Live Fully

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The story of the dry bones. What a lovely way to start our week. The story about the prophet being plucked up and placed in a valley filled with dry bones, and those bones subsequently coming alive, is one of my favorite.

The dry bones are meant to represent the people of Israel and how their lives have become. The dry bones are meant to represent more than a people who are dead, they are meant to represent a people who has had all life removed. The dry bones in that valley are void of flesh, muscle, skin, and, most importantly, spirit - the very parts of us we need to do things.

The stories in the bible have always been stories of action; stories that tell us what we should do. Love God, feed the hungry, house the poor, and take care of the widow and the orphan are commands which come up over and over again in the familiar stories. So, then, what has happened to the people of Israel that their life-force is shown to be nothing more than a heap of dried-out bones.

To be honest, they just downright stopped living for others. They got caught up in the rigidity of the laws and cleanliness codes which only served to separate them from the ones who needed the most help. It would seem that personal well-being was more important than caring for their community. As a result they had lost the true meaning of what it is to live God's law of love and created a division between the "clean" and the "unclean."

God calls us to live fully - to use every ounce of our flesh, muscle, skin, and spirit - for the betterment of community. The welfare of our brothers, sisters, and neighbors is what God calls us to make first and foremost in our lives.