Shalom by Prophecy

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he 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 round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: 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 will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’  So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

 Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.’

Who is dried up?
What has been cast aside, believed to be ruined?
Where do we see piles of death?
When did the breath leave?
Why - How does prophecy work?

Bone to bone, sinew and flesh, breath.

I try to imagine the multitude of dry bones rattling to find one another. The bones of those who have gone before us? Or are they bones of those who we have called ruined, prophesied as ruined? The young urban man whose family is a gang. The single mother with two jobs and two kids and two twenty dollar bills left at the end of the month. The middle aged man riddled with Parkinson's. The elderly woman with Alzheimer's. The young woman who cuts herself to feel the pain of her life. The lonely, the aged, the unemployed, the sick, the despairing, the addicted, the bones of the dried up.

Imagine these dried up, cast away piles of death rattling to find one another. Suddenly I want to be part of the pile. I want my own dryness to count so that I can find one another. I want to be put together too.

Sinews coming from the prophecy - you connect to you. You help move that one. that one holds onto to this one. This one strengthen the other one.

The word continues, the life giving prophetic word - speaking wholeness, completeness, healing, shalom.
Peace. The word of Ezekiel brings true peace to this multitude.

Sinews tie the multitude together. As if coming across new friends, loved ones, those whom we have forgotten. Or others. strangers, aliens, exiles, foreigners - and yet we are connected by this fibrous tissues.

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And as the multitude settles into this new connected body, flesh wraps around them. Our organic natural shield, protective layer. Miraculously regenerative. Waterproof. Amazingly resilient yet stunningly fragile.

The bones, connected and wrapped together but still one thing is needed.

The breath.
The Spirit.
The wind of God.
Can you hear it? Can you feel it? Do you perceive it?

Prophecy to the bones.
They say they are dried up.
That is not God's vision.

Who is dried up?
What has been cast aside, believed to be ruined?
Where do we see piles of death?
When did the breath leave?
Why - How does prophecy work?

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