Spring 2023 officially started March 20th. Funny enough, it was spitting snow that morning. Didn’t feel at all like spring in Nashville. But after getting through one of the hardest winters I’ve personally had in awhile, I embraced the Vernal Equinox with all I had and decided that I too, was going to enter a new season. Can you feel it? Can you hear it??? This is the sound of dry bones rattlin’…
There is a chapter in my book about the seasons of life. I believe we funnel through the seasons over and over again during our lives, and I’ve found that learning to acknowledge what season I am in is really helpful. Here is an excerpt from my book, breaking down the seasons as I see them:
*Spring: A time for planting and new growth. I think back on all the “springtimes” of my life, and I can immediately think of times I was starting something new. Springtimes are exciting but also can be filled with anxiety. Remember going off to college and leaving home for the first time? Getting married and beginning a new life as a couple with your new spouse? Starting a new job? Moving to a new town? All those were exciting and adventurous times, but they also were filled with lots of storms, just as the meteorological spring brings us. Yes, there are many different times in my life I can point to as a “spring season.” And then those times fell into . . .
Summer: A time for nurturing and developing new growth. We are settled into our new opportunities or experiences and now it’s time to watch them flower and grow into whatever we can make them become. Summer is usually a satisfying and motivating time, but it’s usually an extremely busy time for us. Summers can be overly hot and dry without enough water and before we know it, we are thirsty and burned-out. Thankfully those over-worked summer seasons lead into . . .
Fall: A time for harvesting what you have nurtured. Girlfriends, I don’t know about you all, but I LOVE FALL. It’s my absolute favorite season. The cooler air comes in and refreshes us, reminding everyone that it’s ok to stop and slow down just a bit. The hard work from the summer season is about to be put on display as your “harvest.” It’s a satisfying time, if you can force yourself off of the proverbial merry-go-round that we usually resist jumping off. Slowing down is hard for many people, but it’s necessary throughout our lifetimes. One of the reasons I think people might resist the fall season is because they know what’s next. . . .
Winter: A time of rest and renewal. When you describe winter as a time of “rest and renewal” it doesn’t sound so bad, does it? But for many, winter is just pure hell. Unfortunately, many of our winters are forced upon us via a traumatic event. A job loss. A divorce. An illness. A death of a loved one. Life will force us into slower modes sometimes and it isn’t fun. But if we try to realize that it can come with benefits for our overall health, sometimes it’s easier to take.
I am definitely coming out of a winter - both meteorologically and personally. In the last few months I’ve had physical issues that stopped me in my tracks, literally. I had a deep loss I was grieving. I was at a crossroads in one area of my life, not sure which road I should take to continue on my journey, and I felt too paralyzed to make a move. I had an important relationship in trouble and needing attention, but with everything else going on, I was struggling to find the emotional energy to invest in it. And I felt the familiar signs of depression starting to take over once again. It all felt too much… so like the trees, flowers and bears that hibernate to withstand the cold of the winter, I shut down for a bit too. It was all I could do. I was deep in the valley of dry bones.
As far as finding hope and comfort in my religion… well, that wasn’t happening either. With the rise of Christian Nationalism over the last few years, I have found myself on the verge of leaving the “Christian” label completely behind. Luckily I’ve found some good books and excellent teachers that have made some compelling cases for staying and fighting to make Christianity better, rather than let it get hijacked by a group of people that, in my view, don’t reflect the real teachings of Jesus. It’s not easy though, I tell ya.
I met with a priest the other day for coffee. She is the rector of an Episcopal church that I’ve been visiting lately. I told her my story and then admitted that I wasn’t sure where I stood with theology these days. I definitely don’t believe that all of the Bible is to be taken literally anymore or that Christianity is the only way to God. And I don’t believe homosexuality is a sin, that women can’t teach to men, or that Jesus would stand behind the “American FIRST” slogan. She nodded, sat back in her chair and said, “So what DO you believe?”. And after I thought for a moment, I said, “I believe in God, and I believe God is good.” And she smiled and said, “Well, I think that’s a great place to start!” This is the sound of dry bones rattlin’….
In Ezekiel 37, the prophet Ezekiel describes his vision/revelation of the resurrection of dry bones. **In this particular vision, Ezekiel finds himself being carried away and deposited in a valley by the agency of Yahweh’s spirit (God). Ezekiel describes the state of the bones that he saw in the valley as very dry (37:2), presenting the picture of 'total death'. This symbolic representation is descriptive of the extremity of Israel's condition in her exilic state as 'helpless and hopeless, cut off from God's life giving presence'.
God instruct Ezekiel to bring the bones back to life:
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.
What those dry bones needed was a total infusion of the Spirit. I believe that’s what my dry bones have been needing as well.
… and I feel it happening. This is the sound of dry bones rattling…
The more I wrestle with scripture, religion and God, the more and more I’m finding my way. I’m feeling the infusion begin to happen. My “fight” is starting to get bolder… for God, for those around me, and even for myself. And I believe there is a resurrection a comin’… for myself, for this earth, and for the Kingdom of God. Spring is here. A time for planting seeds and new growth.
I came from a religious background that said “more faith” was the answer to everything. Any problem in your life was tied back to some lacking on your part - mainly a lack of faith. If you were struggling with depression, you didn’t need a therapist, you needed “more Jesus”. If you had something bad happen (a job loss, a divorce, a betrayal an illness etc..), you must not be “living right” and had clearly “fallen out of favor” with God. (Didn’t those people read Job? Clearly not!) If you were questioning the theology of your current church, or having any kind of faith crisis, then “Satan was at work! You are under attack!” - and if you didn’t go back to towing the line quickly, you were labeled a heretic and usually banished from your people, your tribe, your church. We surely can’t have that heresy spreading through the church and corrupting the “good people of God”. Get this heretic away from us! Sigh…
None of us are getting it all right. No one’s theology is completely perfect. One of my favorite pastors these days is @walkingpastor on Instagram, aka Judy Peterson. She shared this the other day and thought it was SO GOOD:
“I am convinced that God’s ways are always going to be higher than our ways and God’s thoughts higher than ours .
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And while I believe it’s always good to make a reasonable run at trying to not only figure out but also live out these thoughts and ways, I simply do not believe there has been or ever will be a single person who will stand before God and find they got God 100% right.
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And so I propose that perhaps it’s a better practice, or at least a good accompanying practice, to consider in which ways we are willing to be wrong. In what ways do we feel as though we can, in good faith, stand before Christ and offer a defense?
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For me, I’m willing to be wrong on including more, rather than excluding more. I’m willing to be wrong on loving more, rather than condemning more. I’d rather be wrong with how much I give away than how much I keep. I’m willing to be wrong in my quest to make peace, rather than my desire to go to war. I’d rather be wrong on speaking up than on remaining silent, standing with the marginalized than siding the privileged and being overly optimistic than reasonably cynical.
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Again, I’m not saying I’m right, but for me, I feel like I can hold these convictions and look Jesus in the eye and in good faith say, “I was trying to follow you.”
What are you willing to be wrong about?
I’m sure I’m wrong about many things, but I have found that when I allow myself the freedom to look for God in more places than the barriers my religion has put around my faith, everything changes. All the grey turns into beautiful, brilliant colors! I see that God is around me - even in all the “secular” parts of the world. There really is no “secular”. ***Everything is sacred. Christ is all and in all. (Col 3:11)
So don’t be afraid to look for God in all the wrong places (Thank you, Johnny Lee). If you seek God with all your heart, you will find God. (Jer 29:13). God will not hide his face from the child who is searching.
I am definitely a searcher. Are you?
Dry bones, rattle away. New life is a comin’.
Love to you all… M
*from my book, God, My Girlfriends and Me: Nurturing the Three Most Important Relationships in a Woman’s Life
**from The vision of Dry Bones
***Everything is sacred: https://cac.org/daily-meditations/how-can-everything-be-sacred-2018-01-02/
What I’m loving this week:
BOOK: An Untidy Faith: Journeying Back to the Joy of Following Jesus by Kate Boyd. ”This book is for those who seek to reground their faith in the way of Jesus, those who feel that the church has become a dead-end, those who are searching for what is missing.” I haven’t quite finished it, but I’ve been enjoying it so far.
PODCAST: The Holy Post, Ep 559: The Nashville Shooting & Preaching to a Divided Nation. I found The Holy Post podcast a couple of years ago and I listen quite often. Their conversation on the Nashville Shooting, which starts at 13:20 has some excellent commentary on this event, the protests that followed, why we should avoid culture war narratives after national tragedies, and how people like Tucker Carlson aren’t helping. I highly recommend a listen.
MUSIC: The song that inspired my post today. It’s been on repeat for the last couple of weeks.