It's Sunday morning at Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church.  The sermon has been going on for far too long, and Clarence Bunsen just realizes it's almost time for the offering.  Opening his wallet, Clarence sees that he has no cash, so he carefully takes out his checkbook.  But because writing a check during worship is not what good church folks do, he hides the checkbook in the middle of the pew Bible, and there writes out a check for fifty dollars.  Now Clarence normally gives ten dollars, but because he'd almost had a heart attack last week, he figures he owes God a little more.

          As he writes the check, holding it in the middle of the Bible, a lady next to him gives him a funny look, probably thinking he's writing in the Bible itself.  Clarence then tries quietly to tear the check out of the checkbook, but at that moment things get very quiet and it sounds like he's ripping plywood off the wall.  Finally the offering basket comes by, and Clarence proudly puts in his check of $50, face up - only to realize that he has written the check out for $500!  Somehow while holding it in the Bible, he had accidentally written in the "Amount" box, "five-zero-zero-dot-zero-zero" instead of "five-zero-dot-zero-zero."  But now what should he do?  He can't go downstairs after church, find the counters and say, "Sorry, boys, there's been a mistake.  I gave more than I wanted to."  On the other hand, he just emptied his checking account and he has no idea what he'll tell his wife.  But, Clarence thought, at least it was going to a good place.  And whatever happens the rest of the service, one thing was for sure: he was awake!  In that moment of realization, Clarence Bunsen was wide awake!  He felt fully alive for the first time that day.

          From asleep to awake, from boredom to excitement, from stale to fresh, from indifference to activity, from death to life - that's what happens when we experience a near miss.  As a soldier once said, "There's nothing like barely escaping death to make you feel completely alive."  And it can happen in any number of ways.  Narrowly missing an accident in your car, opening a letter from the IRS, a policeman knocking on your door, an irregular health report: any of these and we're suddenly wide awake!  God does that for us now and then.  He's reminding us that He's still around and we're still alive.

          Our Old Testament text for today is Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones.  Imagine walking along, minding your own business, enjoying a nature hike, when you stumble upon a valley filled with human skeletons - hundreds of them.  What happened here?  Whoa - let's scram!  But as we grab our walking stick to run, we hear God's voice:  "Mortal man, can these bones live?"  The dry bones, it turns out, represent God's people.  They've been in exile.  For decades they've been away from their homeland, like soldiers bivouacked in a foreign field, living in another culture, wondering when the war will end, lonely, in the wrong place, feeling little hope of going home.  About then, returning home seems hopeless, as far-fetched as skeletons returning to life.  But, you see, God had other plans.  He had not forsaken them.  His mercy would bring them home.  They just had to believe He could, trust Him and wait for His time.

          "Prophesy to these bones," says the Lord, "You dry bones, now hear the word of the Lord!"  (I can almost hear the thoughts of some in the choir today:  We should have sung "Dry Bones" today, not "Jacob's Ladder.")  But God then tells us about the bones.  He says, "I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life."  And the rest of the lesson shows how it happens.  When God speaks, the bones rattle all over the valley and start connecting to other bones.  Like the song: "The toe bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the leg bone, now hear the Word of the Lord."

          And that's not all - sinews and muscles cover the bones, and then skin and even hair.  Now we can see the bodies are a mighty army, dead long ago, but now newly re-formed.  They're almost alive, but they're still just lying there - no life in them, just there, like old men sleeping in front of the TV, like teenagers sleeping on Saturday morning, like tired Lutherans listening to a sermon - not much life in them!

          But then God says, "Prophesy to the wind.  Come from the four winds and breathe life into these slain, that they may live."  So the prophet called the breath to enter the bodies, and the bodies came to life and stood up, an army!"

          Now comes the point of the story, in these words:  "Son of man," says God, "these bones are the people of Israel.  They say they have no hope, but I am going to give them hope.  I am going to bring them home.  Now, you go and tell them, 'Oh my people, like I brought life to this army, I am going to bring you home.  I will bring you back to your land of Israel, and then you will know that I am the Lord.  I will put my Spirit in you and bring you back to your homeland.  And you will know that I have done all this for you, declares the Lord.'"

          When we look around our world today, we will see many dry places.  Wars, and poverty, and disasters, and injustice, and stupidity leave our bodies dry and hardened.  The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and nations never cease their warring.  We get and get, but never get happier.  We're so educated and act so dumb.  We know so much but we have no idea how to create a decent future for our young.

          But as believers in Jesus Christ, we do know a few things.  We know that God is still in control of this mixed-up world.  He hasn't stopped being God, He hasn't gone on vacation.  God can bring life back into anything He chooses, especially the church.  Like Clarence Bunsen realized, the church is a good place.  Its people do good things.  Even if it looks dried up and old, so long as the Gospel is preached and believed, it is still alive.  It often just needs a "shot in the arm," a "pick-me-up" to get its people back into action.  Its members need a living purpose to believe in.

          You and I don't come to church to hear about the church, but to hear about Jesus.  We don’t come to hear a sermon about the church's needs, but our own needs.  And yet usually the two can't be separated.  The church's needs are linked with our needs.  The church tells us the Gospel, and the Gospel is our basic need for salvation.  The message of the church is the message we need to hear, over and over.  Jesus is our Lord!  He died but now He lives.  He went to the cross for our sins, but then arose from the grave so that we can arise, too.  "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  Old song, old line, but as new as daily forgiveness.

          Some days we feel like our bones are old and falling apart.  Other times we feel alive and joyful and full of vigor.  Most days are somewhere in between, joyful but guarded, tired but expectant, weary but knowing God gives us strength.  There's not a day goes by but what we don't need to re-hear the Gospel, that God loves us in Jesus Christ.  There's not a person who is not strengthened by knowing of God's love in Jesus, and that God really does give a hoot for each of us.

          I meet with a small group of pastors each Thursday to encourage each other and to pray.  Last week there were just two others and we talked.  I asked them how long they'd been actively ministering, leading a church.  One said 5 years, the other said 15, and then added, "It seems longer."  When I told them I'd been doing this nearly 40 years, their mouths hung open, at least for a second.  "What a wonderful blessing," one said.  "Do you ever get tired, sorta dried out?" the other asked.  "Lately quite often," I said, "but whenever it happens, I know the Lord will give me something fresh and new."

          Are you walking in the valley of dry bones today?  Do you feel dried up, in need of God's breath of fresh air?  Are you wondering if you'll ever feel like you're home again?  I want to offer just one suggestion:  "Hear the word of the Lord."

          Nothing refreshes like hearing the Word of the Lord.  Last week someone told me that 20 years ago he'd started to read the Bible through, cover-to-cover, once a year.  And he said how much strength it gave him.  Then he asked me how many times I'd read the Bible, and I was a bit humbled to think, "Only a few times - maybe eight or ten."  I've read parts of it every week, sometimes every day, but cover-to-cover not often enough.  Nothing refreshes a believer like the Word of the Lord.  It refreshes the soul, it makes us alive; it gives life to dry bones like yours and mine.  God grant that we all, one day, will at last come home, to the eternal presence of God, amen.

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.