Exploration of a Theology of Mission for Harlow

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Harlow was at the outset very much a New Jerusalem. As people moved from London, they arrived to a job,  and sets of keys so they could choose their home. But 50 years down the line, it is not so exciting.  Though there is great affection and loyalty to the town (people have not moved away over the years) there is for some now a sense that there is 'nothing here' for them. There is a sense of loss, a sense of exile which parallels in some way the Ezekiel passage.

But our exile is greater than this. For in our new home we are asking 'Where is God?'. There is a sense of discouragement amongst Christians, and stories of lack of fruitfulness in mission. Perhaps we in the church have allowed ourselves to be shaped by the town. There is a lack of hope around us, so we too lack hope and encouragement.

However, our exile is yet greater. For we live in an age where God is not simply absent but increasingly being shut out at a national level. The news makes us increasingly aware that it is not always possible to live out one's faith in the workplace.

We today share a deep sense of exile at many depths.

Ezekiel had lived not in a New Jerusalem but in the original Jerusalem: the city of dreams fulfilled

- Their own city after the slavery of Egypt

- Where their own king reigned

- Where God himself dwelt ('His glory filled the Temple')

But dreams had been shattered. As with us, the International Scene was in turmoil; old Empires were falling, new being raised up. The Assyrians who had ruled so much of the Middle East were crumbling under the new force of the Babylonians. Egypt had stepped in, not least hoping for some of the spoil, but was crushed. Jerusalem too was conquered, her citizens taken captive, including Ezekiel, who was now in exile.

So much promise had come to nothing. And this was not merely the promise of a new home but the promise of God himself. If God had let them down, what hope was there​.

But God had given Ezekiel a vision (ch 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;

God had taken him to the place where he had seen visions of Judgment, and there he had seen this vision of hope. It was full of bones. Bones speak of hope gone. Dreams shattered; homes destroyed.

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. 

The lack of hope is inked in. Whatever people may feel about Harlow is nothing compared to this!

 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. 

cp. the creation of Adam – a new creation. Note the two stage recreation - just as Adam was made physically but then breath was given him, so for this vast army. We should also note part of the backdrop to John 3 here (the conversation with Nicodemus, 'the wind bows where it wills', born again. 

6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 

How then should we respond and live in Harlow?

• Ezekiel had hope because he knew that God was behind all things and that God is on the side of His people. This is the answer to discouragement. Note that Ezekiel had to wait (70 years of exile) for God's answer, but the answer came. Exile is never forever.
• We 'battle' through the power of love and witness. It is tempting to resort to the political in bemoaning the loss of Christian culture. There is a place for the political (a godly life is a wise life) but we need to be realistic that a non-Christian society will not always pursue Christian values. We can and should argue for them on the basis of wisdom etc. but we will not always win the argument and we should not be surprised that authorities such as the Bible are not listened to. The victory, as for Ezekiel, is through the power of the Word and the Spirit of God. It is God's work that will win people. This links closely into what has been said about hope.
• Work for the good of the city. (Here we jump to another prophet to the exiles in Jeremiah 29:4-7:  4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (NIV). Ie be salt and light. This is the call Jesus gave to those who would be his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, people who themselves still in exile (until the Glory returned to the Temple, as it did in Christ - cp. Tom Wright here)
• Working in Unity. 'Doing together those things best done together and apart those things best done apart'. This is where John's gospel, which speaks of the coming of the Glory to this world (John 1), takes us in John 17. We need to learn that time given to a proper working together is time saved in the business of our own individual church lives.