November 2023

The following is a possible framework for the Witnessing of the Word. It can be personalised or altered: its purpose is to serve as an example of how this Saying might be used primarily in the context of a Prayer Group, but it may be used by individuals too. It is not intended to be definitive.  In the context of a group: the periods of silence should be appropriate for your group - probably not less than 5 minutes, or more than 15 minutes.

Saying for the month: ‘Every living soul belongs to me’ (Ezekiel 18.4.  NIV)

To begin the exercise, first spend a short while in relaxation and preparing to be still; you may want to relax your way through your muscles or you may find it helpful to become aware of the sounds around you and then put them aside as you offer this time of prayer to God.

Say this introductory invitation to prayer, then keep a further minute or two of silence:  ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11.28).

Introduction to the first silence - a preparation for listening with the mind: 

‘Every living soul belongs to me’. 

Ezekiel was an exile – one of the citizens of Judah who were carried off by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon in the first captivity, with king Jehoiachin (ch 1).  This implies that he was amongst the cream of the population, the aristocracy, the descendants of Zadok the High priest installed by Solomon.  He settled into exile by the banks of the river – or canal – Chebar and after five years began to have visions and prophesy, about 593 B.C. His thoughts and imagination were influenced by his surroundings and his personality. 

Statuary and architecture from the city of Babylon and others, from palaces and other buildings, still exist.  With their winged figures – the body of lion, wings and feathers of eagle, head of man – they cast light on the creatures described in Ezekiel’s extraordinary vision in chapter 1, which influenced his entire ministry.  Yet they can’t totally account for his undoubtedly odd personality: he was a mystic, often seeing his visions while in a trance or in ecstasy, being struck dumb or overwhelmed by a sort of stupor.  So he was somewhat unusual; ‘not just like everyone else’. 

In his writing – all in the first person and consistently ordered and dated – over and over again, he is called by God ‘the son of man’.  His perception of God places Him at a great distance away, in awesome majesty, above and beyond the world of men, all-seeing, all-knowing, in fire and glory. Against this in stark contrast, he depicts the people’s sin in all its horror, with the consequent inevitability of judgement running beneath the text.  This was the theme of his early ministry. But one of the most characteristic of Ezekiel’s themes is that of personal responsibility: that each individual must answer for himself to God and not claim to be the puppet of heredity, or environment, or historical causation. 

Here in this Saying or Word from chapter 18, we get this wonderful reassurance that is the other side of the judgement coin: the claim by God that, just as each individual is accountable to God, so He takes responsibility for each individual: ‘every living soul belongs to me’.  So distant, majestic, awesome He may be, but yet He is there, building the relationship with the people of Israel and foreshadowing the new Covenant that will be spoken of in chapter 36: ‘you shall be my people and I shall be your God’. 

In our first time of silence therefore, let us take these words of God into our minds, allowing them to inspire and reassure us, allowing the saying to speak to us: 

‘Every living soul belongs to me’.

A time is now kept for silence of the mind – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.  The silence concludes with a short thanksgiving, and/or feel free to repeat the Saying. 

The first silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.

Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with the heart: 

‘Every living soul belongs to me’. 

We are now beginning to get to grips with the size of the earth in a way that the Ancient World could not: the Roman Empire seemed immense to that time but since then the discovery of the New World has opened up vast possibilities and challenges.  Explorers have now reached pretty well every corner of the globe and are searching for water, and even life, on other planets.  New stars are being discovered that are billions of light years distant.  At the same time, we are zooming in on 10^-9, the world of nano-technology: we have the ability to work in such minute detail that the world expands in all directions. 

So when we listen to this Word, and try to take it into our own hearts as it spoken to each one of us, the incomprehensible nature of God may seem more of a mystery than it was even to Ezekiel. How can even an Almighty Being say ‘every living soul belongs to me’?  We look at the statistics of those who die from disease worldwide, at all those who exist on nothing throughout the world, at the millions affected by climate change, the current populations of the largest countries in our world, and we may well find it impossible to envisage such a concept. 

Perhaps we have to start with what we know, even with just one living soul – ourself.  Each of us, as individuals, belong to God.  Think what this means to you: belonging means giving, a two way covenant, just as Ezekiel was trying to communicate to Israel.  We might try and imagine ourselves as belonging to God, to think what that means in our ordinary daily lives.  Perhaps it means having a moment each day when we pause and listen to Him, to hear what He might be saying to us that we have perhaps failed to hear before.  And then, part of the pleasure of giving is in seeing the reaction of the recipient.  We are not of course giving ourselves to God entirely for our own pleasure in His response, but perhaps sometimes we might be more receptive to that response.  We might recognise, acknowledge and rejoice in His love for us.  In John 15.11 Jesus speaks of abiding in love, concluding with the words ‘I have said these things to you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete’.  There may well be aspects of our lives and gifts that we receive which we never even begin to see as gifts from God Himself, but which are such a source of joy. 

Then we might think of those we know: our families, our friends, our churches, our towns.  ‘Every living soul belongs to me’, Ezekiel says.  What does this signify for them?  How can we help them to be aware of all that it might mean for them?  Does it matter if they are aware of this sense of belonging or not?  Can we, by holding them before God, acknowledge this covenant ‘on their behalf’, so to speak? 

Then there are the issues which are of concern to us: the victims of war, and especially at this time, of past wars, none of which have proved to be the ‘war to end all wars’.  There are the refugees, the persecuted and oppressed, those who are seeking asylum, the sick, the hungry ... It is an endless list for us to get our minds around.  But not for God.  This is one of the aspects of belief and faith; there is no thing and no-one too small or too large for His care and concern and blessing. 

So we can receive this Word with complete confidence, in the knowledge that we are included in the realm of living things that belong to God: 

‘Every living soul belongs to me’. 

We take this Word into our hearts, allowing it to speak in us, to touch us and work more deeply upon our lives.

A time is now kept for silence of the heart – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.

The second silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.

Introduction to the time of intercession – taking God’s word outwards into the world. 

‘Every living soul belongs to me’. 

There are so many people, groups, countries and circumstances for which we might wish to pray.  We cannot know or even imagine their needs, and we cannot provide answers to the problems of which we are only too aware.  What we can do is to bring them into the presence of God alongside us, speaking these words to them as we hold them in our minds and hearts, and enabling God’s Word to work through us as we pray. 

Here say the name of a person or a group of people, and after a short pause, repeat the saying. For example: 

‘Alison and your family, God says to you ‘Every living soul belongs to me’. 

Or, again for example, ‘All you who are suffering from the effects of war and any kind of conflict, God says to you “Every living soul belongs to me”’. 

Conclude this time of intercession with words of thanksgiving: Father, we thank you that your Word has gone out through us to those for whom we pray.

The Conclusion

Feel free to use the Fellowship Prayer (below) or another closing prayer to conclude your time of contemplative prayer: 

Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for all your unsearchable riches which pour forth from you as light from the sun, in boundless profusion and generosity, whether received, ignored or rejected. And now we offer to you, in so far as we are able, as an emptiness to be filled with your divine fullness, ourselves, our souls and bodies; all that we are, all that we have and all that we do. Amen.

You may wish to say the Grace together before departing.