Finding Wholeness
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” —JOHN 10:10B (NIV)
The prophet Ezekiel is shown a vision of a valley of dry bones—the wake of devastation from war and famine and disease that his people knew too well. God (rather surprisingly) asks him, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel sees only death and devastation before him. Utter hopelessness. But, at the breath of God, sinew and muscle and movement appear before Ezekiel’s eyes as the people are made whole. Life is restored to them. God says, “Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them” (Ezekiel 37:13, NIV). This is a vision of what God is in the business of doing. Restoration. It’s what Jesus came to begin at Christmas, and see through to the end at Easter and beyond.
Advent sees this restoration as a long and slanting light. It meets our eyes, and suddenly we can see hope where there was none. We start to see life where there was only decay. That is the work of this kind of hope. Like shoots of green in a crack in the concrete. Like a song calling through the dark. We see it all the time: life where there should be none. May we see these small miracles everywhere today.
REFLECT
1. What does the word “vitality” mean to you? Does it feel familiar or foreign to your current experience? Why?
2. Theologian Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” [Howard Thurman (1974): quoted in Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads (New York: The Crossroads Publishing Company, 1994). xv.] What stands out to you from this quote? How does it make you feel?
RESPOND
Spend some time getting in touch with how you feel during various parts of the day. See if you can connect vitality and joy with Christmas preparation anytime throughout your day, and make a mental note of what was happening then. What puts a spring in your step and joy in your heart as you lean into the promise of Christmas joy and new life?
A Blessing for New Hope
God, sometimes the dry bones stay dry.
The dead stay dead.
Actually, most of the time.
Fine. All of the time.
But you make exceptions.
Thank you for a newborn baby, who turned the world toward love.
Thank you for a newborn moment when you turned love toward me.
And for all the times when the dry stays dry and what’s gone stays gone, make Advent the loveliest reminder that you have the uncanny ability to bring everything back to life.
GOING DEEPER
When writer Heather Lanier’s daughter was born with a rare genetic syndrome, she learned that the world will not always see her beloved as good. And yet, our imaginative Creator declared the goodness of all God created. Watch this clip (3 minutes) where Kate and Heather talk about goodness that cannot be measured.