Can these bones live?

To the man who has just come off the phone to his wife's divorce solicitor, confirming the beginning of the end of his marriage, standing in the wreckage of a relationship gone wrong, God says, 'Mortal, can these bones live?'

To the woman at a window of a mental hospital, staring through her reflection at the outside world which has so damaged her that she fears she can never return there, God says, 'Mortal, can these bones live?'

To the wheelchair-bound patient, looking with his consultant at a set of x-rays of his shattered pelvis, consequence of an accident at work, considering a future of restricted mobility and joblessness, God says, 'Mortal, can these bones live?'

- Can these bones live?, my take on the Ezekiel / raising of Lazarus stories, which I offered (in a variety of forms) to three congregations today.