Hello friends! Today we begin the book of Ezekiel, or as pastors often joke, "The book of the origins of LSD." What you're about to experience is weird and I mean weird. From one of the oddest depictions of God so far in the Bible, to some of the things that Ezekiel does to prophecy. It looks more like a preschooler playing with legos in their own creative world than it does a serious portrayal of prophecy, but hey I appreciate it.
On a more serious note, it's also a different style of prophecy that God is trying. Usually the prophets only speak of doom, but Ezekiel tries to show the doom through symbolism, theatre, and other more physical methods. Maybe this is God hoping that it will work better than the spoken word did before? Are you more of a visual or audio learner? It might be hard to connect with it on day one as it's so out there, but try to settle in because Ezekiel is another extremely long book clocking in at 48 chapters, therefore we will be working through this one for the next 2 weeks.
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God?
What does this teach me about humanity?
What do I make of Ezekiels depiction of God? What meaning can I identify in its art?
Ezekiel is frequently called "son of man" instead of his name - what do I make of that?
All of these questions and more will be addressed in the overview video provided by Bible Project. I invite you to watch it to learn more of the context of this writing. :)
Prayer
Our prayer today is inspired by hymn 186 in our United Methodist Hymnal - Alleluia. It's a great hymn as we get closer to Palm Sunday! I invite you to listen, hum, sing, or pray the words as you make this short, yet sweet prayer your own.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
He's my savior, He's my savior, He's my savior, He's my savior
I will praise him, I will praise him, I will praise him, I will praise him.