The VisionMartyn Payne |
||
On your marks: God sometimes feels so close while at other times God seems to be out of reach and out of sight. Sometimes God startles us by the immediacy of his presence but then God is gone again, drawing us on by his very absence. This has been the experience of God's people all down the ages, ever since we cut ourselves off from intimacy with God at the beginning. This is just as true an experience of God for the 'great names' of the Bible as it is for Christians today. God calls us to 'live by faith, not by what we see' (2 Corinthians 5:7) because 'faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see' (Hebrews 11:1). Today's story focuses on an event from the life of Ezekiel when he felt particularly close to God and was given a special job to do. It is part of a series of stories linked to the big Bible story of 'Hide and Seek'. Get set: You can find a retelling of this story in The Barnabas Children's Bible - story 222. (The following stories (223 and 224) give some more details about Ezekiel's prophecies.) The story is told in the Bible in the book of Ezekiel, particularly the first three chapters. Go! 1. Ezekiel was with the first group of Jews to be taken into exile at the beginning of the 6th century BC. What seemed impossible to many had happened. God's people had been defeated and apparently abandoned. No last-minute rescue or miraculous escape had happened this time. What the prophet Jeremiah and others had warned would happen had come about - they were captives again, and not this time in Egypt but in Babylon. It must have been hard to come to terms with all this. Had God been too weak to defend them? Had God given upon them? Why had God hidden himself when they most needed him? Perhaps God didn't even exist. All this must have been in the mind of Ezekiel and the others as they tried to make sense of it all. It's not difficult to imagine the heartache and the heart-searching that was going on as Ezekiel sat down by the river Chebar in this foreign land. But it was then that God appeared to him in a vision that was mysterious, awesome and frightening. 2. Most of us at some time have thought, 'If only I could see God for myself,' or have wondered, 'What is God really like?' Maybe Ezekiel was thinking just this. Begin your session with some imaginative wondering about what God is like. Explore as many possible answers to the following questions as possible, and where appropriate go into the reasons for the answers that are given. If God were a colour, what colour would God be? If God were a creature, what sort of creature would God be? If God were a sound, what sound would God be? If God were a vehicle, what sort of vehicle would God be? If God were a precious stone, what stone would God be? If God were a food, what food would God be? Ezekiel's vision gives at least one answer for each of these questions! Read the retelling of his vision from The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 222 or read Ezekiel 1. 2. In this vision there is:
Talk about this vision with the group - which part(s) do they like? The vision should inspire some creative artwork which tries to capture and interpret what Ezekiel saw. Note that the cherubim that Ezekiel sees are nothing like the cosy, baby-faced cherubs that are seen in some religious paintings! They are mysterious heavenly creatures that seem to defy description. These are the creatures that were set as guards of the Tree of Life in the very beginning; two images of them were placed on top of the Ark and together they provided a place for God's mercy to sit; there were images of them all around Solomon's temple; and in Ezekiel's vision they are the footstool of the Lord God Almighty. 3. Wow! God was much more wonderful than Ezekiel had ever realized. He was far bigger than just a local god, protecting little Israel, however special Israel was. The exile didn't mean that God was less but that he was, and always would be, much greater than anything that was happening on earth. This moment of seeing God changed Ezekiel completely. He began to understand why things had happened as they had done for the Jews. His job was to try to explain it to those in exile with him as well as those still in Jerusalem. His message would be hard for them to hear but also equally hard for him to tell: read Ezekiel 3:14-15. 4. Ezekiel 2:9-10 describes the sort of message that Ezekiel was to give - one of sadness, mourning and grief. Ezekiel had to be a 'bad news bringer' before he could tell them more comforting news (which occupies much of the last half of this long book). Use sugar paper to make some scrolls and in icing write on them all or part of one verse from these early chapters, such as 3:17: 'Ezekiel, son of man, I have appointed you to stand watch for the people of Israel. So listen to what I say, then warn them for me.' Put these paper scrolls to one side and at the end of the session invite the group to eat the scrolls in the same way that Ezekiel was asked to do (see 3:2-3). 5. This amazing vision of God opened Ezekiel's mind to the power of God all around him every day, even though he did not always see God as vividly as he did on this first occasion. It alerted him to God speaking and in the chapters that follow he is given the job of alerting others to what God is saying. He is often given strange things to do to make those people sit up and listen. Read The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 223. For example, he had to:
His messages were acted out dramatically. People remember much more of what they see than what they hear. Try imitating Ezekiel's method to get across a message without using words. Either as individuals or in pairs, work out a dramatic way to get home the following messages to the others in the group. Here are some everyday examples first:
Now try to do the same with some of the things that Ezekiel was asked to pass on:
Ezekiel's messages met with resistance at first but eventually he was listened to by the elders in exile. One of the key statements from Ezekiel that is recorded more than once is this: 'I, the Lord God, don't like to see wicked people die. I enjoy seeing them turn from their sins and live'(18:23 and 33:11). 6. The scroll of God's words that Ezekiel had to eat was full of hard things but, when he put it in his mouth, it tasted of honey! Maybe this was a 'taste' of the more positive words of his message that were to come in the last part of his book. There we read:
Use these 'good news' pictures from Ezekiel as inspiration for some more craft or artwork to illustrate these aspects of Ezekiel's prophecy. Which of these images do the group like best? What might they make or do to represent this honey-sweet side to God's words? 7. For Ezekiel, God was sometimes hidden but on a number of remarkable occasions God was very visible in a mysterious way. As well as the first big vision, he had other times when he felt that God was very real and close and pictures came into his mind that helped him understand what God was saying. In a time of prayer together, put down some of the things that the group have made in response to Ezekiel's story. Include some symbols from the big vision at the beginning, such as the appropriate animals, colours, precious-looking stones and also a lit candle to represent the flaming torch. Thank God that God does allow himself to be seen in the ordinary things around us and also that God can put pictures into our minds to help us believe and to give us ways to help others to see God. Allow some space and silence in which God can speak to the group through these symbols or through pictures in their own minds. |
 |
Click on the covers for more information or to purchase.
|
