{"id":650,"date":"2020-03-29T13:44:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T13:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=650"},"modified":"2020-03-29T17:47:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T17:47:26","slug":"fifth-sunday-in-lent-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2020\/03\/29\/fifth-sunday-in-lent-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Sunday in Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ezekiel\n37:1-14, John 11:1-45<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace to you and peace\nfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nthis Coronavirus stuff is beginning to wear on us all, and it\u2019s not just the\ndisease, it\u2019s also the quarantine stuff, it\u2019s all the petty bickering between our\nelected politicians, it\u2019s the fact that we have not found a way to provide for the\nvery basics of needed medical equipment. And in our homes, parents are, a lot\nof them, struggling to take care of their kids, 24\/7. Family members of the\nsick, those in nursing homes and hospitals, sit at home worrying, not permitted\nto even visit those they love; the sick wondering where their family is. Hard\nworking, good employees are sitting at home, laid off, not sure how they will\npay their bills. Medical personnel, grocery store workers, mailmen and women,\nmanufacturing workers, mechanics, policemen and women, firefighters,\ntransportation and delivery workers and other such people are going to work\neach day to serve us, worried about their own health and worried that they may\nin some way bring home the coronavirus to their aging parents or their\nfamilies. The people on TV speak of a hope of controlling the spread, but an\nend to the spread seems so very far away. For those of us who belong to\nchurches we are beginning to realize that our Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday,\nGood Friday and even Easter services may, like this service, be available to us\nonly on a computer screen, or a TV set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nthink of Ezekiel and how he was asked to look upon a valley of dried bones\n(human bones), the bones of Israel he was told. The people of Israel, were in a\nway like us, they were not really dead, they were lost, they were spiritually\nspent or adrift, afraid and suffering with feelings of hopelessness; some of\nthem had even started worshipping other God\u2019s. The message of God to Ezekiel\nwas that the People of God were not yet lost, there was hope, Ezekiel could\nprophesy to them, he could preach to them God\u2019s word, and when they (like those\nbones) would come back together and when they would stand back on their feet to\nlisten, the Lord will put his spirit back within them. There was hope; there is\nalways hope; Ezekiel would be God\u2019s instrument to bring hope and new life to\nIsrael. We today have not abandoned the Lord; we have not set aside our faith\nin Jesus but we like Israel, like Mary and Martha in today\u2019s Gospel could use a\nword of hope, and maybe as Mary and Martha wanted something more than hope,\nwanting to experience the resurrection for their brother, maybe we too want to\nsee life restored around us as it once was. What most of us are looking for is\na quick end to this virus, that has so disrupted our lives, killing some and making\nmany others sick, upset and afraid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\nheard the appeal from Mary and Martha that Lazarus was deathly ill. (But) Jesus\ncontinued his business and waited for a couple days, before finally telling his\ndisciples that he would go to Lazarus who had \u201cfallen asleep\u201d; in other words, who\nhad died. When they got there, Jesus was told what he already knew that Lazarus\nhad been dead for, already, 4 days. Mary and Martha were by then without hope\nthat their brother Lazarus would walk again among them. Mary and Martha\nexpressed this so very clearly. Mary and Martha were saying nothing wrong;\neverything in life had proved that they were right; they did not consider the\nfact that God is not bound by even his own laws embedded in nature and life; he\ncould restore the dry bones of Israel to life; he could restore Lazarus\u2019\nrotting body to wholeness and life. Jesus said as much about God, thanking God\nJesus said for all to hear, \u201cFather, I thank you for having heard me. I knew\nthat you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd\nstanding here, so that they may believe that you sent me.\u201d This was all about\nhelping the people to believe in Jesus and believe in the one true God who\nknows no limitations; Lazarus\u2019 death was for the purpose of displaying to the\npeople, to Mary and Martha, the power and the love of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nthe stench of death would not dissuade Jesus from having the stone that covered\nLazarus\u2019 tomb removed. There was hope! And as Jesus called for Lazarus to come\nout, all their hopes, once lost, since restored, were fulfilled. Lazarus\nshuffled from his tomb and Jesus had them release Lazarus from his burial\nwrappings, I tell you today, that there is hope for us here and now. The stench\nof unrest, illness, worry, fear and such may be found around us, but there is\nhope. The people of China seem to be turning a corner, the doctors here are\ntrying experimental treatments on the seriously ill, but of greater importance,\nJesus is with us and Jesus will help us get through this. Jesus is already helping\nus to get through this. It may not happen as we might want; it might not happen\nas the political leaders expect; it might not happen in the time that we think\nis right and the resolution of our current issues may look very different from\nwhat we think they should, but we will get through this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe meantime there is ministry to be done, there are churches on the edge of\nfinancial collapse, there are families struggling to put food on their tables,\nthere are sick people needing our prayers, there are charitable agencies and\norganizations that are trying to function without their usual support and there\nare businesses, both small and large that are facing their demise. How can we\nwho live by faith, who have hope, help these people who may not themselves know\nhope? A church\u2019s ministry looks outside of itself to find needs to fill, people\nto help. We are the Ezekiel\u2019s of our day sent to those who have no hope, sent\nto bring them word of God\u2019s love and forgiveness and hope. We are the ones who are\ncalled upon by Jesus to offer by our actions, words and resources God\u2019s love. This\nis not a time for us to allow our comfort or our fears to keep us from ministry;\nwe are needed at this time more than ever. We as a congregation have found a\nway to stream our worship services, now we need to find new ways to help those around\nus, to do ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ezekiel 37:1-14, John 11:1-45 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ All this Coronavirus stuff is beginning to wear on us all, and it\u2019s not just the disease, it\u2019s also the quarantine stuff, it\u2019s all the petty bickering between our elected politicians, it\u2019s Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}