The Lord Rebuilds!

AM Psalm 146, 147 • PM Psalm 148, 149
Ezek. 37:1-14 • Acts 3:11-26 or 1 Cor. 15:41-50 • John 15:12-27

A couple of days ago, I got my second shot of the Moderna vaccine for Covid-19. I was thrilled that fellow parishioner Kathy McGregor was my nurse. She told me that giving vaccines in her retirement from nursing has been one of the most joyous things she’s done, and I can say that receiving her shot was joyous for me as well.

Today’s readings are filled with this hope that I feel. In Ezekiel 37, God shows his prophet that he is capable of bringing a slain army back to life. Ezekiel prophesies and bones come together, sinews and flesh cover them, and the breath of life enters them. I feel that Kathy is taking part in this type of life-giving prophesy. Thanks in large part to this vaccine, I look around and I see people who are beginning to come back from a year filled with overwhelming death and destruction. I’m going physically to church again. I can visit my friends and relatives as we develop immunity. I’m even considering visiting an arcade in the coming weeks!

The hope of Psalm 147 finally seems more than a desperate fantasy: “The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Written by Haley Hixson

A fascinating aside found during my research for this essay is the origin of Dry Bones as sung by Delta Rhythm Boys linked here.