Daily Lesson for April 8, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ezekiel chapter 37 verses, selected verses:

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. 2He led me all round 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 . . .

7 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. 9Then 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.’ 10I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

I've been thinking a lot this week on the organization of church and congregational renewal. Some of this is in response to a recent survey which reported that now fewer than half of all Americans belong to house of faith of any kind. That's the first time that number has dipped that low since the survey began 80 years ago.

So, from a business perspective, we have what you'd call a shrinking market, and it could feel hopeless. But I am not hopeless at all. In fact, I am hopeful. For I believe in renewal and even in resurrection. And I believe, as text says this morning, even old bones can live again.

But not without spirit!

So many church re-renewals and new church plants are all about changing organizational structure and culture. They make church governance easier and more streamlined and appropriate for the 21st century. Or they say, "Come as you are," which means in t-shirt and jeans, but not really as a fully out gay person. Outer forms are changed, but mostly its the same old heterosexist, patriarchal, and disembodied-get-you-to-heaven theology that's underneath the cool clothes.

What makes me hopeful for the church is something much deeper than all this. I see in places, hopefully like my own, where people of faith are joining with the spirit of the times in which we are living to truly bring about a more just and beautiful world, and a more prophetic and inclusive church. There is spirit there. There is energy. And there is a serious movement of God. These churches and other communities of faith may not have a majority of people in their congregation, but they have something much more important -- they have life.

An old hymn says:

"All is vain unless the spirit

of the Lord comes down".

I tell you, the spirit is down here. It's among us. And it's in a whole lot of churches. It's even in some very old churches.

Old bones are living again. The spirit has caused them to rise and walk again. The valley of dry bones is marching again.

And it really is Easter.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.