title: Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them roundabout, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew 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 the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”
Poetry: Resurrection
By Alison Hawthorne Deming
My friend a writer and scientist
has retreated to a monastery
where he has submitted himself
out of exhaustion to not knowing.
He’s been thinking about
the incarnation a.k.a. Big Bang
after hearing a monk’s teaching
that crucifixion was not the hard part
for Christ. Incarnation was.
How to squeeze all of that
all-of-that into a body. I woke
that Easter to think of the Yaqui
celebrations taking place in our city
the culminating ritual of the Gloria
when the disruptive spirits
with their clacking daggers and swords
are repelled from the sanctuary
by women and children
throwing cottonwood leaves and confetti
and then my mother rose
in me rose from the anguish
of her hospice bed a woman
who expected to direct all the action
complaining to her nurse
I’ve been here three days
and I’m not dead yet—not ready
at one hundred and two to give up
control even to giving up control.
I helped with the morphine clicker.
Peace peace peace the stilling
at her throat the hazel eye
become a glassy marble. Yet here she is
an Easter irreverent still rising
to dress in loud pastels
and turn me loose
in Connecticut woods to hunt
my basket of marshmallow eggs
jelly beans and chocolate rabbit
there fakeries of nature made vestal
incarnated in their nest of shiny manufactured grass
CAN THESE DRY BONES LIVE?
When Ezekiel was brought out to the valley of dry bones by the Lord, the Israelites were in the midst of exile. They had rebelled against God again and again, and their sin had created circumstances that caused them to say, “our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.” But God, through Ezekiel, provided a prophecy and a promise: “I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life”. These dry bones live! This promise for Israel, of life where there is death, of freedom from the grave, and of a promised land, is a word to all of the people of God--redemption through Jesus Christ.
What an image is found in this valley of dry bones! Elkan’s The Knesset Menorah: Ezekiel conveys the disturbed state of death and decay. And we are a dry, desperate people apart from Jesus Christ. As I have walked with Christ throughout much of my life, the journey of sanctification continues to provide glimpses of how quickly the human heart dries up, distances itself from God, fails to open up so that the Spirit can breathe life. Even today, I cried out to God and acknowledged my brokenness, my inability to obey, my lack of faith, and my need for His Spirit. He met me with kindness. With words of healing about His goodness, how far his salvation can reach, and how deeply He can be trusted.
Perhaps you are like me and you struggle to daily cling to the truth of Jesus. You wake up some days and finally notice how dry you have become. You wonder about the state of your soul asking, can these dry bones live? God is yet faithful. In her lovely book, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, Lauren Winner wrote, “some days I am not sure if my faith is riddled with doubt, or whether, graciously my doubt is riddled with faith...I doubt; I am uncertain; I am restless, prone to wander. And yet glimmers of holy keep interrupting my gaze” (p. xiv). Perhaps the imagery of these dry bones can serve today as “glimmers of holy,” writing bravery on our bones to keep pressing in to Jesus, as He, by His Spirit is faithful to press in to us.
Prayer
Holy God,
You asked the question, “Can these dry bones live?”
And you are faithful to prompt questions about the state of our hearts today.
When our hope has perished, speak to our dry bones.
When our souls are desperate, revive us by your breath.
Put your Spirit within us that we may live.
So that we may know you are the Lord that you have spoken and done it.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Carrie Stockton
Dean of Student Success
Biola University
About the Artwork:
The Knesset Menorah: Ezekiel (2 views)
Benno Elkan
1956
Bronze
4.30 meters high, 3.5 meters wide, and weighs 4 tons
Jerusalem, Israel
The Knesset Menorah was presented to the Knesset, as a gift from the Parliament of the United Kingdom on April 15, 1956 in honor of the eighth anniversary of Israeli independence. It was modeled after the golden candelabrum that stood in the Temple in Jerusalem. The idea of presenting the Menorah was conceived by members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in appreciation of the establishment of a democratic parliamentary government in the State of Israel. The gift was made possible by donations from the people of Britain, leading banks of the United Kingdom, and large industrial businesses. A series of bronze reliefs on the Menorah depict the struggles of the Jewish people, depicting formative events, images, and concepts from the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. It has been described as a visual "textbook" of Jewish history.
About the Artist:
Benno Elkan (1877–1960) was a German-born British sculptor who escaped from his native Germany to Britain. He studied and worked in Paris, Rome, and Frankfurt am Main, and moved to London following the rise of the Nazis in Germany in 1933. His works included tombs, busts, medals, and monuments. He was an exhibitor in International Exhibitions in Germany, France, Italy, and England and his works are in many museums in Europe. Elkan created the first statue in Britain of Sir Walter Raleigh, and designed Frankfurt’s Great War Memorial, incorporating mourning mothers as a symbol of loss in World War I. The memorial was removed by the Nazis in 1933, and later re-erected in 1946.
About the Music:
“Bravery Be Written” from the album How It All Goes Down
Lyrics:
When the seas are parted with staff in hand
Will I be made welcome in the promised land?
The saints and the sinners stand side by side
Will I be forsaken and left behind?
Bravery be written within these bones
Oh grant me the courage or send me home
Or send me home
Bravery be written within these bones
Or send me home
So grant me the courage or send me home
The choice is before me
Mistakes are unknown
Oh grant me the courage or send me home
Or send me home
About the Composers/Performers:
Los Angeles-based group, The Show Ponies, is an Indie-Folk band with Old Tyme Country influences. The band started in 2011 as the combined musical venture of Texans Clayton Chaney and Andi Carder. Heading to Los Angeles at different times for unrelated reasons, they eventually found themselves singing, writing, and performing together. Jason Harris, Biola alum and fellow Texan musician, initially introduced the duo. Shortly after producing The Show Ponies’ debut album, Here We Are!, Harris officially joined The Show Ponies as their guitarist and banjo player. Fellow Biola alum Philip Glenn joined the group after recording fiddle tracks with the band. Kevin Brown soon became the fifth Pony (and final Biola alum), lending his drumming expertise while earning his masters degree in percussion performance from CSU Long Beach. Very rarely do five people with such exceptional talent join together to create such a cohesive sound. However, the band mutually decided to stop recording and touring in order for members to pursue solo careers. Their farewell tour ended on March 17, 2018.
About the Poet:
Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946) is an American poet, essayist, teacher, and the great-granddaughter of author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Deming received her MFA from Vermont College University. She is the author of Stairway to Heaven, Rope, Genius Loci, The Monarchs: A Poem Sequence, and Science and Other Poems, which was selected to receive the 1993 Walt Whitman Award. Deming’s honors include the Pushcart Prize for nonfiction, the Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Director of the University of Arizona Poetry Center from 1990 until 2000, she is currently Associate Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona and lives in Tucson, Arizona.
About the Devotional Writer:
Carrie Stockton, the Dean of Student Success at Biola University, supervises the departments of Academic Advising, Career Development, and Online & Graduate Student Success, as well as the First Year Seminar program. Stockton is also responsible for the University’s retention and career efforts that include chairing the Council for Student Success, and coordinating research related to student success including graduation and career outcomes.