Raising up Dem Bones: A Sermon in Lent
Grace and Peace to you,
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
Even in our Lenten weeping
There is joy
Shining through
The Cross
And seeps
Into our bones
Until even our bones
Are the ones declaring
God’s Grace and Mercy
Are the ones praising
The One who transforms death
Into LIFE
Jesus Christ,
Our Savior and Lord
Amen.
(pause)
Ezekiel And John,
Two heavy verses,
Two reminders
Of how sometimes we run from the Word of God
(pause)
Dry bones
Equating
A
People,
Who have turned their backs
Not allowing the Word of God
To take root
To infuse into the deep core
Of who they are
As People of Faith,
(pause)
When the Word
Becomes
A part of you
You can’t help it!
Perhaps,
We avoid those sacred spaces
Where the Holy Spirit truly is indeed
Burning down boundaries
Barriers
Burning away everything that keeps us,
From the foot of the Cross
From the presence of the Creator God
(pause)
Dry Bones,
Devoid of substance
God’s People,
Devoid of responsibility
Avoiding the Word of God
As it commands us
Towards stewardship,
Of LIVES
Of those who are not our same genetic makeup
Or those who have declared
That this body, their gender
Is nothing more than a costume
Hiding
Who they feel they truly are
Lives of those
Who do not have the ability,
To pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps
Because, it’s been viciously severed
Or even
Creation itself,
Which humanity has established
A give and take relationship
That we should freely be able to take,
And give nothing back in return
Towards sustainability
For all.
(pause)
Dry Bones
SO DRY
That compassion
Forgiveness
Mercy
Grace
Can’t be etched
Upon the very structure
Of who we are
Because we don’t understand,
What cementing relationships
With one another
Means
Dry Bones,
SO DRY
That not even the waters
Of Baptism
Make any difference,
Since there is such an effort
To avoid remembering
Because with remembering whose we are
Means we have an obligation not just selfishly for ourselves
(pause)
But we cannot avoid,
No matter how dry and devoid we are
When we are faced with
A multitude of broken
Sorrowful
People
As they cradle their loved ones
And stare into our hard faces
Saying-
“If you had been here,
If you had lifted your voice
So, that not another person
In a neighborhood in Flint,
Would go without clean water,
If you had been here,
When we needed you as a witness
On capitol hill
So, that my neighbors
Would not have to live in fear
Of being deported
If you had been here,
If you had marched towards justice
As a witness
Proclaiming that there should be
Equal access
Equal rights for all,
If you lived out
What you confess
As a Christian
My sister
My brother
Would not have perished
(pause)
How absurd, right?
We are not Jesus Christ!
We can’t take on the weight of this broken world
We do not have the power
To raise anything,
Anyone
From death!
Dry Bones!
That blame is laid at the ancient Israelites feet,
They were disobedient
They ran from God,
This is a different time,
It’s complicated!
(pause)
Is it?
(pause)
We are Christians, right?
They will know us by our love right?
We as people of faith, however
Still do not get it
That following Jesus Christ
That labeling ourselves Christians
That being marked with the sign of the CROSS
IS NOT JUST NAME ONLY
We are not Christians
Simply to enjoy a higher level of status
Or a sense of privilege
We repeat the same mistakes
Of our biblical ancestors
They knew they were chosen
They knew that the Creator walked with them
So they felt, invincible!
(pause)
So when prophets came among the people
Proclaiming,
“Dry bones,
Here the Word
Of the Lord”
Calling us from shallow graves
Of apathy,
for those who are hurting
Of ignorance,
That the pain seeping into the bones of our sisters and brothers
Is real,
People, got indignant!
People today, still get angry
When prophets speak.
My friend, and brother in Christ
Lenny Duncan
Has a prophetic voice
Speaks from a place where his own bones were so dry
Caked from years living on the street
Homeless
And in a drug induced stupor,
He calls deeply
Into the collective consciousness of people of faith
About how the Creator is calling us
He dares to prophetically call us on the carpet
About how the wider expression of the church continually ignores
Black,
Brown
Sacred bodies.
And people are angered!
Instead of LISTENING
Instead of PRAYING
Instead of DISCERNING
Lenny jokes that he hates to be called a prophet
Because prophets are routinely jailed,
Stoned
Killed
(pause)
And see,
That is what we miss!
Even when become resistant to the Word of God
God sends prophets,
Sends holy, cleansing fire
To renew
To heal
These weary bones
God is still LOVING US
Whereas God could have condemned humanity,
Instead God sends reminders
God sends prophets,
Like Martin Luther, Dr. King, Oscar Romero And Malcolm X
People like Dr. James Cone, Dr. Pete Pero
People even,
Like my friend River
And Raye
And my dear Sister Deirde
(pause)
And the Good News is,
Because of this unyielding Love,
God sends Jesus Christ
Who stands at the places we are entombed
Weeping,
And calls to the darkness
To the emptiness
Commands the negativity and the evil in this world
To “Untie them, and let them go.”
The Good News is,
Because of Jesus,
We have NEW LIFE
We are in the LIGHT
Our BONES ARE SINGING
BREATHING
We are empowered
Renewed
So we can’t help
But go out
And prophesy!
Prophesy to those who have been hanging on,
That one little sinew which cries out
For healing
We can’t shut up because of this new fire in our bones
That we are so disturbed at the suffering that our sisters and brothers
In Christ and in Faith
That we weep with anger
And we speak LIFE!
(pause)
Here-
Here at the Table
We are fed and empowered
What do you experience HERE?
Is this just a sacred motion
OR
Is this the place,
Where your dry bones
Are TRANSFORMED
So you just can’t help yourself
To
Prophesy?!
Thanks Be to God
