prepared by Chris Hancock – 22nd March 2026
STF 565 – Only by Grace can we enter
Prayers
Loving God, you are the source of all that is good and right and true. We gather together, in worship we bring you our praise. Open our eyes to witness your glory and our ears to hear your word. You are the creator and Lord of all. We ask that you draw us into your presence and surround us with your loving grace. We delighted to come into your presence. Fill us with your Holy Spirit as we offer you our praise and adoration. Amen.
Ezekiel 37 v 1-14
37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
Romans 8:6-11 – New International Version
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[a] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[b] his Spirit who lives in you.
STF 391 – O breath of life
| O breath of life, come sweeping through us, revive your Church with life and power; O breath of life, come, cleanse, renew us, and fit your Church to meet this hour. O wind of God, come, bend us, break us, till humbly we confess our need; then in your tenderness remake us, revive, restore; for this we plead. | O breath of love, come, breathe within us, renewing thought and will and heart; come, love of Christ, afresh to win us, revive your Church in every part. Elizabeth Ann Head, (Bessie Porter Head) (1850–1936) |
Reflection
During the exile in Babylon the Israelites were not oppressed in the same way that they were during the exile in Egypt. Although they were relatively free and able to carry on basically normal lives, they were not where they wanted to be. So, they lived with a sadness that ran deep in their souls. In Psalm 137 we read that they were unable to “sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land.”
Often when people’s lives are visited by tragedy, whatever that tragedy is, they turn away from worship. They lose their vision of God. Worship becomes too painful, sharing together with those who are singing praise to the Lord becomes impossible. Perhaps this is the time when we most need to come before God in worship but it is a time when we find it most difficult.
How do we cope with this contradiction of wanting to praise God but being unable to so. We supress our longing for God and bury ourselves in the things of the world. Building buffers around ourselves. Like the exiles in Babylon, we try to numb the spiritual pain by making life more comfortable. We work hard. We gather things around us to make our lives as nice as we can. However, this does not change the fact that we are not where we want to be. So, this suppression of our longing for God leads to what Paul calls spiritual death.
The Israelites even when they were encouraged to go home really didn’t want to go back. The desire to worship God in his temple had been wiped from their lives.
Our readings this morning are Gods’ response. The Spirit of the Lord grabs hold of the prophet Ezekiel and takes him to a valley filled with dry bones. There he asks Ezekiel, “Mortal, can these bones live?” Looking around at all the bones, Ezekiel dodges the question and replies, “Oh, Lord God, you know.”
God tells him to prophesy to the bones. Even giving him the message: “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 . . . And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
It seems a bit weird. Here is Ezekiel, standing in the middle of a pile of dead bones, telling them not to give up hope. So often calls us to believe without seeing to give credence to hope in God. It is that hope that brings us back to life. Hope rises up in us even if all that is left of us is “dry dusty bones”.
We have a poster at church and I have seen it on other churches which says Jesus Hope for Tomorrow. I dislike it intently. Hope in God is a thing of today and every day. People hope that tomorrow will be better but that hope is held in the present. That is why those with little are great at hoping, and why we have much and are comfortable in Babylon have such a hard time with hope. We are tempted to think we are doing ok. We worry about tomorrow that we may have problems or lose something so we live in today and abandon our hope for the future. But if we turn our backs on hope. It is then that the human spirit begins to wither away.
The apostle Paul told the believers in Rome that the one “who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you”. The church has always found its life not in what it sees today but in the Spirit of the God who raises dead hopes. The day we lose our ability to envision a better tomorrow is the day we deny that we really believe in the resurrection.
We are called to see visions and dream dreams of how the world should be. Then we are called to the actions required to make a reality of those dreams and visions. Thus we pour our resources into those things that will manifest the kingdom of God in the world around us. We offer our service to the community around us declaring that God has called us to that service to demonstrate his love to the world.
We pour out our resources into the places where hope has run dry? We serve at café, babies and toddlers, groups for the elderly. We visit those who are unable to leave their homes, those who are confined to care home or hospital. We in all probability will not be able to bring healing to them but we can bring hope. Our hope in God which we show and encourage them to join us in that hope. We do this because God has a plan for all of us. He has not turned his back on us because we have lost hope. To the contrary he is always with us his desire that our dry bones are once again clothed in the flesh that is hope in him.
We are called by God to stand beside Ezekiel and proclaim our hope to the dry bones. “Thus, says the Lord, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live!” You who gave up hope, who gave up dreaming—who have settled for the comfortable. Who think that God has forgotten all about you.
So we say to each other, for each of us needs to hear these words – “Arise!” Arise from the pile of dreams you have discarded and discover the Holy Spirit, breathing everlasting life back into you. Live filled with the magnificent hope of God which speaks into your life every day. Dream dreams and see visions for the Lord needs every ounce of your hope and energy to proclaim to the dry bones of the world.
Declare you steadfast and sure hope in the fact that God is changing us each and every day. That we too come to know that he is The Lord in whom our hope is well founded.
Prayers
Lord you call us to prayer and so we come with humble thankful hearts to bring you the concerns of our lives.
We pray for the victims of war and violence. We pray especially for those who are responsible for conflict, death and destruction. We pray for a change of heart. We pray for all of those who bring aid to those suffering the horrors of war and violence. We pray for peace and an end to all violent conflicts. In a moment of silence we reflect on those parts of the world experiencing war and conflict.
We pray for those who are struggling at the moment. Those who wonder how they are to provide for themselves and their families. We pray for government local and national as they formulate and implement policies to address these issues.
We pray for and remember those who are not well, at this time, those in hospital and those who are housebound. We pray for our families and those we love. Naming them in the quiet of our hearts.
We take a few moments in silence to pray for our own needs. Amen
STF 345 And Can it Be
| 1 And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood? Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 2 ‘Tis mystery all: the Immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design? In vain the first-born seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine. ‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, let angel minds enquire no more. 3 He left his Father’s throne above — so free, so infinite his grace — emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race. ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me! | 4 Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night; thine eye diffused a quickening ray — I woke, the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee. 5 No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine! Alive in him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ, my own. Charles Wesley (1707–1788) |
Blessing
May we go out into the world filled with your holy fire. Send us to sow or reap
May we use the gifts you have given us to bring your love and care to the world. May the blessing of God Almighty father, Son and Holy Spirit be with us in this moment as we pray and for eternity. Amen.
