-a sermon for Lent 5-
The
hand of the Lord came upon me, and brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and
set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all
around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.
He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?”
---Ezek. 37: 1-3
The
prophet finds out that YES the bones can live; as does Martha and Mary and
those gathered around the tomb of Lazarus; as does the disciples and those
gathered together after Jesus’ resurrection.
YES these bones can live. So why is it that we are in a bone yard?
Bone
yards are an old back-country slang for a burying ground or a cemetery. Bone
yards, today, is a term applied more often to a storage space or an area containing
a collection of obsolete items: the leftovers of a salvage yard or the unwanted
and forgotten pieces at a scrap yard.
We
live in a bone yard because we grow out of and on top of the bones of history and
the bones of who has gone before us. We live in a bone yard because the bone
yard fascinates us – it is part of life’s journey, in living we move to death,
everything has an expiration date; everything wears out. Although we can’t
quite grasp it we settle into the bone yard and get pulled into being leftover
salvage, unwanted, or forgotten pieces – dry bones; it is easier to turn to death
than dare to contemplate living resurrection.
Our
lives are built on bone yards – literally – dig up any city and you will find
old bones. The backyards with buried pets, the patches of parkland or along the
ocean shore where ashes have been scattered. When St. David’s Presbyterian
church by the old library in Halifax redeveloped their property, they found
bones all along the foundation wall of the church… bones from paupers’ graves,
bodies shifting through time from the library-once-burying-grounds down. In any
city there are the bones of old buildings repurposed and found elsewhere, old
foundations under newer construction. There are city streets under city
streets. There are the neighbourhoods whose bones – the sense of community or
lack there of, the ethics, the characteristics- grow marrow from generation to
generation.
Most
disturbing are real bones – the Bone yards on the grounds of residential
schools, mass graves from atrocities of war, the rubble of 9/11; internment
centres holding so-called illegals; processing sites detaining migrants; urban
streets awash with death at the hand of homelessness/mental illness/drugs/violence.
Mortal
can these bones live? YES ---Then why are we in the bone yard?
Friday
was the commemoration date of the death of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Romero died
March 24, 1980. He did not just die. He was martyred. Having finished the
sermon in the chapel at a hospital serving cancer and terminally ill patients,
he moved to stand in front of the altar; while presiding at communion he was
purposefully struck with a bullet through the heart. Dead. A pile of bones on the
floor.
Romero
wrote: “A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t
unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God
that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed
– what gospel is that?”
Certainly
not a gospel that prophecies to a valley of dry bones.
The
day before his death Archbihop Romero preached to Salvadoran Christian soldiers
to be obedient to God’s higher order, to stop carrying out the government’s repression
and violations of basic human rights. Romero spoke to dry bones – those who had
succumbed to settling into death and feared living resurrection; no longer daring
to hope that these bones might live. Romero was an outspoken critic of
government corruption, military abuse, and oppression of the poor. Along with
other priests, he was considered a traitor by those with power, money, and
influence because of their bold stand for justice and defending the rights of
the poor; believing that these bones can live.
Romero
spoke: “I do not believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me I will
rise again in the people of El Salvador.”
YES these bones can live.
250,000
people attended Romero’s funeral, with gratitude and passion to continue the
work of living for and raising up the poor, the leftover, the unwanted, the
forgotten. The people, once dry bones now inspired, imbued with hope, and
breathing God-justice stood on the bones of Romero and amidst the attempt to
return the people to bones choose resurrection. The funeral crowd faced chaos
in smoke bombs from government security forces and rifle shots from
plain-clothed army sharpshooters. They stood resurrected, even the 30-50 who died
that day, as Romero’s body was buried in a bone yard, the crypt below the
church.
The
world is full of bone yards. We are standing in a valley of dry bones. We can
settle in and continue to dry in the bleaching heat of systemic racism,
political rhetoric, growing poverty, fear mongering; or at the call of the
prophet, we can come together bone-on-bone and be filled with the breath of
God-justice. These bones can live – growing from the bone yard of our ancestors
– passionate to continue sponsoring refugees and welcoming displaced persons; excited
about the transformation of this building and community; determined to be life
in the neighbourhood; fervent in sharing good news; ardent in distributing
hope; resolved to be God’s grace and compassion; resolute in living out God’s
abundance; being bold in prophesying to dry bones and agitating bone yards to
rise to live as one body – where no one will be leftover, unwanted, or
forgotten.
Romero
preached: “Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will
overcome the world. Let us not tire of preaching love. Though we see that waves
of violence succeed in drowning the fire of Christian love, love must win out;
it is the only thing that can.” YES
these bones can live. YES these bones can live.
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus
says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you
shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and I will cause flesh to come to you,
and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you
shall know that I am the Lord. – Ezek. 37: 4-5
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