Ezekiel 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, Ezekiel has no reason to feel optimism when God asks, “Mortal, can these bones live?” and they so obviously cannot. But Ezekiel doesn’t need to feel optimism; that’s not what God asks of him, or of us. Instead, God invites Ezekiel – 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.