WEBVTT

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 Do you ever find yourself in a situation where it feels that everything is going wrong?

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 Everything.

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 No matter how hard you look, how deep you dig, it feels that there's just nothing there

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 that seems to represent anything like hope.

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 This passage, this vision that's set before us this morning, that vision of the valley

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 of dry bones that encounter resurrection, words that encourage us in those situations

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 to remember that there are two ways in which you can see things.

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 You can look at the dead or you can look at the life that is to come.

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 The late Rabbi Lionel Blue told a story years ago about a young man and everything was going

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 wrong for him.

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 He was in a lot of debt.

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 He'd lost his job.

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 His house was being repossessed.

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 He had a very chronic health condition that he'd recently been diagnosed with.

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 His marriage was falling apart.

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 And he was sat at the breakfast table one morning doing himself some toast and he was buttering

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 this toast and thinking about all of these things that were going wrong with his life.

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 When he accidentally dropped the toast, he thought, oh great, one more thing to go wrong.

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 That's why I thought it couldn't get worse.

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 He looked down and his astonishment, he saw that the toast had landed on the floor, butter

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 side up.

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 He thought to himself, is there just a possibility that this is a sign from God that the direction

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 of my life is taking something of an upward turn?

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 He was so excited with this idea, he ran straight out of the door.

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 He picked up his toast with him and he went straight round to his rabbi, banged on his

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 door.

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 The rabbi came to the door.

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 He said, can I come in?

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 He said, sure.

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 Sat down with his rabbi.

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 He said, what can I do for you, my son?

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 He said, rabbi, you know that everything seems to be going wrong in my life at the moment.

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 I've got this horrible health condition.

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 I'm in a lot of debt.

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 The house has been repossessed.

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 I've lost my job.

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 My marriage is falling apart.

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 He said, I know.

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 I'm praying for you.

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 He said, but rabbi, I think I might have a sign from God.

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 He said, what is it?

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 He said, well, I've just eaten it, but I was getting my breakfast ready and I was putting

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 some butter on my toast and I accidentally dropped it and I looked down and to my astonishment,

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 I saw the toast almost smiling at me, butter side up.

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 Rabbi, rabbi, is this a sign from God?

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 My fortunes are about to change.

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 Rabbi thought for a few moments.

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 He stroked his beard and he said, no, my son, you buttered it on the wrong side.

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 Things are going wrong.

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 Glib reassurances won't do.

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 But glib reassurances are not what we find in the Old or the New Testament.

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 Let's remember that it's out of the earthy reality of suffering and pain that the scriptures

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 are written, where ordinary human beings, but often experiencing extraordinary disaster,

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 experience the power of the extraordinary resurrection promising God.

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 The year was 586.

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 Ezekiel, a priest, was speaking into a situation where he had this vision of this valley of dry

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 bones.

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 In the year 586, the city of Jerusalem had been besieged for about a year.

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 And eventually it was captured by the Babylonians under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar.

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 You can read about it in 2 Kings, chapter 25.

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 The king of Judah was taken from the city of Jerusalem once it was captured.

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 King Zedekiah was taken by soldiers and they slaughtered his children in front of him before

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 ripping out his eyes, putting him in chains and sending him off to prison where he eventually

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 died.

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 Three weeks later, they burned the city of Jerusalem to the ground.

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 They destroyed the city walls.

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 They destroyed the temple, the king's palace and all the houses.

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 Those that were not infirmed were forced to leave.

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 And they were put in exile in Babylon.

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 The temple was stripped of everything.

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 And in 2 Kings 25, we read about, in some detail, the things that were taken.

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 The thing that's not mentioned was the thing that was most holy to the Jewish people, the

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 Ark of the Covenant.

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 And some say that that represented such, so much of the sacred, that such was the humiliation

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 of that taking place, that it just might have been possible that the writers of history

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 just couldn't even bear to put that reality into words.

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 It was devastating.

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 And so it is to these, before these people that have now lost literally everything, everything,

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 that this vision comes through Ezekiel.

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 He sees this vision of the valley of the dry bones.

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 Everything is death.

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 And yet, he then hears the word of the Lord saying to him, but look again.

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 There are two different ways of seeing reality.

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 These bones shall live.

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 And in fact, as that vision, as that story unfolds, ten times God says,

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 He says, one, I will cause breath to enter you.

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 Two, I will lay sinews on you.

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 Three, I will cause flesh to come upon you.

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 Four, I will cover you with skin.

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 Five, I will put breath in you.

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 Six, I am going to open your graves.

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 Seven, I am going to bring you up from your graves.

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 Eight, I will bring you back to your land.

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 Nine, I will put my spirit within you.

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 And ten, I will place you on your own soil.

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 There are different ways of seeing reality.

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 And then three times God says,

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 And you shall live.

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 And you shall live.

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 And you shall live.

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 Ezekiel is confronted with this valley strewn with dead bones.

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 And yet the word of the Lord says,

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 And you shall live.

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 There are different ways of seeing reality.

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 And like everything in the Old Testament, and it's not always obvious,

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 but it points ultimately to Jesus.

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 And this imagery that we have of the resurrection points forward to the reality of Jesus,

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 who when he dies on the cross just doesn't die and slip off to eternity straight away.

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 No, the way that story untold, that Easter weekend narrative,

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 talks of the agonizing death on the cross,

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 when Jesus is then declared dead on the cross.

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 In that state of being dead, he is taken from the cross and he is buried.

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 And he stays there for that Easter weekend.

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 And only then, as that story unpacks and unfolds, do we then experience the reality of resurrection.

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 It is the story that says that only, only through the earthly reality of pain and despair and hopelessness and death and disaster and ruin,

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 only when we see that as the starting point do we then meet God in all his fullness.

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 And he says,

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 You shall live.

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 The theologian Tom Wright puts it this way.

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 It's actually very timely for this morning.

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 He says,

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 Imagine if you go to another country, you normally have to reset your watch.

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 Today we do that anyway.

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 But when you enter a new time zone, you have to reset your watch to that new time.

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 You've entered a new zone of time.

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 Tom Wright says that for the earliest disciples of Jesus,

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 that is precisely what they had to do.

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 Of course, they didn't have watches in those days.

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 But they had to adjust to a new sense of time.

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 No longer did time end with death.

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 Now it ends with the promise of resurrection.

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 That was a paradigm shift.

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 Some 2,000 years later, we've gotten used to that narrative because we've grown up with the story.

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 But in order to really take hold of that story and to understand it,

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 we need to understand it not through our own lens of history,

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 but through the lens of those who experienced it.

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 That experienced it not as the story whose ending they know,

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 but as the story that was unfolding before their very eyes.

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 The story that says when you see death and chaos and destruction,

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 there are more than one way of looking at it.

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 You can see death and its apparent finality.

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 Or you can see resurrection hope and you shall live.

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 The thing is secular humanism would say that what you see here is all there is.

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 In the 1800s, there was a man called Charles Bradlaugh.

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 He was an MP and an atheist.

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 And he founded the National Secular Society.

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 And during his life, Bradlaugh would often challenge

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 prominent Christian leaders of the day to public debates.

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 He would argue against the existence of God.

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 He had quite a reputation for this.

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 And one day he was visiting London, or he was about to visit London,

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 and he publicly challenged one very prominent evangelist

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 to such a public debate.

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 The evangelist's name was Hugh Price Hughes.

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 He was a Methodist superintendent minister of the West London City Mission.

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 In that particular time in history,

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 he was working among some of the most deprived parts of the city,

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 living and working in what we would regard as slums.

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 Hugh Price Hughes accepted Bradlaugh's invitation

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 to debate the existence of God.

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 But he laid down a condition.

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 He said, if this is a debate, let us regard it as though it were a court of law,

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 where you would not go into such a discussion unless you had evidence.

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 Therefore, I challenge you to bring some evidence.

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 Let us bring some witnesses.

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 And he said, as we debate, we're not just discussing a set of lofty ideas.

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 We're discussing the reality of how life has changed

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 when people encounter the resurrection God,

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 who promises not death, but resurrection.

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 Not guilt and shame, but hope and freedom.

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 He said, I will bring with me 100 men and women

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 whose lives have been changed and transformed,

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 completely turned around by the Christian gospel,

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 by the message of hope, by the message of resurrection,

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 by that message that when we look at the world,

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 we don't just see death and chaos.

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 We see life and hope and resurrection promise.

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 I will bring along 100 men and women of such people

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 who will witness to the reality of how that has changed their lives.

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 If you can do the same and bring 100 men and women

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 who have been set free and transformed by your message,

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 that death is the end.

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 In fact, he wrote this.

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 I will bring 100 such men and women,

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 and I challenge you to do the same.

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 If you cannot bring 100, Mr. Bradlaugh,

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 to match my 100,

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 I will be satisfied if you can bring 50 men and women

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 who will stand and testify

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 that they have been lifted up

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 from lives of shame

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 by the influence of your teachings.

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 If you cannot bring 50,

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 then bring 20 people

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 who will say, as my 100 will,

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 that they have a great joy

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 in a life of self-respect

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 as a result of your atheistic teachings.

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 If you cannot bring 20,

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 I will be satisfied if you bring 10.

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 No, Mr. Bradlaugh,

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 I challenge you to bring one,

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 just one man or woman

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 who will make such a testimony

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 regarding the uplifting of your atheistic teachings.

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 Mr. Bradlaugh withdrew his challenge,

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 and the debate never took place.

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 See, the reality that we're talking about here

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 is not just some set of lofty,

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 philosophical, obscure claim

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 about life after death.

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 It's about life here and now,

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 that when we look at life and death here and now,

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 we see it through a completely different lens.

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 It's transformed.

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 You shall live.

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 One last story,

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 just to illustrate that last point

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 a little bit more.

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 You may have read or seen at Christmas

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 the TV adaptation of The Boy,

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 The Mole, The Fox and The Horse,

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 Charlie Mackesy.

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 Charlie Mackesy is a Christian,

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 and I recently heard him,

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 you can look this up on YouTube,

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 he tells it far better than I can,

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 but he recently held him tell the story

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 about a friend of his

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 who happens to be a hospital chaplain.

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 And the story is about how this chaplain

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 would often visit this particular ward,

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 and there was a guy in the ward

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 who had been there long-term sick

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 for quite some while.

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 And every time this chaplain walked past,

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 presumably he was wearing his collar,

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 the guy in this bed

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 just gave him two fingers.

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 Every time.

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 And he was there for quite some time,

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 so every day he would walk past,

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 and it was just...

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 It actually became quite amusing to him,

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 I think,

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 but he would just smile.

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 Anyway, one particular day,

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 he walked past this guy in the bed,

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 and there were no two fingers.

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 Instead, he just called him over.

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 And he said to this chaplain,

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 he said,

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 is it all right if I have a chat with you

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 when you've got some time?

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 Sure.

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 And he sat down.

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 He said,

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 I just wonder if you could just tell me

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 a little bit about the stuff that you believe.

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 Tell me about Jesus

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 and about why you believe in it.

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 How you pray,

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 and all that kind of stuff.

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 So,

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 this chaplain told him about Jesus,

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 he told him about grace,

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 he told him about the cross

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 and the resurrection,

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 and how anybody can come to Jesus

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 and know Jesus,

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 and know the reality of God.

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 He said,

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 well,

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 what about prayer then?

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 How do I go about praying?

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 And the chaplain had a thought

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 for a few moments,

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 and he's pulled up an empty chair,

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 and he said,

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 this might work for you.

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 He said,

00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.799
 you could look at this

00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:40.960
 and just see an empty chair,

00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:42.919
 but I want you to look at it differently.

00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:45.180
 I want you to imagine

00:16:45.180 --> 00:16:47.399
 that Jesus is actually sat right in that chair.

00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:48.180
 He said,

00:16:48.220 --> 00:16:48.360
 yeah.

00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:49.700
 He said,

00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:51.259
 now just talk to him.

00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:53.039
 Tell him what's going on.

00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:53.740
 He said,

00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:54.080
 right now.

00:16:54.139 --> 00:16:54.259
 He said,

00:16:54.259 --> 00:16:54.419
 yeah,

00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:55.340
 just tell him.

00:16:58.120 --> 00:16:58.840
 This man said,

00:16:58.899 --> 00:16:59.080
 well,

00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.680
 I'm scared.

00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:04.799
 He said,

00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:05.200
 that's good.

00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:05.859
 Talk some more.

00:17:07.059 --> 00:17:07.339
 He said,

00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:07.519
 well,

00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:08.839
 I look back at my life

00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:09.940
 and I'm not very proud of it.

00:17:10.539 --> 00:17:11.240
 I've effed up.

00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:12.559
 I'm sorry.

00:17:14.380 --> 00:17:14.920
 The chaplain said,

00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:15.680
 that's good.

00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:16.480
 That's honest.

00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:17.819
 Say some more.

00:17:19.460 --> 00:17:20.299
 And so this went on

00:17:20.299 --> 00:17:21.059
 for several minutes

00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:22.440
 as he was talking more,

00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:23.700
 and eventually the chaplain said,

00:17:23.740 --> 00:17:24.579
 I'm going to leave you to it.

00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:28.559
 A few days later,

00:17:28.620 --> 00:17:29.319
 the chaplain returned

00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:30.200
 to the same ward,

00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:32.240
 and the guy wasn't there.

00:17:33.220 --> 00:17:34.559
 So he went to see

00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:35.420
 the nurse's station

00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:35.759
 and said,

00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:36.339
 has he been moved

00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:37.339
 to a different ward or something?

00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:37.599
 She said,

00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:37.980
 actually,

00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:38.220
 no,

00:17:38.299 --> 00:17:39.920
 he's just passed away.

00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:41.640
 In fact,

00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:42.500
 it wasn't that long

00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:45.420
 after you visited last.

00:17:47.059 --> 00:17:47.319
 He said,

00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:48.099
 we don't know exactly

00:17:48.099 --> 00:17:49.079
 what you said to him,

00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:50.940
 but he was a completely

00:17:50.940 --> 00:17:51.720
 different person.

00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.299
 He was actually quite bouncy

00:17:53.299 --> 00:17:54.319
 and chirpy

00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:55.720
 after you left that day.

00:17:56.759 --> 00:17:57.140
 In fact,

00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:59.099
 we couldn't quite shut him up.

00:17:59.099 --> 00:18:02.359
 The chaplain thought,

00:18:02.539 --> 00:18:04.279
 that's really amazing.

00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:05.740
 Thank you.

00:18:05.819 --> 00:18:07.559
 And he went to walk away,

00:18:07.659 --> 00:18:08.439
 and then the nurse

00:18:08.439 --> 00:18:09.179
 called him back.

00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:11.139
 She said,

00:18:11.259 --> 00:18:11.939
 something else

00:18:11.939 --> 00:18:12.579
 I need to tell you.

00:18:13.639 --> 00:18:15.139
 He kept talking to us

00:18:15.139 --> 00:18:15.759
 about this

00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:17.959
 Jesus chair thing.

00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:21.099
 We didn't quite understand it.

00:18:21.099 --> 00:18:24.259
 But when the duty nurse

00:18:24.259 --> 00:18:26.019
 found him dead,

00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:28.579
 his hips were

00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:30.419
 on the side of the bed,

00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:33.339
 and his arms

00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:36.000
 were wrapped around

00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:36.839
 the back of this chair.

00:18:41.439 --> 00:18:42.319
 There's two ways

00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:42.980
 you could see that.

00:18:44.419 --> 00:18:45.500
 An empty chair.

00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:48.639
 Or Jesus.

00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.880
 who's beside you.

00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:54.320
 Always is.

00:18:56.180 --> 00:18:57.060
 Always will be.

00:19:00.920 --> 00:19:01.640
 Let's pray.

00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:09.340
 Lord,

00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:09.860
 you're the God

00:19:09.860 --> 00:19:11.240
 of resurrection hope.

00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:13.180
 And when we look around us,

00:19:13.280 --> 00:19:13.980
 we can see,

00:19:14.180 --> 00:19:15.620
 as Ezekiel initially did,

00:19:16.080 --> 00:19:17.440
 deadness,

00:19:17.600 --> 00:19:18.040
 bones.

00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:19.360
 Decay.

00:19:19.860 --> 00:19:20.980
 Everything going wrong.

00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:21.560
 Despair.

00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:22.320
 Hopelessness.

00:19:23.360 --> 00:19:24.840
 We can look on our TV screens

00:19:24.840 --> 00:19:25.540
 and see war.

00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:27.820
 We can see hunger and poverty.

00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:29.380
 We can just see injustice.

00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:31.480
 We can hear stories

00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:32.860
 of hopelessness and disaster.

00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:35.100
 We can look at our own lives

00:19:35.100 --> 00:19:36.280
 and just focus on

00:19:36.280 --> 00:19:37.180
 everything that we see

00:19:37.180 --> 00:19:37.960
 that is going wrong

00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:38.720
 or that we fear

00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:39.740
 could go wrong.

00:19:40.540 --> 00:19:41.000
 And yet,

00:19:41.140 --> 00:19:41.259
 Lord,

00:19:41.340 --> 00:19:42.140
 you call us

00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:42.940
 to see things

00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:44.500
 in a radically different way.

00:19:44.860 --> 00:19:45.960
 And as you called

00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:46.920
 Ezekiel

00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:48.900
 to set before his people

00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:50.120
 that vision

00:19:50.120 --> 00:19:51.420
 that was radically different

00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:52.779
 where the valley

00:19:52.779 --> 00:19:53.220
 was filled

00:19:53.220 --> 00:19:54.300
 not with dry bones

00:19:54.300 --> 00:19:56.480
 but with resurrection life.

00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:58.059
 so you call us

00:19:58.059 --> 00:19:59.019
 to see things

00:19:59.019 --> 00:20:00.200
 through a different lens.

00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.160
 To step into that different,

00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.220
 changed understanding of time

00:20:05.220 --> 00:20:07.000
 that sees the end of history

00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:07.980
 not as death

00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:09.599
 but as eternal life.

00:20:09.599 --> 00:20:11.699
 Lord,

00:20:11.899 --> 00:20:14.500
 help us to see things differently.

00:20:15.539 --> 00:20:16.859
 Help us to see things

00:20:16.859 --> 00:20:17.699
 through that lens

00:20:17.699 --> 00:20:19.639
 of resurrection hope.

00:20:20.039 --> 00:20:21.699
 Whatever is going on

00:20:21.699 --> 00:20:23.039
 in our lives now

00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.000
 as we look at those realities,

00:20:26.219 --> 00:20:27.579
 help us to see things

00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:28.559
 through your lens

00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.019
 of promise and hope.

00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:32.579
 To know in our hearts

00:20:32.579 --> 00:20:35.219
 we shall live.

00:20:36.219 --> 00:20:37.639
 In Jesus' name.

00:20:38.639 --> 00:20:39.019
 Amen.

00:20:39.899 --> 00:20:41.839
 Through May.

00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:43.179
 Run.

00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:44.679
 Amen.

00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:45.579
 Through May.

00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:47.419
 In Jesus' name,

00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:48.599
 In Jesus' name,

00:20:48.859 --> 00:20:49.259
 In Jesus' name.

00:20:50.219 --> 00:20:50.619
 In Jesus' name,

00:20:50.619 --> 00:20:51.459
 in Jesus' name,

00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:52.480
 In Jesus' name.

00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:55.599
 In Jesus' name,

00:20:55.619 --> 00:20:56.919
 in Jesus' name,

00:20:57.139 --> 00:20:57.679
 in Jesus' name,

00:20:57.740 --> 00:20:57.799
 in Jesus' name.

00:20:57.819 --> 00:20:58.759
 In said,

00:20:58.819 --> 00:21:00.679
 In Jesus' name,

00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:01.519
 In Jesus' name,

00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:02.459
 in Jesus' name.

00:21:02.459 --> 00:21:03.279
 In Jesus' name,

00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:04.439
 in Jesus' name,

00:21:04.619 --> 00:21:05.199
 in Jesus' name,

00:21:05.299 --> 00:21:06.279
 in Jesus' name,