The approach to Easter is in full gear; we aren’t there yet but we are close. Between now and the day of resurrection, we will encounter many stories dealing with the themes of dying and being raised up. Those who do not have the spiritual stamina to cope with death will stay away from Palm Sunday through Holy Week and show up for the Alleluias. The rest of us will cling to each other as we enter into the stories of death providing each other with assurances of life every step of the way.

It is no accident that our lectionary stories for today run deep and wide through the themes of death and resurrection. Both the reading from Ezekiel and the gospel hone in on God’s capacity to bring life where there is death. Neither story minces words when it comes to dying.

In the story of the dry bones, the Israelites have experienced profound death during the exile; death to worship that was centered on the temple, death to living in the Promised Land, death to their entire way of life. Hopelessness was pervasive. But then Ezekiel is transported by God to the valley of the dry bones where he is commanded by God to prophesy to the bones. God guides Ezekiel through this process of bones coming together, the placing of sinews and flesh, and finally the giving of breath. Through this story God awakens a new spirit in the Israelites, a spirit that prepares them for the return to the Promised Land. The story of dry bones is a powerful metaphor for a new awakening in a people who thought they had no future.

The use of bones as a metaphor is found in several places in the Bible. The book of Proverbs tells us: "A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downtrodden spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 3:8) Psalm 31 laments: "My life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing, my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away." (Psalm 31:10) But bones also appear in psalms of praise such as found in Psalm 32: "All my bones shall say, ‘Oh Lord who is like you?"

Our faith calls us to see resurrection in the midst of death, any death. We may not see it right away; expressing grief is necessary and the nature of the circumstances will dictate the length and depth of the grief but resurrection is there, it is always there. We just have to look for it and be open to it.

I have been living a story of death and resurrection over the past two weeks. On February 27, our young dog bit a child in the neighborhood. It was unexpected and without warning; it shocked all of us, the boy’s family and ours. I spent a fair amount of time that Saturday trying to understand what this might mean. Would we have the give our dog away? Was this going to get worse? Would we have to euthanize him? In the midst of trying to deal with our dog, a friend with whom I had not had contact in 15 years called me out of the blue. She is the same friend I mentioned in my sermon of Feb. 28. At first I didn’t mention what was going on with our dog but I did tell her about the sermon. "Hey, Mar, I’m telling a story about us in my sermon tomorrow. Remember that backpacking trip where we couldn’t find any water? What’d you think of that? I decide to talk about you in a sermon and you call me after not having talked for 15 years." Now the other piece of this story is that Mary has been involved in cat rescue for 20 years; she has rescued over 12,000 cats as well as a few dogs so I finally did talk with her about our dog. We talked about options; she was incredibly helpful. As it turns out, our dog’s behavior deteriorated and he did need to be euthanized. It was a traumatic event for our entire family. However, the resurrection piece of this story is that Mary showed up in my life just when I most needed her. She walked me through the last two weeks in a way that no one else could have as we explored lots of different possibilities for our dog. Our friendship has been renewed and has picked up as if there had never been a lapse. The resurrection piece for her is that I have come into her life at a time when she needs to talk through major life changes that she is facing. It has been an amazing two weeks. Death and resurrection.

Death and resurrection have flowed through the rectory/youth house project. When my predecessor left St. John’s, neither the vestry nor the parish could think of a good use for the rectory, so tearing it down seemed like the only alternative. Certain death was on the horizon but was blocked by a couple of parishioners who suggested it might be better to wait until the new rector arrived before making a decision. After I arrived in July of 2005, the vestry and I talked about different possibilities. I must confess I was clueless and did not have a good sense of what to do until I visited two churches in Plymouth and saw what these churches had in terms of space dedicated to youth. In comparison, our space was pathetic. It was then I knew what could be done. I contacted a senior member of the parish and he got the ball rolling and helped build interest in a new vision for this house. I got out of the way and let this project unfold. We are now within weeks of celebrating the completion of a facility that will benefit not just the youth but the entire parish. For those who have such fond memories of the rectory, this is a win/win situation because it will be used for social events for adults as well as our youth. Resurrection out of death.

Through his vision, Ezekiel is encouraging his fellow exiles as well as all of us to consider our circumstances not through our own limited way of seeing the world but through God’s way of seeing. Can these bones live? If we use just our way of seeing the world, we will not get very far. But if we are able to see what God has in mind, we will be astonished as bones join together –the knee bone connecting to the thigh bone, flesh wrapping itself around each bone with skin holding it all together. Watch as God’s spirit infuses these bones and brings healing to hopelessness. Watch through God’s eyes and witness the miraculous breath of new life even in the midst of complete darkness. If we are paying attention to the world around us, we will see dry bones being brought to life in lots of ways. Sometimes we even experience situations in which we witness the miraculous, something that is unbelievable in terms of human vision but which takes on a whole new life in God’s vision. The story of the valley of the Dry Bones is read every year during the Easter Vigil service because all of us need to hear over and over again how life prevails over death. All of us need to be able to see hope even in the darkest of circumstances because the God of life is there. The God of light will guide us as the dry bones rise up out of the grave. The God of mercy will heal us as the bones come together. The God of new life will fill us with his spirit as breath is blown into the bones. Life, eternal life is the victory. That, my friends, is something we can never forget.