Based on the readings from Ezekiel 37:1-14 & John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15     

Ezekiel had a dream.  In the Spirit, God lead him to a valley filled with the bones of dead soldiers slain in battle against the Chaldeans.  

“Can these bones live?” God asked him.  On that battlefield lay all the hopes and dreams of a nation.  How could Ezekiel see anything there but disaster and defeat?  The situation is hopeless.  “Prophesy to them!” God continues. 

“What sense is there in that?” Ezekiel may well have thought.  Yet even though it doesn’t make sense, God calls him to take a risk.

“I will breathe life into them,” God tells him.  And Ezekiel prophesies to the bones.  Those dry lifeless bones take on sinew, and flesh. 

What a vision of hope!  And the miraculous thing about it is that the nation of Israel did indeed rise up from that terrible defeat.  Life was breathed back into that community.  It lived and prospered. 

Not forever, for Israel was again defeated, the next time by the Maccabees.  That is where the story begins to intersect with our Christian story.  Who could have prophesied that Ezekiel’s vision of life into dry bones would once again be fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost?  For with that outpouring came, not only the hope of a nation, but also the hope of salvation for all nations.  A Christian hope that exceeds all we can ask or imagine.  That breath of life poured out at Pentecost is the source of hope in human experience.  It renews us.  It assures us of God’s presence with us. 

Perhaps to really experience that kind of renewal and life we need to become aware of the dry bones in our own existence.  That is probably more difficult for us who are blessed to live in a country of wealth and prosperity, for we are amongst the most hopeful of people.  I hope you have a wonderful trip!  I hope your examination goes well.  I hope to see you soon.  I hope you have a good day at school.  It is very easy for us to offer messages of hope.  We live lives, which, on the whole, produce hopeful people.  We have expectations and desires for those we love, for our children.  We hope for the best for them.  And very possibly what we hope for will happen.  We can trust our instincts, and in order to have a real sense of hope there must above all be trust.  Yet that same spirit of hopefulness may well bring about a sense of complacency in our lives. 

Contrast that, on the other hand, with what we read in the newspaper about other parts of the world.  There are pictures sometimes, which haunt, which we cannot get out of our minds.  The hopeless look in the eyes of a small child with a distended belly! A mother searching the rubble for her child after an earthquake! The dazed look of a little boy whose house has been flattened by a tornado! The helplessness of a grandfather holding the lifeless body of his young granddaughter, pulled out from under the rubble of her school.  The look of hopelessness on their faces cannot help but move us.  Such pictures are not unlike Ezekiel’s dream.  But there is no hope. 

It is difficult to understand when one views the horrible situations which go on in the world, why anyone in our country would lose hope.  But so many people are without it.  Hurt by life.  In pain.  Suffering.  Lonely.  Disillusioned.  Hurt that things have not happened as they had expected.  Unable to cope with life's losses. 

Sometimes I hear that kind of hopelessness within the church.  The church is in a state of decline.  Our country is changing.  It is a wonderful multicultural, multiracial nation which also means that people of many religions live here.  It is fast becoming a secular society where many have no faith at all.  We mourn the church that used to be.  We mourn the time when Sunday meant going to church.  We lose hope.

Another story from Scripture.  "It is for your own good that I am leaving," Jesus told his disciples. 

I can hear their response.  "How can it be?  How can our lives possibly be better without you here with us?”  How wonderful it had been to have him back.  It had given them strength to face the days of persecution and terror.  Just being in his presence again had given them such hope for the future.  Without him the days would be bleak, lonely, hopeless.  The very thought of being without him again filled them with sorrow.  To lose him once had been bad enough.  Now to lose him for the second time! 

The fact is that what Jesus began the disciples were left behind to continue.  But he left them with a promise.  A promise that they would be fully equipped to do the job they were meant to do.  The Spirit would empower them to continue.  That was their great hope.  And that is the hope that continues for us.  For this Pentecost, we celebrate the birthday of a church, which is over two thousand years old.  And that is not just hopeful.  It is amazing.  An itinerant preacher and a ragged band of uneducated followers birthed a community of believers that continues through us. 

Go out some evening before the sun has fully set and watch the moon as it rises.  It is so pale and weak that it is practically invisible.  Once you have located it, if you continue to gaze at it for a few moments, it will not appear to be contributing anything whatsoever to the earth. 

Meanwhile the sun continues to set, seeming to take the whole world with it.  However, as it withdraws, you will notice that the lower the sun dips in the sky, the brighter the moon becomes.  By the time the sun has set, the moon is completely transformed.  It is, by this time, the brightest object in the sky. 

Of course, even at its brightest it will not compare with the sun.  Yet its silvery light not only allows us to see.  It casts an enchantment over everything.  Our old world becomes new, bright and exciting.  It is only when the sun has gone that you can see what the moon is contributing.  True, it is only reflecting the light of the sun.  It needs the sun.  But the sun also needs it to reflect its light on the earth. 

Love is like that.  It sometimes means distancing oneself from those we love.  Leaving them free to develop in their own way.  Free to receive from others.  Then they come to realize that they have a unique contribution to make.  And the opportunity. 

Pentecost was a coming of age for the disciples.  Baptism is a coming of age for us.  Grace is given.  The Spirit is working in our lives.  A fire is loosed into the world.  It is not always obvious how it works in our lives.  But the Spirit is there.  The fire in us waits to reveal itself. 

When we mature as Christians we take on the commitment of our baptism.  We become vehicles and channels of God's grace.  We become the visible Christ in the world.  We carry on the work.  The Spirit brings about change and growth in our lives. 

Today we celebrate God's Holy Spirit that gives hope to all of creation.  That same Spirit that caused breath to enter the dry bones in Ezekiel's dream.  That caused them to live.  What an exciting vision that is.  Church institutions can be brought back to life by us, its members.  We can return to our baptismal covenant.  God will restore us to life and truth and joy and purposefulness through the Holy Spirit.  We will be restored to the love and grace of God.  Restored through forgiveness and reconciliation.  Given peace and joy, purpose and meaning.  A new birth.  May God continue to breathe the Holy Spirit upon us.  Amen.