Let us pray: O God, can these words live just like the bones in the valley came to life for Ezekiel? Blow your spirit through them, and us, for words might enliven for a moment, but your spirit can bring life for a lifetime. Take them and use them, take us and use us, to be your enlivening spirit in the world. Amen.

In this day of search engines and everything online there is a certain added interest for anyone who is writing an article, blog or reflection that is going to end up online. It used to be that when I said something in a sermon, meditation or reflection it would be heard by those gathered for worship, and if it was really good, or really controversial or really moving or pleasing it might get repeated to a few others by those who heard it and then referenced it in conversations with friends and others. When I first began this preaching vocation there would be the odd time that I said something in my weekly message that someone would like to read again. So they would ask for a copy. That happened a few times, and then someone had the bright idea (it might have been me) that we could probably save some paper, avoid the possibility that I didn't make enough or too many copies by posting what I had written on this new fangled contraption called the internet. And so it became a semi-regular practice for me to post my weekly reflection/mediation/sermon on a church website, a practice I've continued since the mid to late 1990's.

I have no idea how often people go to the place online where the reflections are stored in order to read them again, and I have no idea how many people not associated with Yellowknife United Church or Jasper United Church before that were in the habit of reading what I had to say. I haven't been approached by any film makers like the young woman named Julie who blogged her cooking adventures with the recipes of Julia Child and ended up being the subject of a pretty respectable feature film, Julie and Julia. I don't expect to be the subject of anything similar like Peter and Peter, Peter and Paul, Peter and Jesus, or today I guess it might be Peter and Ezekiel. If I wanted I could go and get the statistics I suppose and if I really wanted to I could do a little more analysis and find out if I have a following in some far off or nearby place in the world. I'm not holding my breath.

What I do know is that very occasionally – it's happened maybe a couple of times in twelve years or so, I will be contacted because someone did a web search and found a reference to what they were looking for in one of my reflections posted online. One time it was because I named a Toronto poet who had participated in a CBC sponsored poetry slam. One of her fans searched for her name, found my reflection and sent me a complimentary email thanking me for the reference and telling me how excited she was by her friend's poetry, which as I recall was very good, very affirming, very hopeful. I think the topic the poets had been invited to reflect upon was a vision for the way the world could be, and this young woman had written a poem, but more importantly had performed the poem – and performance is often the key at a poetry slam – to a very appreciative audience. I recall that I tried to find the poem online but discovered that it was covered by a copyright owned by the CBC – a condition of participation in the contest and was therefore not available in online form – thus disproving what I've often said, namely that if you look hard enough and use extensive enough searching techniques you can find pretty much anything online.

I tell you all of this by way of introduction to this week's message, but even as I do that I am drawn to reflect on the idea of something taking on a life of its own, and therefore a more than passing connection with the image of Ezekiel's dream valley of bones coming to life. Just in case you are wondering, here's the other connection. In reading about the valley described by Ezekiel in chapter 37 – a tremendously evocative passage – as we've already heard – I was reminded that drybones is not just a scriptural reference. In fact if you've spent time in Yellowknife there's a pretty good chance you've heard the term drybones before. If you've been reading the newspaper or listening to the radio news you'll know that Drybones Bay has been in the news lately, primarily because of a potential diamond play by our new Yellowknife celebrity – you know the star of the ice road trucking reality show and for a time a potential candidate in the current Federal election. The only reason I refrain from saying or writing his name is because I intend to post this reflection, like all the others, and you just know that googling his name would end up bringing up this reflection. Now some would say – great! It might draw someone to read what I have to say who would not normally have had a chance to do so, but I say no he's been in the news enough already and I don't need to add to the list of references.

Well, as I said at the beginning there is a certain added interest for anyone who like me is posting stuff online because it gives a whole new dimension to the idea of something coming to life. Ezekiel dreamed a dream of the Hebrew people as a valley of windblown skeletal remains. The life had been sucked out of them, blown dry in a sere wind of hopelessness. Their hope as God's people had dried up in the experience of exile. How could they be God's people when the oppression of Egypt – which their ancestors had escaped in the Exodus – was replaced by the oppression of Babylon. But Ezekiel had a different idea – God was breathing new life into these rattling bones – hope was not dead, life was not over for the Hebrew people. You heard the story, you know that in Ezekiel's dream that valley turned from a vision of desolation to a lively, healthy, dancing throng of people brought alive by the breath of God.

So, here's my question: I've referred to two different ways of imagining new life – that wonderful image from Ezekiel, and an image of new life that could only happen in this connected new world of technology. Even as we imagine our world so connected in so many ways – most of them technology driven, can we make a connection with Ezekiel's dream valley – a valley strewn with the remains of a once hopeful people?

Are there drybone valleys in our lives? As I look around there certainly seem to be places which are like the valley of Ezekiel's dream. There are drybone valleys of people worried about the place where the world is headed with the change in climate. There are drybone valleys of people who wonder where their community of faith is headed with dwindling numbers of members and dwindling energy and commitment in the members who are still around. There are drybone valleys of people who see the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor in our world and wonder if justice can ever be achieved. There are drybone valleys of people who wonder if failures of the past like the residential school system can ever be overcome. There are lots of drybone valleys.

The important life force in Ezekiel's vision was the breath of God. The Hebrew word is “ruach” - a wind which carries God in it. Another word is “spirit” - conjuring up the idea not just of God's breath, but Godself. Is God's breath blowing through and on the drybones valleys of today? Is there a connection between the valley of Ezekiel's dream and the dispirited people languishing there and the drybone communities in our time and place?

It's easy to be discouraged. Certainly the Hebrew people were discouraged as evidenced by the metaphorical depiction of them by Ezekiel, but as we heard there was hope. Ezekiel dreamt of an enlivened, restored, resurrected, dancing community.

It is important for us to have the same hope. God's spirit is not gone. It is still blowing in and on us. There are signs of life everywhere – speaking and breathing of the presence of the spirit. This world is more connected than it has ever been and there is no indication that the connections are going to slow down. I also believe that where there is life it must be nurtured. It is our responsibility as people of God to tend and care for the life we've been given. What moves you? Where does your interest lie? What makes your spirit soar? These are signs of the spirit dancing – signs of God's presence in your life. Get up and dance to the rhythm of the spirit in this world. It may be different than anything you've ever experienced or imagined. Listen, God is calling! Amen.