Rev. George Miller
Dec 7, 2025
Ezekiel 37:1-14
There is a memory I have; one that has
always carried me through.
Growing up on Long Island, when it snowed,
we went to a hill off the Long Island Expressway.
This was in the 70’s and 80’s at a time
when folks didn’t worry so much about safety.
Whole families would be there, and their dogs, a truck selling hot cocoa,
and cars driving by.
Without a care, we’d walk up that snow-covered
hill, place our sleds down, and whooshed down the hill at incredible
speeds, careful not to end up in the service road.
Then you did it again and again. Up and down; whoosh and stop. Dogs running free. Hot cocoa waiting for you at the bottom of the
hill. Parents taking photos.
Everyone wearing snow suits, being cold
and sweating at the same time; snowflakes sticking to your skin, the sky filled
with the sounds of laughter and glee.
Some used the round shaped snow saucers
with the handles on the side. Or the Flexible Flyer with the rope you held onto
and metal cross bar you steered with your feet.
The toboggans long and slender, meant to
hold multiple kiddos, so fast, impossible to steer, leading to tip-over, wipe
outs, and “watch-out!” when you hit a bump.
I remember how we all became imaginary engineers,
creating chains of sleds, holding onto one another like trains going downhill.
Heaven: nature sisters brothers mothers
fathers friends strangers neighbors dogs snowflakes hot cocoa all coming
together to make a memory, creating a sense of hope and peace when remembered.
A memory when things were just right,
even if the danger of fast cars was nearby and the walk up that hill could seem
so arduous.
But that woosh, that journey down
that hill was so worth it.
One of the key phrases of the Bible is “remember”,
appearing nearly 300 times
Psalm 77 speaks of remembering how the Lord lead the people through the Red
Sea, designed to give us hope when we come across a seemingly unsolvable
situation.
Psalm 119:52 says “I remember your
instructions…O LORD, and find comfort in them,” bringing a sense of peace into
our existence when things seem unsteady.
Hope and peace are two of the Advent
candles we lit today. Hope gives us a
path to walk upon as we journey Back to Bethlehem; Peace provides the rhythm and pace.
Hope and peace are like hills we set our
eyes upon that let us know we are closer to reexperiencing Emmanuel; the
miracle of God taking flesh and being among us.
Though today’s reading places us in a
valley of dry bones, we are going to talk about hills.
Ezekiel speaks to the people of Judah who
were kidnapped and living in Babylon.
They came from a land of hills and
vineyards, their Temple sat upon a mountain that sparkled in the sun.
Now, where they live, everything is
flat. Devoid of purple and red grapes,
and silvery green grapes.
Instead of hills that are alive with life,
they are seeing flat, treeless horizons.
And their hearts mourn.
So before discussing the dry bones,
Ezekiel talks of mountains. In chapter 36, he does his best to fill them with
hope and peace.
“Guess what!” he says to them. “God has a message for the hills and
waterways. God has a word of hope and
peace for the mountains and valleys of Isreal,.”
Oh, what it must have been like for the
kidnapped people of Isreal to hear these words of restoration!
“One day, the mountains that you miss, the
hills that now lay bare, will grow again.
There will be branches, and fruit.”
Ezekiel shares this hope-filled, peaceful
vision of one day the people journeying back.
God will be with you. Your land will flourish, your families grow;
God will reunite the nations.
God says “I will gather you from
throughout the world; clean you with water.
A new heart and spirit will dwell inside you. I will feed you with grain of the field and
fruit of the tree, and your sins will no longer have a hold over you.”
The final image is of the people being an
expanding flock; beloved sheep of the Lord.
Upon reading Ezekiel 36, all I can think
of is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
It’s like Ezekiel is saying “Remember
your future.”
Remember your future so that you can
exist during this moment and you can find glimmers of hope and peace in this
time and place.
It becomes a perfect lead-in to the image
of dry bones gathered in the valley; bones that come from lost dreams and difficult
times.
After being told to speak to the mountains
and remind folk that one day the hills will be alive, Ezekiel speaks life into
what has been seen as death; to bravely imagine that God’s breath can resurrect
what was lost.
It is good to be reminded that the God who
parted the waters of the Red Sea is the same God who can raise what is dry and
despondent.
To Remember. A grand thing to do as we journey back to
Bethlehem.
Today, take a moment and think about a
hill in your life.
Think about a hill where you experienced
joy, you experienced peace. Think of a
hill that when you recall it, it gives you hope.
Could be a hill you’ve been to; a hill
you’ve visited with family, a date, a vacation.
It can be small it can be big.
In the back of your bulletin, name that
hill. Jot down the memory. Maybe you want to draw an image, create a
hashtag, design a meme.
Now, we are invited to gently tear that
spot from the page, treating it like the treasure it is.
You are invited to carry that hill moment
with you as we journey back to Bethlehem, a reminder of how good life can be.
Let this image of that that hill be a way
for you a way to think about what Jesus means for us, and what we expect to
find when we make our way to the manger.
A memory of hope; a memory of peace. May the mountains shout may the rivers
sing. May the hills come alive knowing
that soon Jesus Christ will be born.
Amen.
