I hear something

Sunday April 6^th, Ezekiel 37:  1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.  There are times when the ministry of the church feels like a valley of dry bones.  With the decline in attendance in most churches except for the most radical and intolerant, now seems like one of those times. It is tempting at these times to look around and feel utterly helpless, all you want to do is sit in the dust and weep at the frustration.  Sometimes, if your ears and heart are open, in the midst of that frustration there is a still small voice that says to prophesy that the dry bones come to life.  It seems futile, and without God at the helm, without God being behind that still small voice it most likely is futile.  But if the voice is from God, even though it may feel futile, it isn’t. Prophesying alone for prophesy sake is futile.  Prophesying and praying with the family of God however opens the doors to hope.  Pew research says that people are leaving the denominational churches, and my experience and the experience of many of my fellow pastors confirms that.  We struggle with whether the good solid theology of the denominational churches can survive the draw to fun worship?  Some even toy with whether it is possible to have both good theology and fun worship?  I don’t have any answers right now, I am busy sitting in the dust, looking at the dry bones with stains on my cheeks from my tears running down my face…. But off in the distance I think I hear something….