Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The Walking Dead

This sermon was delivered to the people of the Lutheran Church of the Nativity on December 8, 2013. The text for the sermon was Ezekiel 37:1-14.


They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.”
- Ezekiel 37:11b-12a, 14a






It’s hard to read our passage from Ezekiel and not think about zombies.  It’s even harder to do this now, when zombies have captured the popular imagination of America over the past 5 years or so.  Zombies have popped up all over the pop culture board recently. We’ve always been zombie horror movies, but over the past few years, it zombies have branched out.  We’ve seen a zombie romantic comedy, in Warm Bodies, and this past summer we saw World War Z, a zombie action blockbuster starring none other than Brad Pitt.  There are books about how to survive the zombie apocalypse, and entire websites dedicated to the feasibility of a zombie outbreak.  And then, there’s the show that, I think, really kicked off America’s fascination with zombies: The Walking Dead.
Now, this popular show on AMC is based on a just as popular graphic novel series by the same name.  And for those of who you might be unfamiliar with either of these works, the story follows a group of humans who have banded together in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse.  As the series progresses, it becomes clearer and clearer that the zombies are not the only walking dead from the title - it also refers to the ragtag group of survivors as well.  These normal humans lose bits and pieces of their humanity in their struggle to survive.  They too become like Walking Dead.
Now, like most good science fiction, our popular zombie literature satirizes how many people in America live day to day.  There’s a sense that we’re just “going through the motions,”  or just working to get by.  There are people that just walk through life without any hope, or without any sense of life.  We feel disconnected from each other and from God.  People might blame social media, technology, or those kids today, but we cannot deny that it’s a feeling that encompasses most of the Western world.  The culture we live in is full of people who might not realize that they are eerily similar to the walking dead of the popular zombie movies that they watch.  
This is not unlike the Exiles that Ezekiel is called to share this bizarre message of hope we see in our text this morning.  The people are complaining that their bones are dried up, that they are cut off - that they are dead.  Zombies.  Creatures just going through the motions because they feel dead inside.  These people are eerily similar to our walking dead
But this isn’t the end of the story.
God comes to Ezekiel and shares with him this message of hope for a future filled with life.  God brings Ezekiel to a valley - one of the lowest points in the desert of Israel and shows him the bones of fallen warriors.  These men, and quite possibly women and children, who fought to defend their homeland and lost.  It’s a horrific sight - reminiscent of some of our scarier zombie movies today.
God doesn’t leave it at that.  God commands Ezekiel to prophesy to these bones that they might live, to share with them God’s active and living Word, that even these bones might experience a fullness of life.  This powerful image is one that brings hope in the valley of death that Ezekiel where he finds himself.  The bones come together as Ezekiel shares God’s word with them.  Bit by bit, the bones become connected.  Eventually they can stand and move as if they were alive.
Something is missing.  These people are what we would traditionally think of as zombies.  There’s no life, there’s no spirit. They might be able to move, but they aren’t alive.  They might be put together but they aren’t whole.
This is where the exiles find themselves and it’s where too many of us find ourselves today.  We are put together.  We can move.  We can work.  We can go through the motions.  But there’s no spirit in it.  There’s no life.  There’s no wholeness.
And yet, this isn’t the end of the story.
Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy once more.  To share again, the living Word of God, and again Ezekiel obeys.  This time, the spirit enters the bodies.  The spirit creates life.  The spirit creates meaningfulness in the people that have been resurrected by God working through Ezekiel.  And it’s here, in the valley of death, that God brings forth a newness of life.  It’s here, that God promises to do these things and more for the whole people of Israel.  To bring them life, so that they might no longer feel like members of the walking dead and instead rejoice because they are once more joined to one another, to their homeland, and to God.  It’s here, in this valley, that God sends Ezekiel once more to share with the people in Exile God’s living Word, and restore their hope, and give them life even when it feels far removed from them.
And Ezekiel does, the Israelites hear this message of hope, and share it with one another, time and time again as they continue to spend their time in exile.  Trusting in God’s promises.  Sharing in the prophesy, the living Word of God that brings hope.  And in that hope, a renewed life for these people appears.
And still, that’s not the end of the story.
Because Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, comes down to earth.  Jesus Christ - God’s living Word dwelling and living among us.  Breathing with us, talking with us, eating with us, teaching us, creating a newness of life in us.  Jesus’ desire to heal all peoples, so that they might have life, not just go through the motions as a member of the walking dead even though this ultimately leads to his death on the cross.  And even there, Jesus comes back, not as a zombie, but as a person who has life through his relationship with God and with all of creation.  
And still that’s not the end of the story.
Because of Jesus, we get to participate in those relationships now.  We are baptized by God’s Spirit - the one that gives us life by joining us to Christ and the Creator of all things.  We gather around to share in the messages of God’s living Word, as we teach and learn from one another.  We eat and drink the holy meal with the Word made flesh.  And through God’s power, we are given life because we gain and develop relationships with God, and with one another.
Someone who models what it means to truly live this kind of life is Nelson Mandela.  He was a man, who sought out the life in those who are oppressed and struggling to get by.  He went to these people that many might shy away from as the walking dead and embraced them as Children of God.  Mandela worked hard to show all of creation that God’s life is present - he shared the message of God’s living Word through his words, through his deeds, and through his suffering.  He eagerly waited for the coming of the Kingdom of God by trying to embody Christ everywhere he went.

So this Advent, we take comfort in the fact that we are not zombies, that God is present in our deep, dark valleys, and that Christ has been there to bring forth life.  And we celebrate our status as living, breathing Children of God, not as the nameless walking dead we see reflected in contemporary culture.  And we wait like Mandela waited, by eagerly working to bring forth the Kingdom of God in all we say and do.  We can share God’s Living Words with others like Ezekiel and Mandela did, allowing our actions to speak louder than our words.  And in our work, we join thousands of God’s children around the world as we all wait to hear the end of the story.  Amen.

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