Ezekiel & the Stranger
The God Who Turns Up the VolumeAugust 23, 2020
In 1969, one of the longest running television shows in the United States debuted. Sesame Street has been on the air continuously ever since. If you were a kid who grew up watching or you had kids who watched, you most likely remember the song, One of These Things Is Not Like the Others. Kids were encouraged to identify which one out of four similar items, was different and didn’t belong with the rest. While our culture celebrates uniqueness, difference, and individuality, as humans, we also want desperately to connect, to identify, to belong.
As we continue in our Stranger Things series this week, we’re taking a look at the prophet Ezekiel. His story is definitely unique and, to be honest…kinda weird! Ezekiel was both a priest and a prophet; an exile, living in Babylon during one of the darkest times in the history of Judah. He’s a man without a country, living as a stranger, even among his own people who had forsaken their covenant relationship with the Living God. And if that wasn’t difficult enough, God called Ezekiel to be a messenger to the people of Judah in some very strange and uncomfortable ways.
Feeling like the one thing that “doesn’t belong” is hard. Ezekiel’s story reminds us that as followers of Jesus, we are called to be different, to be strangers in a world that is not our home. We too have a message from God to share with the people around us; people He desperately loves and longs to have a relationship with. Ezekiel’s story will challenge us to step out of our comfort zones and into God’s calling for our lives, even when it might be uncomfortable.