Elijah is having a “No Bones Day” (check out the links re: Noodle the 13-year-old pug to understand this reference!), and his people are having a whole “No Bones” season. Surrounded by the bleak and very dead pile of dried out bones, Elijah has no reason to feel optimism when God asks, “Mortal, can these bones live?” and they so obviously cannot. But Elijah doesn’t need to feel optimism; that’s not what God asks of him, or of us. Instead, God invites Elijah - and each one of us, in our own places of bleak and lifeless despair - to practice hope.

note: Pastor Megan does refer to Ezekiel as Elijah throughout. Feel free to mentally adjust that name as you listen.

Sermon begins at minute 4:20

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14
Image: Noodle and Jonathan Graziano, of “No Bones” fame

• Bibleworm podcast: Episode 315 – The Valley of Dry Bones, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr.
• “No Bones” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwE9cyXM_v4 
• About Noodle, his human Jonathan Graziano, and their “No Bones” game: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/19/1047302978/noodles-pug-bones-no-bones-day-tiktok-mood-prediction