Home Worship for the week of March 22 – 5th Sunday in Lent
Morning Prayer: God of mercy, we come to You dry and lifeless, seeking Your breath of life. Lead us to the place where our hopes lie buried and call us out from the tombs of despair. Call forth our faith that, with Martha, we may know You to be the resurrection and the life, in this world and the world to come. Amen. Written by Ruth C. Duck, Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2012), 58.
Morning Hymn: #420 Breathe on Me, Breath of God
- Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew,
that I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do. - Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,
until with Thee I will one will, to do and to endure. - Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly Thine,
till all this earthly part of me glows with Thy fire divine. - Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die,
but live with Thee the perfect life of Thine eternity.
Old Testament Lesson: Ezekiel 37:9-14
9 He said to [Ezekiel], “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The Lord God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.”
10 I prophesied just as He commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company.
11 He said to me, “Human one, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely finished.’ 12 So now, prophesy and say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, My people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. 13 You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, My people. 14 I will put my breath in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the Lord. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the Lord says.”
Prayers of Intercession: (CORE, adapted) Let us lift our hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer, that the LORD would be merciful to all people.
Lord, we live in a valley of deathly shadows. Thank You for Jesus, who calls us by name from our tombs. Help us to firmly believe that He is our Resurrection and our Life.
Breathe Your Spirit upon Your Church. Make it the living body of Jesus in the world. In Word and Sacrament, and by deeds of mercy and forgiveness, let it share Your life and grace with all who are held captive to sin, evil and death.
Breathe Your Spirit upon this congregation, so that our worship, words, and deeds abound with the fruits of that Spirit. Fill us with Jesus, and give us grace to share His life with everyone we meet.
Breathe Your Spirit upon all to whom death draws near, especially those who die alone or unloved. Grant them serenity, faith, and reconciliation with You and with family. Bless them with the mercy and grace promised by Your Son to any who will receive Him. Give a double portion of Your Spirit to hospice workers and to all who care for the dying.
Breathe Your Spirit upon all who lead the nations, especially our own. Fill them with wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord; and joy in doing Your will. Help them work for the welfare of their people. Give Your grace and peace to us all.
Breathe Your Spirit upon all who suffer. As Jesus raised up Lazarus from death, we beseech You, raise up these dear ones and restore them to their loved ones.
Holy and gracious Father, thank You for calling Your faithful servants by name, out of death and into Your eternal life. Breathe Your Spirit upon us, for we are still troubled by sin, death, and the devil. Give us grace to comfort, encourage, and help each other along life’s road. Grant us faith to confess Your Son as the Resurrection and the Life, the One who has come into the world to bring us salvation.
Into Your hands, gracious Father, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy; for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us all to pray by praying …
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, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: UMCOR Sunday – a special offering day to fund the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The United Methodist Church keeps administrative costs low but those costs remain and need to be funded. Using funds collected on UMCOR Sunday pays these costs so that when disasters happen 100% of donations can be directed to help those in need. Please give generously to fund the work of UMCOR. Special offering envelopes are at the rear.
Offering prayer: Life-Giving Spirit, You breathe hope into our valleys of despair and call forth life where we saw only dry bones. We come today not out of habit, but out of longing to be part of Your work that restores, renews, and redeems. Take these gifts and use them to roll away the stones that keep Your people bound. Let them be signs of trust, symbols of resurrection, and tools of transformation in a weary world. May our offering, like our living, lean into Your Spirit and testify that life—abundant, eternal, and holy—is possible in You. In Christ, who calls us out of the grave and into Your grace, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: #534 Be Still My Soul
- Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to your God to order and provide; in every change God faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. - Be still, my soul: your God will undertake to guide the future, as in ages past.
Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
the Christ who ruled them while He dwelt below. - Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Scripture: John 11:30-45
30 He [Jesus] hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. 31 When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.
32 When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, He was deeply disturbed and troubled. 34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?”
They replied, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus began to cry. 36 The Jews said, “See how much He loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t He have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 Jesus was deeply disturbed again when He came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”
40 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” 41 So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank You for hearing Me. 42 I know You always hear Me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that You sent Me.” 43 Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came with Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in Him.
Message: Pastor Becky
Again this week, the lectionary places before us a big chunk of scripture. We're in the 11th chapter of John. We're going to focus on verses 30 to 45, not because verses 1 to 29 aren't important, but because we can become so familiar with a story. Especially the story of Lazarus and his sisters, that we can miss things going on in the story. We will start the story at the point where Jesus has spoken to Martha, but they haven't quite gotten to the village yet.
This is the resurrection before the resurrection. It's the account that lets us know that we are close to Easter. It's a forerunner. We hear it and we begin to organize our thoughts towards what comes next – Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Resurrection Day. Resurrection Day being the entire reason we are who we are, followers of Jesus Christ. His resurrection proves God's love for us. Jesus’s victory over death. Our sins are atoned for and eternal and abundant life is a reality. See the power of the resurrection. It's the centerpiece of our faith.
But don't dismiss Lazarus's resurrection. It's different from Jesus' other healings: giving sight to the blind, the lame being able to walk and people freed of their demons. Lazarus' resurrection required the community to participate.
The first act of community in this resurrection is going to require us to go back to verse 3: “So the sister sent a message to Jesus. Lord, he whom You love is ill.” They themselves didn't go hunt Jesus down. They got a volunteer or paid a neighbor, probably a young man, to give Jesus the message. Someone from their village of Bethany went on foot to convince Jesus to bring healing to Lazarus.
The second act of community is that they came to Mary and Martha to console them, to be with them in their grief. They came to be company to them, to support them and encourage them. Those that came to Mary and Martha would have been caring for the sisters. Gathering their water, feeding their livestock. Caring for their garden and gathering wood and keeping the fire going and they would have fed the sisters. In our own tradition, that looks like showing up with a casserole and a jello salad.
As community is with them, they are reminding Mary and Martha about God's love for them. They'd be praying with them and for them. They would be holding them. They then follow Mary to Jesus and again to the tomb.
The third act of community is, they are the ones that rolled the stone away from the tomb so Lazarus could walk free after Jesus prayed. They showed faith in who Jesus is so upon resurrection, Lazarus would be free to come out. They didn't say let's wait and see if Lazarus knocks to be let out of the tomb. They facilitated his exit. Lazarus walked out into his community, surrounded by his sisters and those who were waiting. They not only physically moved that stone, but had the faith to move that stone.
The fourth act of community was once Lazarus walked out they removed his burial clothes. They unbound his hands, untied his feet and set him into new life and welcomed him back into community.
Jesus never touched the stone or Lazarus. Under Jesus direction, the community did. Their actions were a sign of faith in Jesus and the healing power of God.
This is the model of new life. It wasn't a resurrection so Lazarus could go back to his same old life. Lazarus is now a testimony to his community and to us. I would have to think that people would look at him differently afterward. I would imagine folks asking him to tell the story again and again. I hear people coming up to the sisters and asking them to tell the story of what Jesus did. Jesus had the stone removed, Jesus called my brother back to life. Jesus had him unbound from his burial clothes. It's amazing. And it's simply this – Lazarus was dead and now alive.
We find ourselves held behind stones and tied up in death robes. There are parts of each of us that are cut off from life. Our stones may look like grief, addiction, depression, guilt, doubt. Our stones are what trap us. Our stones are what we sometimes hide behind. We know about ourselves this much and we can't move those stones all by ourselves. We need to rely on each other. We need someone to be the messenger to bring and to be Jesus for us. We need to rally around families and then remove the stones and prepare for the healing, holding that space and supplying hope and faith. Then releasing each other of our death robes.
Releasing looks like embracing new life, not constantly reminding someone of their dead life, because that is not our story. Those that are dead but now are alive can tell that story. We are not to be calling to mind past failed attempts, recounting past offenses. We are not to be participating in gossip that keeps people trapped in a dead life when Jesus has called them into new life. Community is called to lead and then support new life. This is what we do for each other. We are called to be community for those who do not yet have relationship with Jesus. So let me make it simple so that you don't question or don't hesitate – We are called to be a Lazarus community for everyone, calling upon Jesus for healing, then surrounding and removing and supporting so we can all live in the new life offered by Jesus. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #367 He Touched Me
- Shackled by a heavy burden, neath a load of guilt and shame,
then the hand of Jesus touched me, and now I am no longer the same.
Refrain: He touched me, O He touched me, and O the joy that floods my soul!
Something happened, and now I know, He touched my and made me whole.
- Since I met this blessed Savior, since He cleansed and made me whole,
I will never cease to praise Him; I’ll shout it while eternity rolls. Refrain:
The blessing: May the Lord bless you as you repent of sins and make Lenten sacrifices.
Go Now in Peace: Go now in peace. Never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of ev’ry day. Go now in faith, steadfast strong and true. Know He will guide you in all you do. Go now in love and show you believe. Reach out to others, so all the world can see. God will be there, watching from above. Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
