Renewal
Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14
“I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live . . . ”
Lent is a time to remember God’s gracious gifts. One of those gifts is the continuous offer of renewal and new life. Our days do not have to be an endless stream of dull and pointless activity. God offers hope.
This passage from Ezekiel is most familiar as the basis for a spiritual which says, “the hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone.” We get so involved in the catchy rhythms of the music that we miss the point. God’s spirit will renew and revitalize God’s people.
The Hebrew word for spirit or breath is the same word used in Genesis 2:7 to describe the breath of life which created a living being. Just having a physical body is not enough. God’s spirit, breathed into that body, will make us truly human.
Israel was a nation without hope, represented by dry and disconnected bones. Only God could restore life to such a situation. We all have experienced periods of spiritual drought when we feel separated from God and from other people. God’s spirit is the cure for such situations.
If you are discouraged and feel alienated from God as Lent begins, pray for the renewing presence of God’s Spirit, breathing new power into your life. Dry bones can rise again!
For Reflection: Do I need a new awareness of God’s Spirit?
A Prayer Seed:
Come down, O Love divine,
Seek out this soul of mine
And visit it with Your own ardor glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
Within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Your holy flame bestowing.
Bianca da Siena (d. 1434)
