My Family Prayer Book

2026-03-22 Fifth Sunday of Lent    Ezekiel 37:12-14 The Valley of Dry Bones is perhaps the best-known text from the book of Ezekiel. The Lord commands Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, and they respond; bones come together, tendons and flesh appear on them, and skin covers them (Ezekiel 37:4–8a). But still “there was no breath [or spirit] in them” (verse 8b). So the Lord commands the prophet to prophesy to the breath (or spirit), and he does. “I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered [the slain]; and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude” (verse 10a).   The very final verse of the Dry Bones passage presents the threefold sequence: “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil” (37:14). Psalm 130 In Psalm 130, the writer calls out to God from the depths of human suffering, with every confidence that God will hear and respond to his cry of pain because mercy is who God is. Grief, depression, illnes...