Worship
for the Lord’s Day
March
29, 2020
A Note
before we begin this day’s worship:
It looks like we might be in this “new
space” for a while. Not sure how long,
but certainly longer than just a couple of weeks. So, settle in. Find a place to relax and really concentrate
on the words, the thoughts, the prayers, the readings, and the music.
When I was going through confirmation
class (umpteen million years ago, it seems) we took a thorough tour of our
church facility and even made a 3-D model replica of the building in our class
as we also studied the ancient temple in Jerusalem as a contrast. A fellow member of the class asked Mr.
Matthews, one of our teachers, “Why are the pews so uncomfortable? Wouldn’t it be better if they were more like
lounge chairs at home?” His response
was, “Well, we don’t want anyone to fall asleep.” I’ve often thought about that, especially
when almost every church I’ve ever pastored has, at some point, had a
discussion about pads or no pads. I
don’t necessarily think that pews are the issue at any church. Most of us can sit for an hour nearly
anywhere. We might squirm a bit or shift
weight between butt cheeks (lol), but what is more important is the
surroundings. So, find a space in your
home that you could make sacred or create one.
For example, a folding table or a small existing one that you set up
near you with a plate of items that you find soothing, pictures of loved ones,
a lit candle, a cross, a bell. Anything
that helps you create a Sacred Space. If
you need to take a moment to do that…do it now.
Let’s
begin:
Opening
Prayer
God of
all creation, past, present, and promised, You are the One to whom we call: for
You are the One who hears, and You are the One who acts, bringing us new life
with Your grace, love, and power. Lead
us in our time of worship even when we are apart from one another, that we may
be prepared to follow Your lead in places where hope seems far away and places
where dreams die during sleep. Help us
live into the teachings we proclaim through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
Hymn Near the Cross
Prayer
of Confession
Forgive
us, O God.
You call
us to be Your voices in this world and we stay silent; particularly when we
meet those who are doubting and we say nothing.
Forgive
us, O God.
You call
us to be Your hands in this world and we keep them hidden; especially when we
meet those who need Your touch and we do nothing.
Forgive
us, O God.
You call
us to be Your feet in this world and we go our own way; even when we are called
to take up Your cross and we refuse to carry anything.
Forgive
us, O God.
Words
of Assurance
God knows
we make mistakes. We are, after all,
still children of God but not yet fully mature in our faith. We see in a glass darkly. We cannot see the full picture of who we will
become. However, God knows us, God knows
our potential, and God forgives us. God
will lead us into the right paths. Trust
in God, know that you are forgiven. Live
into God’s ways. AMEN.
Pastoral
Prayer
Holy God, this day I join my own voice
with all those whose prayers reach up to You.
You are a resurrecting God, who brings forth light out of darkness, hope
out of despair, and new life out of what was once dead. We can be consoled this day by knowing that,
although this moment in time may seem new, strange, and difficult to us, You
are everywhere and right here with me; with us.
Surround us with Your grace, peace, and love. Be with those this day who are on the front
lines in this war called the Coronavirus.
But also be with those who feel lonely, too far away from their loved
ones, shut off from human touch.
Gracious Lord, help us learn how to be
kinder to one another and see You in each other’s eyes. As in days of old, we pray that You protect
the widow and the widower, the homeless, the sick, the orphan and the
outcast. These are troubling times for
them as they are for us. Hold Your
creation in the bosom of Your protection and grant us the willingness, boldness
and courage to do all that we can to bring about peace and love in this world.
I lift my own prayers up to You now….
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, forever.
AMEN.
Scripture
Readings
Old
Testament Reading: Ezekiel 34:1-14
The word of the Lord came to me: 2Mortal,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the
shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been
feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3You eat
the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but
you do not feed the sheep. 4You
have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not
bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not
sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5So they
were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food
for all the wild animals. 6My
sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high
hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search
or seek for them.
7Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8As I
live, says the Lord God,
because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the
wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not
searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed
my sheep; 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10Thus
says the Lord God,
I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a
stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.
I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for
them. 11For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my
sheep, and will seek them out. 12As
shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I
will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they
have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13I will
bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will
bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of
Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14I will
feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their
pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on
rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
New Testament
Reading: John 11:1-45
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of
Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary
was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her
hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the
sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4But
when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it
is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5Accordingly,
though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6after
having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where
he was. 7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea
again.” 8The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying
to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9Jesus
answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the
day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10But
those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11After
saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am
going there to awaken him.” 12The
disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all
right.” 13Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they
thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14Then
Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15For
your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to
him.” 16Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in
the tomb four days. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem,
some two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come
to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20When
Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at
home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died. 22But even now I know that God
will give you whatever you ask of him.” 23Jesus
said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha said
to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those
who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26and
everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe
this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” 28When
she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her
privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29And
when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Now
Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha
had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary
get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was
going to the tomb to weep there. 32When
Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also
weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He
said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35Jesus
began to weep. 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37But
some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept
this man from dying?” 38Then
Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone
was lying against it. 39Jesus
said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,
“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40Jesus
said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory
of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said,
“Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew
that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd
standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he
had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The
dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face
wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen
what Jesus did, believed in him.
Sermon
Originally, I had a completely different sermon
in mind for this Sunday…but I guess we all had something different in mind for
this Sunday if we had made plans a month ago.
After rereading this Sunday’s lectionary
passages, I thought, “I can’t possibly use these…they are too dark, too scary,
too…real.” But, then again, these
stories are the very stories that have given people hope in the past, have
given hope to the people who first heard them or witnessed them. So, perhaps, these are the very stories we
need to hear today.
Let’s first deal with the story from
Ezekiel. Some historical background
information might be helpful. Both Jeremiah
and Ezekiel served as priests and prophets to the people of Israel during the
exile in Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar.
When we read from Jeremiah, the prophet comes across as a concerned and
doting grandfather, ashamed of his children and grandchildren’s behavior,
praying night and day with God so that they might finally learn their lessons,
find their way in the world, and flourish righteously. Ezekiel, on the other hand, comes across as
the crazy uncle who rants and raves, has dreams and sees scary visions of
destruction. Shortly after Ezekiel receives
his call to prophesy to the people, he is made paralyzed, bound, and mute, then
put on public display for the purpose of repenting for the sins of the
people. He eats scrolls and excrement. He has his hair and beard cut off by a sword which
is then separated into three parts and burned in three different places. He writes of tasting his own visions and of
gruesome and bloody events.
Honestly, I’d much rather have a passage this
morning from Jeremiah and talk like a concerned grandpa than to have a passage
from Ezekiel – full of crazy visions on the level of raving madman. However, in the end, whether speaking
comforting words of compassion or of scary words of strange visions, both
Jeremiah and Ezekiel come to the same conclusion…the people must move from
where they are now to a new heart of concern for one another and for their God.
Within the scary vision of dried up bones, Ezekiel
provides hope to the people. The people
who have experienced utter despair in the exile, the end of all hope, will
experience God’s restoration. There is nothing God cannot do, and even when
they are all dried up and feeling there is no hope left, God will bring them up
out of the death of exile into new life with God. Ezekiel tries to explain to
the people of Israel that God’s omnipotence is not limited by the people’s
failure. God provides restoration to
Israel regardless of any prior repentance or obedience of the people. It is simply by God’s grace which then leads
to repentance of the people.
I think this is the word that we need to hear
today. God will bring us through this
time of difficulty. There is a
difference however between the vision of dried bones for Ezekiel and the
Israelites and what is happening now with us.
Ezekiel’s vision was for the Israelites to rise up after the exile and
become new again. Covid-19 is showing us
that everyone will rise again. It’s not
about one nation against another. It is
back to the whole idea of us being connected.
We all must rise up together and be better people. We all must hear the stirring of the bones of
our ancestors clattering together, putting on flesh, for the sake of the
future. We all must feel the God’s ruah.
This word has multiple meanings and is used in all three senses of the word
in Ezekiel It can mean breath of God or Spirit
of God or the wind of God, which is even now – in the midst of this pandemic - breathing new life into us. This vision might have been for the ancients
coming from a crazy old uncle, but it is also for us.
And then we have the story from John when Jesus
gets word that his friend has fallen ill, gravely ill. I often wonder how difficult it must have
been for Jesus to purposely wait until Lazarus had died before going to
Bethany. Why did he do that? It is revealed later on in the passage that Lazarus’
death wasn’t actually just about death, but also about Mary and Martha and all
the people who followed Jesus to fully grasp the Glory of God.
In John we have the shortest and most profound
passage in all of scripture – Jesus wept.
Knowing that Jesus went to the tomb and cried, we know how deeply Jesus
loved Lazarus. He loved him as a human
being who grieves his death. But, Jesus
also loved him as God, who weeps for all of our losses and struggles. A God who desires something more wonderful
for us than pain and anguish, who weeps when we miss out on blessings because
we’ve been too distracted by the baubles and glitter that deflect from our best
selves – God wants us to fully trust him, to fully lean on him in all
circumstances and to know that God is breathing new life into us every
moment. It is, quite honestly, a perfect
pairing with Ezekiel.
As the saying goes, “I don’t know what tomorrow
holds for us, but I do know who holds tomorrow.” Allow the ruah of God to breathe
deeply over and in you, shake off your dried up bones, weep for all the losses
you might feel today. But ultimately,
when all of this is over, allow us as One Body to rise, shine, take a deep
breath of God’s new life in you, in me, in us, and LIVE!
Benediction
We are a people, loved by God. We will live as signs of this great
love. We are a people, blessed with
hope. We will live in light of this
hope. May the love of God, the grace of
Christ, and the courage of the Holy Spirit, strengthen our faith and set us
loose to share God’s love with all.
AMEN.
