O God of mercy, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will. Amen.
Here we go again with another set of lectionary readings which have historically been used to develop some truly regrettable theology, religious exclusivism, and downright lethal labeling of people in the community surrounding Jesus as “the Jews,” as if Jesus and his followers were not Jewish. What a way to start my first two weeks of preaching at Emmanuel Church.
Perhaps there are some glimmers of hope, however, at the time of this new beginning. There are some fine dramatic moments in these fantastic stories from scripture. Ezekiel and the valley of the dry bones is a great scene – very many bones and very dry. The bones were dried up, the hope was lost and they were utterly cut off, and yet even they responded to the creative spirit of the Holy One blowing through them. And I have long thought of Lazarus raised from the dead – as one of the greatest coming out stories of all time! Do you want to know what I noticed for the first time in a lifetime of hearing this story? I noticed that it’s a story of Martha coming out too. The same Martha who had been worried and distracted and complaining about not having enough help, in this story, has come out to meet Jesus and she publicly asserted her confidence in him and her faith in God! (1)
Still, I can see how one might be tempted to think that these two stories don’t have much to say to Emmanuel Church as a faith community – well perhaps the second one has something to do with those of us who identify as queer. But really, aside from the reference to coming out, they both seem highly implausible – and not particularly relevant to our day-to-day lives.
So here are some questions that I think get to the relevance of coming out and of prophesying to dry bones. Here are some questions to challenge our religious imaginations.
How many of you usually tell people when you first meet them, where you live or where you work? How about where you go to church? How about even THAT you go to church? How about that you are a Christian? Or how about that you attend worship with Christians (if you don’t identify as a Christian).
It’s something that many of us are quiet about. And I speak from personal experience. I was out of the closet about being gay when I worked in business long before I was ever out of the closet about being a Christian. Ironically, in the 1980’s and 90’s, one peculiar aspect of who I was seemed like it was gaining social acceptance, but the other – the Christianity part -- not so much. That was becoming more of a social liability.
I didn’t want to push my religious beliefs on anyone – or be in any way offensive. But that isn’t what kept me quiet. What kept me quiet was that I didn’t want to be judged. I didn’t want anyone to think I was a religious nut (even though I was very involved in my church community – in social justice and service projects, in helping to develop stewardship of time and talent and treasure, in Church School education, and in spiritual retreats). I didn’t want anyone on the outside to know the Church Lady that I really was on the inside. Besides, I thought that there was only a 50-50 chance that God actually existed, which didn’t exactly make me a believer. The effect of my silence, however, was that many people who knew me didn’t know where I got my strength – where my own soul got nourished and where I helped to nourish other souls. That whole life-sustaining part of my life was cut off from the other parts of my life.
Twenty years later, I’m an ordained priest, and I still don’t want to push my religious beliefs on anyone – or be offensive. I still question the existence of God at least once a week. And I don’t like to be judged, even if I am a bit of a religious nut. But now I hear in these scripture passages an invitation. All of us have parts of ourselves that are cut off because of shyness or shame or fear of negative repercussions –which are all form of death. But in this Gospel passage I hear Jesus weeping and calling, “come out.” “Come out of that cut off place – that place where you are bound by death-dealing shyness or shame or fear.” I know that Jesus’ invitation to come out applies to me – and I suspect it applies to you as well.
One of the things that I’ve learned recently as I’ve been studying Biblical Hebrew grammar is that the verb that gets translated “prophesy,” is in a passive form.(2) What that suggests to me is that the person doing the prophesying, that is, Ezekiel, is somehow submitting to the spirit of holiness -- to the breath of God -- blowing through him to another. This is a little tricky to explain – I’m a beginner at translating ancient Hebrew – but I get the sense in reading the Hebrew that in being asked to prophesy, Ezekiel is being asked to serve as a vessel of the healing spirit of the Holy One. Ezekiel is being asked to allow the creative and empowering breath of God to blow into him and then back out of him as speech to the dry bones. And then Ezekiel, filled with that breath of God, is being asked to speak right back to that creative empowering spirit to blow into the dry bones which have risen up and started making connections. It’s extraordinary really.
In other words, there is a spirit which some call Holy – that is, not common, not profane – that can inspire and empower creative and life-giving expression if we allow it to flow through us. This spirit will flow through us if we open ourselves for it to come in and go out from us. That coming and going, that receiving and giving, is as connected as breathing in and breathing out. One without the other is a recipe for disaster.
So here are my questions about that. How many of you know people who seem lonely and sad? You might say their spirits seem dried up – they’re not at all hopeful – and they are isolated, cut off from the love of a family or friends or a community. They might be in the midst of family or friends or community and yet they are still somehow cut off. Maybe they’ve just been incredibly unlucky – or maybe they’ve done it to themselves – it doesn’t matter. “What are some of the caves and tombs in which people you know spend their days? What might be the stone that blocks the way and keeps them in and others out? What is the (physical or psychological) stench that may surround them?”(3) How are they bound?
How many of you regularly invite people who seem lonely and sad or hungry for whatever reason to be with us at Emmanuel Church, by offering them a ride or asking them to meet you here? If you are all already doing that – wonderful! Step it up! Prophesy to them. Permit the Holy Spirit to blow through you and out of you in your speech. Another word for prophesy is predict. Predict. Predict to them that when they come to Emmanuel they will find a loving community, beautiful worship, a friendly coffee hour, a group of people committed to putting their faith into action, a people committed to making religion a constructive force in society rather than a destructive one. Predict to them that they will be treated well. Predict to them that they will be cared for. Predict to them that this is a community where each of us can come out; where the stones will be rolled away and we will be freed from whatever binds us. Let them know what you already know. Let them know that the spirit of holiness is moving through us to help flesh out those dry bones!