By The Rev. Frances A. Hills, Rector
Texts: Ezekiel 37:1-14, John 11:1-45
When Lent began this year, I talked about it as a “Come as you are party”. . . Come as you are to God…with all your flaws, insecurities, doubts, and fears. I talked about Lent as an opportunity for honesty and self-examination, a time to grow spiritually.
Well, here we are, starting the last week of Lent before Holy Week. How have you done in terms of growing spiritually? If you’re like me, perhaps you haven’t come as far as you’d hoped. But take heart. It’s not too late. Today Jesus calls us to a “coming out party”! He stands at the tomb of our hearts and says “Lazarus, Harry, Mary, Francie…Come out!” Quit hiding behind the deadly tomb of unresolved relationships, old grudges, insecurities, resentments, fears of failure, depression, anxiety grief, and isolation. Quit hiding, and COME OUT! Come into the light! Believe in the awesome power of a God who can give you new life! It’s the God who puts new flesh on dry bones and breathes the breath of life into them. It’s the God who raises Lazarus from the tomb, after he was dead for four days. It’s the God who gives hope to the depressed, when they fear they’re doomed to exile, desertion or isolation. It’s the God who eventually brings forth the reality of a brand new future.
Now, of course, if we allow ourselves to hope and allow our powerful God to call us forth from whatever keeps us from living fully, we might actually stink a bit… But probably not for long! Over time we’d be much fresher, more alive than ever before. But somehow human beings are reluctant to heed God’s call to “come out.”
We tend to withdraw from people, pain, effort, and from the risks of trying something new. We avoid things that might threaten our status-quo. But God persists, “Come Out!” Don’t miss your own growth. Your own becoming! Your own BEING! Don’t wish yourself and the world dead with negativity and hopelessness.
Jesus summons us to LIFE. HOPE. HUMOR. COMPASSION. LOVE. CREATIVITY. SOLIDARITY—Things that make the cynic recoil and that make God glad! We may try to resist, but ultimately, Jesus’ call is too strong, “Come out!” So we come forth from our timidity toward life, perhaps wrapped and bound, and smelly; but we do come out! And then there’s the next call, “Untie him/ Unbind her. Let them go free.” There’s no end to the ways God can set us free—as individuals, and as a church. And there’s no end to the trouble God will go to in order to set us free.
Today’s Gospel is a great example: On a previous trip, Jesus and the disciples were almost stoned in Judea, so they’d withdrawn to a safer place. But now, in spite of the disciples’ reluctance, Jesus puts himself and them in great danger. He returns to Judea in order to raise his beloved friend Lazarus.
In the process of our spiritual growth, we must sometimes go back to places we’d rather not…Places where we were not accepted or places where we’ve felt unsafe.
Sometimes we must revisit painful relationships, or topics that feel threatening, or a grief that won’t heal. And in our churches, there are also places we don’t like to revisit: Perhaps a difficult chapter in our history, or the fact of empty pews, or a shortage of money. Even if our instincts, like the disciples’, tell us to avoid these places, our God tells us to GO THERE:
These are the places we must revisit, if we want the healing and new life our powerful God can give us.
Jesus goes there willingly, to give us resurrection and life. He goes there to open the graves and to call us forth. Even if we’re not really sure we want our graves opened, our powerful God does it to break our isolations, and to bring forth healing and hope and all manner of New Life. Jesus goes there willingly, and invites us to join him…To be part of his saving ministry.
Some of you know that yesterday six church vestries in South County met for a Joint Retreat. Over the past few years, each of these churches has become paired with one of the others- Some formally, some only informally. Each pair is in a different place in their relationship. So yesterday we met:
· CCE-TLC, a conjoined parish;
· St. Paul and Good Shepherd,
Churches that are in the process of merging;
· And us— St. James and St. George,
Churches that are worshiping together, sharing a priest, and in conversation about how our relationship might continue to develop.
At the retreat, each pair of churches told its unique story of how they began to be in relationship. Sometimes the stories were funny. Sometimes they were sad, but they were always Holy. They all showed the most incredible work of God’s Spirit.
I think it caused all of us to revisit some painful things… About finances, buildings, dwindling numbers, and previously failed or dissolved relationships with each other. We had to go places that perhaps felt dangerous…
Obviously for congregations to be in or even entertain the idea of becoming something new together upsets the status quo. But for whatever reasons, God has called us back to Judea. And more than that, as I listened to the stories of all our congregations, I was in awe of the new life and hope that was gathered in that space. For the Episcopal-Lutheran Churches in South Berkshire County, God has called us out of our tombs of death and isolation! God has come to us and bid us be unbound...To come into the Light! Not just for our own sakes, but that we might roll away the stones for others, so that they may also live in the light! Amen.
Parts of this sermon are adapted from an article in Homily Service, March 2005, by Hilary Hayden, O.S.B.
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