Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ – Ezekiel 37:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 30, 2014): Ezekiel 37

“There are two rules of war. Rule number one is that young men die. Rule number two is that doctors can’t change rule number one.” The words were spoken by Henry Blake, a character from the dramedy “M*A*S*H.” They are written as memories of what they had taught him in basic training, back before he had experienced the madness of war. It was an explanation of the evils of that war brings, and the frustration with regard to the ones that cannot be saved. There is nothing that seems more final to us than death. Even if we know that there is something beyond this life, death is still an event over which we mourn. And it is an event that causes us no small amount of fear.

The progressive rock band Kansas back in the 1970’s wrote about death this way.

                        Soon these days will pass away

                        For our freedom we must pay

                        All our words and deeds are carried on the wind

                        In the ground our bodies lay

                        Here we’ll stay

These words carry the same not of finality – and of the loss of hope.

I have always loved the imagery of Ezekiel 37. Maybe it is just memories of my grandfather singing the old black spiritual “Dem Bones,” or maybe it is the realization that even when there is no hope, there is still hope.

But maybe we need to apply the words that Charles Dickens wrote at the beginning of a Christmas Carol – “There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.” There is no doubt that Israel was dead. And this has to be understood if anything good is to come out of the ending of the story. The death of the nation was more than just a minor inconvenience. It was the end of everything. The bones that rose up out of the valley were probably the bones of soldiers that had died defending the nation in years past, but they may have also been the bones of the prophets and maybe even the common people that made up this army. The represented everything that had once given the nation life. Now, all that was left was death - and dry bones.

I don’t know about you, but if I am honest I know that there are a lot of dry bones in my life. They are places where there just doesn’t seem to be any possibility to hope. It is in these areas that death reigns – it reigns in the loss of relationships, misunderstandings, anger – and even actual physical death. But as I read the story of the Valley of dry bones I get to be reminded that even death is not final with God. There is no “in the ground our bodies lay – here we’ll stay” when we are dealing with our God.

And so, for the dry bones in my life, I am reminded that my reality is that my story isn’t done yet. And with God, hope reigns even in the shadow of the valley of death.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 38