Visions of Life!

Visions of Life from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.


Ezekiel 37:1-14
1The 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. 2He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O LORD God, you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5Thus says the LORD God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6I 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.”

7So 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. 8I 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. 9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: thus say the LORD GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breath upon these slain, that they may live.” 10I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

11Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. The say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus say the LORD GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from you graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14I 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.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Acts 2:1-21
1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean? 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
19And I will show portends in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

Following the Holy Spirit is like driving at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but with the faith that there’s something beyond our sight, you can make it the whole way home, one headlight beam at a time. Well, technically two beams…

Prophets like Ezekiel live just beyond the edge of our headlights. In many ways what they see is still shrouded in darkness to us, yet still they describe what they can see. It gives us hope so that we can continue moving towards their vision, trusting that there are more things under heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.

Ezekiel speaks, brushing across the surface of his vision: “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.” Ezekiel’s visions are not quite reality. They’re impressions, writing a theology of hope in the midst of exile and disaster.

Valleys are fertile places, where the rainwater of two mountains flows down and meets in the middle to nourish the soil. The valley is where we can expect growth, yet Ezekiel finds that once lush valley is instead filled with 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?’ I answered, ‘O LORD God, you know.’”

I had always read Ezekiel’s response as a statement of faith. Some variation of “all things are possible for you, O LORD God, you know.” On this visit to Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones, I wondered if perhaps Ezekiel is asking God if he knows how dead these bones are. “O LORD God, you know these bones are dry and dead, right?” Perhaps the familiarity of this story has overshadowed how scandalous the news of restoration is to the people of Israel. I think I like the vision of the very human Ezekiel reminding God of mortality, so that the restoration and hope which follow can be felt even more powerfully.

Because God upends Ezekiel’s expectation of death: “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. 8I 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.”

In the same way, the disciples were gathered together in one place, because they had experienced the risen Christ behind closed doors throughout the last fifty days, and had grown in faith each day Jesus was with them. They weren't hiding, they were waiting in remembrance of Jesus Christ who had gathered them all together into one upper room . Waiting for God to act in the same manner he had in the past.

The day of Pentecost has come, and we are all together in one place. The hand of the LORD has come upon us, and he brought us out by the spirit of The Lord and set us down in the middle of a valley. What will the Spirit do next?

Guide the people in love, and to love. God the Holy Spirit guides and sustains God’s people with grace and love. Sometimes love is a hug, sometimes love is a shove.

The Spirit of Pentecost does not bring people into the church, it sends the church out. The Spirit we receive at Pentecost loves us by shoving us out into the world to speak language which loves God supremely and loves each other too. “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

Now when the Spirit starts giving ability, things change. The Holy Spirit gives power. The church begins to grow. The Gospel spreads throughout the world. The Spirit is doing amazing things, and the entire next paragraph of our Acts passage unpacks how amazing this event is. “Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’”

We at the Presbyterian Church of Lowell aren’t the type to make fun of the disciples raucous new power, but If there had been Presbyterians around at that first Pentecost, I can hear us saying, “Listen Holy Spirit, I know you’re excited about all this power, and these new things you’re doing seem to have really connected, but before you make these changes, Holy Spirit, I need you to get committee approval.

New things and changes are especially tough on institutions like the Church, which are by their nature intergenerational. But the Spirit is not undoing what has happened before, she is simply expressing them in new languages.

Peter's sermon explaining what’s going on begins with Joel, an Old Testament Prophet. “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh” This outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a new thing that is right in line with who God has revealed himself to be all along. Tradition is not erased by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, it's opened up! The expression may be new, but the truths are ancient: God intervenes in this world and is active among God's people, giving them new language in which to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

We are not waiting for the Holy Spirit, we have already received it. It has been poured out on all flesh! We may feel as if our old bones are dry and the only thing we have to offer is history, but the breath of God is within us, and our young men will see visions, and our old men will dream dreams. The LORD has spoken and is revealing himself to the world through us, through the people who are the Presbyterian Church of Lowell.

It will be scary to follow the Holy Spirit to where we are going. It will be scary. But we have come to worship and adore the LORD our God, and we know that God's Holy Spirit is moving through the world in powerful and life-giving ways. If we have the faith to follow God, speaking about God’s deeds of power in every manner as the Spirit gives us ability, we will find our souls filled with the breath of God and our bodies fed by Holy Manna from God's own hand.