PJN Advent Series: Is This My Father’s World? Ezekiel 37:1-9, 13-14
By, SueAnn Shiah
Song
This Is My Father's World (for free/ pay what you want download: https://sueannshiah.bandcamp.com/track/this-is-my-fathers-world )
Scripture
Ezekiel 37:1-9, 13-14 (NRSV)
1 The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
13 And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”
Reflection
The third Sunday of advent is the Sunday of Joy. But with the continued destruction of Gaza and the genocide of it’s people, it has been a hard year and a half for joy. I have found small glimpses of joy in the footage of meals cooked and distributed to smiling children in Gaza, and the videos of dabke dancing–proof that even among death and despair, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. But there are no victories… yet. Just a sense of haunting–as we watch hundreds lined up sent to their deaths, for the hungry searching for flour, only to be massacred, and the piles of bodies and rubble.
In this passage of scripture from the prophet of Ezekiel, he is looking at a valley full of the slain and the Lord asks him, “Can these bones live again?” and Ezekiel replies, “O Lord God, you know.” There have been many dark days that I have looked at the devastation and destruction and wondered if humanity has gone too far, and if we will ever be able to come back after the terrors that have been unleashed and asked the same question with the little voice in me responding too, “O Lord, only you know now.” The Spirit of God descends upon the valley of dry bones and brings flesh and sinew back again, promises that the graves will open and all will return to their land from exile–a promise for the people of Palestine too. When we taste the fruit on that day of return and resurrection, we shall surely cry with joy beyond anything ever known.
It is hard to know joy right now, but we continue to pray and wait in anticipation of the coming day when the dead will rise again and every tear will be wiped away. This rendition of the song “This is My Father’s World” expresses the tension of holding to the promises of God, the promises of resurrection, and the promises of justice while living in a land of betrayal, death, and injustice; my hope is that it can be a gift to hold alongside this prophetic scripture. May we proclaim that joy in the midst of death, sorrow, grief, and despair.
SueAnn Shiah (she/her) is a Taiwanese American musician, filmmaker, community organizer, ethnomusicologist, Queer Christian pastor, and public theologian currently pursuing a MDIV/MACEF from Princeton Theological Seminary and ordination in the PCUSA.