When we learned that our county was going into "shelter in place," we literally put together the service and recorded it 5 or 6 hours later so we could have one more week fo worship being led in our sanctuary by a worship team. the next day we learned that the "shelter in place" order allowed for worship teams of 10 or fewer people to gather to live stream or record worship services. But, we had already done the worship service. I am grateful for the handy resources that allowed this sermon to get thrown together in a couple of hours Tuesday afternoon!
Also included our Time with Young Disciples. Our youth ministry team had the great idea to have the kids do Lego creations or draw something based on the Scripture lesson read. A great idea that we will be implementing throughout our live streaming worship experiences. Hopefully, some of the drawings and Lego creations will be photographed and posted on the church's FB page.
Time with Young Disciples: The prophet Ezekiel looks down into the valley and sees dry bones. Dry bones represented death, no hope.
But the breath of God breathes on the bones and they come to life. sometimes we talk about the bones dancing and singing.
it reminds us that even we things see bad, even when we are afraid, God is right there with us working to make things better.
I thought maybe you could use your Legos if you have them or draw a picture of what that might look like. maybe a valley of dry bones coming to life.
And maybe you could think about what the prophet Ezekiel felt like when he saw the dry bones and then when he saw God bring the bones to life.
And then you might talk with your parents and brothers and sisters about what new things you might want to see God do today.
pray after me:
”Where Have you Seen God…in our times of death” March 29, 2020; Lent 4 St. Andrew, Denton; John 11: 28-45; Ezekiel 37:1-14
Martha has already greeted Jesus on the road and heard from Jesus those words we cling to n times of death ““I am the resurrection and the life.[f] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
We pick up the story in vs. 28:
28 …Martha went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The 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. 32 When 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.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I 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.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The 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.”
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him
Introduction: Little did Lisa and I know when we put the Lenten preaching series together that our sermon topics would be so timely: two weeks ago, where do we see God in crises; last Sunday, where do we see God in times of transition; today, where do we see God in times of death.
I hope you have been journaling where you have seen God.
In fact, I would invite you to post on the St. Andrew FB page a story or two of where you have seen God in this uncertain time so those of us who are looking might share your vision.
Move 1: Where do we see God in times of death? We see God walking with us, joining us in our grief.
a. That is the image given to us in the story from the Gospel of John.
1. Jesus weeping at the death of his friend.
2. Jesus traveling to be with Martha and Mary in their grief.
3. If you notice, Mary greets Jesus with a comment, maybe an accusation: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
4. In fact, if you read earlier in this chapter when Martha met Jesus on the road to Bethany, she has the same accusation.
5. Jesus’ answer begins with his presence with them and the tears he shares with them.
b. Let’s be clear - This story of Jesus, his dead friend, and his grieving sisters is not told to sentimentalize death. To say that God joins with us does not mean that death is no big deal.
1. or that death is not difficult.
2. Or that there is no pain in death.
3. In normal times, we know that the dying part of the cycle of life is full of pain and grief and loss.
4. In our current crisis, when we see the death totals announced each day we know each number represents pain and loss.
c. In the pain of death and the depths of grief, when we see God with us, we proclaim our faith in the God of resurrection.
1. The God who weeps with us is also the God who resurrects.
2. The God who walks with us in our grief is also the God who leads us to new life.
In times of death, look for God walking with you and leading you to new places.
Move 2: We can also see God in times of death giving us hope.
a. “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.”
1. So cry out the Israelites.
2. They look to the valley and only see dried up bones.
2. Do not miss this real and scary look at their reality.
3. the story of the God who breathes life into dry bones begins with the dry bones.
b. Being faithful does not be we have to ignore our reality or put blinders on as we look at our world.
1. It is a scary time in our lives.
2. Isolation is lonely.
3. Disruption of our routines shakes us to the core of our being.
4. An Unseen virus lurking in our midst frightens us.
3. We look around and see dry bones filling the
valley.
4 God does not ask us to ignore the reality of the world in which we live.
c. But God does call us to trust in God’s ability to breathe new life into the dry bones.
1. not a breath that must be contained by a mask or avoided by others within six feet because it carries a virus.
2. But a breath of God’s life-giving, live-saving Spirit.
3. the Spirit that calls us to find new ways to be in relationship while still being quarantined.
4. The Spirit that sends volunteers each morning to feed the hungry during this crisis.
5. the Spirit that invites us to adapt and find new ways of doing things in the midst of crisis.
6. The day is not here now, but the day will come when we will look back over this time in our lives and our world, and we will reflect on the new and powerful things created and discovered, ways in which we saw God do a new thing.
In times of death, look for God in the hope we have for the new coming.
Move 3: We also see in times of death God calling us to step forward in faith.
a. Clearly, in the story we read in the Gospel of John, we find our hope in the resurrection to eternal life.
1. A powerful faith statement.
2. A hope that sustains our faith.
b. But we are also called to serve the God whose power to resurrect is being unleashed in our world today.
1. not just a future hope, but a present reality.
2. Lazarus comes to life in that moment.
c. “Unbind him. Let him go”
1. in an Interview with Ross Wilson, an internationally acclaimed artist who was honored by Queen Elizabeth II with a British Empire Medal, Jessica Hooten asked him about his latest art exhibit.
It is titled The Calling of Lazarus, a series of 60 portraits on display at the Windgate Art Gallery at John Brown University. the 60 portraits follow Lazarus as he moves through this story found in the Gospel of John.
Listen to how Wilson describes Lazarus
“this life is built, and then it stops, and then Christ reaches in and brings it forward again.” Jessica Hooten interview ross Wilson, christian Century, March 16, 2020; https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/bringing-forth-lazarus-blank-canvas?fbclid=IwAR1qEXhjCrpDMjqCf6UAUtE5_oJDO4zCvzkf6n-7Dq1PiVkGfEwt9T1-b3o)
2. Jesus reached into the stench of the tomb and called Lazarus to step forward.
3 not into life everlasting, that would be a later chapter for Lazarus, but Jesus calls Lazarus to come out fo the tomb and follow him.
4. As Meda Stamper, a Presbyterian minister and writer notes: Being in relationship with Jesus means facing death and grief with him and learning that still, in spite of the death and the dryness and the finality of the door at the entrance to the tomb of our hopes, he can still be said to be life. Nothing is ever so dead that it keeps him from being that in himself and for us. And in John that life is not only a future hope. Abundant life is always ever now (Meda Stamper, Presbyterian minister and writer, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=904;
5. In times of death, God calls us to step forward in faith, to be part of that new thing God is doing even now in our midst.
Conclusion: Can these bones live?
Ezekiel wants to know.
Martha and Mary want to know.
We want to know.
Listen for the rattling sound. Look for the Spirit of God.
The glory of God has arrived in your midst.
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