Holy Saturday, 2008

It was a dark and stormy night, when

the hand of the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth
and all that is,
seen and unseen,
came upon a human being,
a son of man, born of a woman
(bone of their bones and flesh of their flesh).

And the LORD God brought this human being out
in the Spirit of the LORD
and settled him down in this valley,
smack dab in the midst of
this very low and very dark place;

and this place
was full of
bones.

And he led the man
through this valley
in the shadow
of death,
and he walked
around and amongst
all the bones.

And all he saw
wherever he went
and as far as he could see
was bones - so many bones
laying all around on the ground
all of them
disjointed, all
disconnected, all
scattered abroad - multitudes upon multitudes of
bones.

And they were very dry.
Just about gone
to dust...

And the LORD said
to him,
"Son of man, can these bones live?"

And he answered,
"O Lord GOD... only you know."

Then he said to him,
Prophesy over these bones - speak,
proclaim, say outloud to these old bones,

O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD spoken through this Prophet.

The Lord GOD, the Spirit, the Giver of Life
has this to say to all you old dry bones:

Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

And I will lay sinews and tendons and connecting tissue upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin,

and I will put breath in you, and you shall live,

and you shall know - know in your bones - that I am the ONE.

So the Son of man prophesied as he was told.
And as he spoke the word aloud, there was a sound, and behold, a clamorous rattling,
and all the bones came together,
bone reconnected and rejoined to bone,
all the parts joined together with others, arranged
just so, and they all
fit - perfectly.

And look, behold, tendons and connective tissue
grew between them - muscles formed,
and skin covered them.

But there was no breath in them.

(What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of Spirit is spirit.)

Then the LORD God said to the prophet,
Prophesy to the breath;
prophesy, son of man, and send your voice into the wind, saying
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe on these dead that they may live.

So he prophesied as he was told.
And so the breath of God came into them, and
they lived, and stood on their feet, in full stature,
an exceedingly great company of hosts.

. . .

Then he said to him,
Son of man, the bones of my people cry out from the ground. They say,
'We are dried up!
We have no hope!
We are disconnected.
We are scattered and disjointed.
We are indeed cut off.'

Therefore prophesy, and lift up your voice for them, saying,
Thus says your GOD:
Behold, I will open the way and raise you from your graves, O my people.
And I will bring you out
to the place I promised and have prepared for you
from the foundation of the world -
my redeemed creation made new - the Beloved Community,
the Fellowship of Saints,
that Heavenly City, New Jerusalem,
our true long Home.

And you shall know, O my people, that I am the ONE-IN-ALL,
when I open your graves, and raise you out from the death - out of your darkest and lowest and loneliest most solitary places.

And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.
And I will place you in My most blessed company.
Then you shall know
Who I Really Am.

I have spoken and I will do it, declares your Father the Almighty.

Truly, truly, I say to you, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live. And breathe. And have their being in God and God's people, to enjoy from henceforth and forever our most excellent and delightsome company.