HOUSES OF WORSHIP
A Poem for All That Divides Us as a People
Dry Bones
(a poem based on Ezekiel’s vision
Ezekiel 37: 1-14)
Again the valley waits
before us
Parched, dried up hopes-
dreams stripped
of life
Words no longer speak
for the arid wind
of anger and mistrust
fills the crevices
between us
Dry bones lay still-
black-white
gay-straight
us-them
right-wrong
“Can these bones live again?”
Then a whisper is heard
somewhere between
our breath and the
one who breathed
it into us
“Prophesy to the breath”
A strange request
but to not do so
leaves the valley
stale with death
As long as our vision is
captured by dry bones
there will not be new
life and our
valleys will be ruts
that become graves
But the life giving breath
of the Lord
can make dry bones
live again
and people will no
longer be the
skeletons of
our labels
“Put flesh upon the bones”
says the wind
and your dried up
words
can breathe again and
you may walk
together in a valley
of life
not death
Dr. Jody Seymour
Jody Seymour retired after serving Davidson United Methodist Church as Senior Pastor for 13 years and being a pastor for forty-six years in the Western North Carolina Conference. He is the author of six books and resides just outside of Davidson with his wife, Betsy.