For this second week of Advent we’re reading Ezekiel 37:1–14, Ezekiel’s famous vision of a valley of dry bones. We wonder why God asks Ezekiel whether he thinks the bones can live and why on earth he instructs Ezekiel to prophesy directly to the bones, kind of a ridiculous prophetic task. But as the bones come together with new sinews and new flesh, we recognize the importance of a prophet who can speak hope to the hopeless and restoration to a community in despair. We also notice that the breath that animates these restored bones comes not directly from God but from the four winds reminding us that we need to be open to the enspiriting breath of the world around us, from which our own renewal may come.