{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Reflections","title":"Wednesday of the First Week After the Epiphany","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":407,"description":"January 14, 2026Today's Reading: Ezekiel 36:33-37:14Daily Lectionary: Ezekiel 36:33-37:14; Romans 5:1-21“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.” (Ezekiel 37:9–10)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.One of the most memorable and strangest passages in Holy Scripture is the Valley of Dry Bones. It is a gruesome and fascinating text: dried human bones scattered across a barren valley reassemble into skeletons and then fully formed bodies at a word from the prophet.But then, after the rattling of bones reassembling, it is quiet once again. A valley now scattered with still, silent bodies. It isn’t until Almighty God commands Ezekiel to speak breath into them that they live, breathe, and stand on their own feet. How weird is that? It’s really weird until you realize that God speaking breath and life into darkness and death is pretty much how it always works. “Let there be…” and there is. “Lazarus, come out!” and he does. Ezekiel is given to see a future and a promise for God’s people who are lost in exile in a foreign land, and he speaks to them in comfort and proclamation. “This is not the end of your life; God has a plan and a future for his faithful children.” It may seem like you are at wits' end, lost in a maze, or a wilderness, or a dark place with seemingly no way out and no future, but God has other things in mind for you. He has a promise and a future: life everlasting, and he gives it to you through the power of the breath, His Holy Spirit.Jesus breathes that Spirit on His disciples on Easter evening. That Spirit breathes on the assembled hearers at Pentecost, and that Spirit breathes new life and faith into you at your Baptism. The life, forgiveness, and salvation won for you...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/P3eUvssXYVZBQK4BZg1UEKstUh8zuVz_CoZCK6YjRSs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI1MTcyLzE3MDI0/Mjg1MzAtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}