Finding Life in Dark Times



This sermon can be listened to here

Gate Pa –  5th Sunday in Ordinary Time- Year A - 2020

Readings:

Psalm -                        Psalm: 130 
First Reading -             Ezekiel 37:1-14  
Second Reading -       Romans 8:6-11 
Gospel -                       John 11:1-45   

What I want to say:

Our lives have been turned upside down. We are having to rethink how we live our lives. We are in a strange new land for the next few weeks at least. How are we feeling after a few days of lockdown? How are we feeling with Covid-19 around us?

Ezekiel was given a vision for those whose lives had been turned upside down, who were having to rethink how they lived their lives. They were in a strange new land.

Martha and Mary, with the death of their brother Lazarus, had their lives turned upside down and were faced with having to rethink how they lived their lives. They were in a strange new land.

What I want to happen:

What does it mean to be church in this land?


The Sermon

       1.     Introduction:

Our lives have been turned upside down. We are having to rethink how we live our lives. We are in a strange new land for the next few weeks at least.

How are we feeling after a few days of lockdown?

How are we feeling with Covid-19 around us?

How are you feeling about church at the end of this first week? Some of the media have talked about church being cancelled. But we have not been cancelled.

       2.     Church and our Liturgical Tradition

In my research I did 10 years ago for my Masters I suggested that

“In our tradition worship is an encounter between the Living God and God’s church which changes and shapes those who participate as individuals and as church… Some of the descriptors of the Anglican Liturgical tradition at its best include: it is accessible to all those present so that they may participate; its genesis goes back to the earliest liturgies of the Christian church through the work of Thomas Cranmer; it has a particular flow and structure; it invites people to worship in common with Christians throughout the ages and the world in the use of common texts; these texts and structure are Spirit inspired and preserve and proclaim the universal faith of the Church in God and as such belong to the whole church; the use of scripture is central; is more than words. This list was not exhaustive.” [i]

So we are trying to find ways that we can all participate in the worship of our church community, knowing as we do that others are gathering across Aotearoa-NZ and around the world to worship in very similar ways using the same or similar readings and very similar liturgies. These texts were inspired and preserved to proclaim the universal faith of the Church in God.

I guess a question might be – what does this faith look like in unsettled times like these?

       3.     Ezekiel

This week we are offered some powerful stories.

Firstly, the vision given to the prophet Ezekiel for the people of Judah now in exile.

They had suffered double humiliation. Their leaders were either captives in exile or executed. All that gave meaning to their lives had been deliberately destroyed. Jerusalem was gone. The temple, the place where God’s glory, the shekhinah, had resided, had been torn down. The Ark of the covenant was gone. Now they were taken into exile to serve new masters. Their lives had been turned upside down. They were in a strange new land far from all that gave them meaning. They were having to rethink if and how they worshipped their God now the temple was gone. They were having to rethink how they lived their lives. They were like dried-up bones left after the slaughter of battle.

This vision was not an event, but a powerful image given through Ezekiel to those people in this foreign land, being raised with God’s life. Even in this place of captivity God was with them offering life and hope.

I wonder how this image might speak to how we are feeling after nearly a week in isolation and lockdown, and longer with all the uncertainty this virus brings to us all.

What is it like in this foreign land living in our homes?

In what ways do we feel like dried up bones?  

How do these words of Ezekiel speak to us?

       4.     Lazarus

We have vision of Ezekiel because the gospel set down for the 5th Sunday in Lent in Year A is the raising of Lazarus from dead death. In John’s gospel this is the last of seven signs or miracles. Last week we heard the second to last sign of Jesus healing the man born blind. This last sign, Lazarus rising, closes out the first half of the gospel. It convinces the Judean leaders (Jews) that Jesus must die. The rest of the gospel is focussed on Jesus journey into Jerusalem, last supper, arrest and trial, crucifixion, and then resurrection. This story we heard today acts as the hinge. The exact centre of John 11 is Martha’s confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, which is precisely the purpose of the gospel as expressed in 20:31. This is the main theological statement of the gospel and it is said by a woman. Women often play significant roles in John’s gospel. But that is another sermon.

The important thing to remember with these signs is that they point beyond the actual event. In the other 6 stories of signs there is an event, (the blind man is healed); there is a dialogue (the blind man has several conversations about his healing); the Jesus uses the event to teach (John 10:1-21). In each case the sign was important, but it was not the point. The point was how Jesus used it to teach about who he was as the light which has come from the Father into the world. In this story the dialogue and teaching happen before the sign, but the effect is the same. While Lazarus being raised is pretty impressive, and while it provides the reason why the Judean leadership decide Jesus really did have to die, it is not the point of the story. The point is that it acts as a signpost to Jesus own death and resurrection. Jesus uses this astounding event to show that he is the resurrection and the life. I have not used the word resurrection for Lazarus because he will die again. I’m pretty sure he dies again. Unless he is like the Highlander he is not still around. While he was really dead, stinky dead, 4 days dead, Jesus brings him back to life. But it is his old mortal body. When Jesus is resurrected it is a whole new way of being. And it is that that we are offered at the end of time, however we understand that. Death is defeated. Humanity restored. Creation renewed.

       5.     The Story

So today we have this story of Jesus deciding to return to the danger zone – back to where people want to stone him. Like us, the disciples are deeply unsure of what is going on, and like us they fear the consequences.  Like us, Jesus stays in his bubble of disciples, keeping his distance from all those mourners – not because of covid-19 - but because some of these Judeans have already tried to stone him – twice. First Martha quietly comes out to find him, keeping her distance maybe? She understands the risks. Then she returns to quietly tell Mary. But her sudden move alerts the Judeans that something is up, and they follow. In the end these Judeans will find him and break his bubble. They will crowd around as he calls Lazarus out by name from stinky death. Lazarus hears the voice of the good shepherd and comes back to life and out of the tomb. All that bound him in death, represented by the wrappings, is unravelled. He is set free to live.  Some are amazed, and some are shocked at this act.

But wait there is more. Lazarus is not just raised to life as it was. At the meal that night he reclines at Jesus breast. This is what it means to be in relationship with Jesus. This kind of deep, intimate, trusting relationship, embraced in God’s love.  God the father in Jesus breaking into our isolation and fear and offering love and hope. When Jesus says that he is the resurrection and the life – that is talking about now and the quality of life we have now. And we need this now more than ever. Like every other sign, we are invited beyond the story of the miracle, beyond a literal understanding of Jesus’ words, into the big picture John offers. We are invited to live “God so loved the world; God is compassion. That is the light that challenges the darkness, the truth that challenges the falsehood, the caring that challenges the abandonment - and so leads from death to life.”[ii]

       6.     Some final thoughts

One of the commentators I read says that last week we were reminded that blindness, disease, even little viruses are not a curse from God, not a punishment. They simply are. But in those times, we are reminded that God is present. Just as Mary and Martha found Jesus in the depths of their despair and disappointment, just as Jesus was present for the disciples in their confusion and fear, so God is present for us in this storm.[iii]

And like last week these times offer us an opportunity to do the works of the God who loves.

These are strange and uncertain times. For many they are times of uncertainty and fear. But they are also a time we can grow in our trust that God is present no matter what happens. This time provide us an opportunity to pray about what it means to be church, and how we live that out for each other and our neighbours. It provides a time to know the God who loves, and to respond by doing the works we are able, in love.

Take time each day to pray

Take time each day to give thanks for this time

Be kind to and look after yourself

Be kind to and care for those in your bubble.

Stay safe.

Stay calm.

Wash your hands.








[i] Youth and Liturgy: an Oxymoron?   A study into how and why Anglican liturgy and the Anglican liturgical tradition are being used in worship targeting young people within the Anglican Church (Tikanga Pakeha) in New Zealand.
By John Hebenton. 2009
[ii] http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MtLent5.html
[iii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5423

Comments

Paul said…
Hi John and Bonnie, Thanks very much for having the facebook livestream. I really appreciated it and will put time aside today to think about how I can use my time in lockdown effectively.

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