Finding Life and Hope in These Struggling Times
What I want to say:
Explore what this life might look like in our struggling church.
What I want to happen:
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
2. Ezekiel
Firstly, the vision given to the prophet Ezekiel for the people of Judah.
what a banger of a reading
what a vision
utter devastation
no-one even to bury the dead
imagine being placed in the middle of such a scene
imagine the horror
the grief
………..
this is a vision for a people
midst of unthinkable horror of defeat and humiliation
grieving all that has been lost
facing hopelessness
inviting us to bring our own grief
individuals and church
own sense of hopelessness
……
People of Judah
hearers of these words
were lost in exile
having suffered double humiliation.
Their leaders were either captives in exile or executed.
All that defined them
all that gave meaning to their lives had been utterly and 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 hope and 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 felt like 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.
breathing new life into them as life was breathed into the Adam and Eve
I wonder how this image might speak to how we are feeling
- world that seems to have gone mad
- violence and uncertainty are norm
- in struggling church
In what ways do we feel like dried up bones?
How do these words of Ezekiel speak to us?
3. John and Lazarus
Grief and fear are also at centre of our gospel reading today
we find Jesus grieving too
- maybe grieving for his friend Lazarus
- Grieving with and for Mary and Martha
o Weeping at their pain and loss
And there is a real sense that he is grieving for himself
- And all that lies just ahead for himself and his followers
This is the hinge point in the gospel
In John’s gospel this is the last of seven signs or miracles.
This last sign, Lazarus rising, closes out the first half of the gospel.
When Jesus says of Lazarus’ illness/death in verse 4
“It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it.”
Ultimately, he is talking about the cross
In John’s gospel God’s Son is glorified on the cross
This last sign is really about what the raising of Lazarus will lead to
It convinces the Judean leaders (Jews) that Jesus must die.
The rest of the gospel will be focussed on Jesus’ journey into Jerusalem, last gathering of the disciples, arrest and trial, crucifixion, and then resurrection.
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.
It is just a sign
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.
Lucky Lazarus gets to experience death twice
While he was really dead, stinky dead, 4 days dead,
Lazarus hears to voice of the good shepherd (Jesus) and comes 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.
That is the resurrection.
But Jesus is also the life.
And “life” is now
Life is not everything being ok
- Lazarus will die again.
- The brutality of Good Friday will happen.
- Many of his first disciples will be martyred.
Life Is about how we live in the face of all that causes us to grieve
How we follow Lazarus’s example and rest with Jesus
- As Lazarus does at the meal that follows
What might that life look like for us with all that is going on for us now?
4. Hope in a Struggling Church
spent the last few days exploring some reasons we are struggling as church
where we might find hope
Used Andrew Roots work using Charles Taylor’s tome – The Secular Age
describes our current age as secular age 3
- age of contested belief
o belief in God is one option among many
- any sense of transcendent activity God is lost
o God has been pushed to edges
o placed ourselves at the centre of the story
§ see it as our responsibility to Dave the church
In secular age 3 purpose of life is to be happy
- happy when find out true, unique, authentic, innovative self through our own self creation
o no room of God in that work either
Andy goes on to explore how this age we find ourselves in is shaping how we understand faith, the purpose of the church, and what expect from leaders
in all of that relentless push for us to constantly innovate at increasing speed so that we can increase our market share to ensure our survival
none of which has anything to do with God’s mission
increasingly leaving people spiritually flat, disoriented, grieving for all that we have lost and that face we have no idea where we are going.
5. Lazarus and Ezekiel and Now
Andy says whole lot in face of all that
at heart is “we can’t save the church – it is not ours to save!”
even if it was ours to save, we could still not save it
- dry bones did not save themselves
o Ezekiel did not save them
o God breathed life back into them
- Lazarus did not save himself
o nor could Mary or Martha save him
o Jesus the Good Shepherd calls his name and he hears and responds
like dry bones and Lazarus, we cannot save ourselves
instead, we are invited to join church of Acts 1 and wait and pray.
- invited join Mary and Martha lamenting all that has been lost
- meeting Jesus in the midst of our grief
- living in hope of resurrected life.
- reminding ourselves that our responsibility is to join in God’s mission
- God’s healing and peace-making work
- knowing Jesus follows us into our sadness
o and the sadness in our world
o just as be followed Mary and Martha.
May we have the courage to wait and hope
to be faithful
to live God’s resurrected life of justice, hope, and love
and trust God for the rest.
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