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Hi and welcome to our Lenten journey of transformation,
Turn Around-Take Off .Through wilderness
into rebirth: the waters of life, seeing the real world for the very first time.
and now walking out at the cave of death
whatever it is that denies abundant living
rebirth again! Lazarus come out!
And perhaps this is the moment to substitute your name
in place a Lazarus' or perhaps the name
of your congregation and ask yourself what would that look like?
How would that happen? Several years ago.
I was leading a spirituality workshop for people living with *** AIDS
and I used this story of Lazarus as an opportunity for us
to talk about death and new life. The first part of the Gospel story was told
and ended with Lazarus dead in the cave.
We paused in the reading and then spread out a sheet on the floor
which became the binding cloth that was to be wrapped around the corpse of
Lazarus. On the sheet we began to write down all the forces,
powers, dynamics, that bound us that bring death,
People lept to the task and soon the sheet was covered:
prejudice, homophobia, fear, virus and sickness,
discrimination, addiction, poverty ,no self-worth,
sexism, isolation, despair. The list went on
on and on, an over whelming combination up inner
and outer forces. The brokeness within
and the social structures that oppressed and crushed us.
We stopped and in stunned silence
looked at our naming enough all the death dealing forces that surrounded us
and then we talked. This might
a moment to make your own list. What brings
death to you? What forces are pressing down on you
and what are the demons within that suck life
from your days? But the exercise didn't stop here
the story continued. The binding sheet was wrapped around my co-leader
he was bound and placed in the middle of our circle, dead.
And the darkness of the cave was overpowering. But then Jesus
the embodiment of resurrection and life demanded that the rock be rolled away
he prayed to the God of liberation and grace and then shouted " Llazarus
come out", at which point the sheet- bound corpse in the middle of the circle began
to stir
unfolded ripped the sheet in half crying out,
"In the power of the Spirit, I receive and claim my freedom."
And then he invited each member of the group to rip a strip of the sheet
while shouting in the same way, " In the power of the Spirit I receive and claim
my freedom."
As you can tell it is the moment seared upon my memory.
One that has continued to inspire me and also one that has sparked questions
as I sit with the various characters in this story.
Lazarus, of course, the times
when I have felt life draining out of me in the face of injustice,
pain, subtle or not so, or oppression.
Or when I find my own spirit shrinking when faced by the clamor
of my internal demons. As a gay person
I have heard Jesus' invitation, " Gary come out,"
has a clarion call to liberation. It had left me me pondering
the gift of life that Jesus brings. How is it made
real? Sometimes it comes as forgiveness
and acceptance, sometimes as a wake-up call
and energy. I remember times when Jesus has been a channel
through whom the grace of God flows, adoring to Spirit power.
Sometimes it comes simply
as love and I've wondered how I might make myself
more available, more open to the invitation
the command? How I might hear and act
in response? I also find myself thinking about
Mary and Martha Lazarus' sisters,
recognizing the grief that comes to all of us.
When tears and broken hearts are what we offer in the face of death
loss, the inevitable endings and crucifixions.
I think about the grief in our church as many congregations contemplate closing
their doors,
even as they trust that God is indeed calling us the church
into new life. "Oh, United Church come out!"
What would that look like? How might it happen?
How might we hear the invitation? How might
your congregation or the United Church hear
and believe? Must we break free from the binding clothes of
old ways that no longer bring life?
Are there times when the church building has become a cave
out which we must walk? I worry that sometimes we have lost faith
in resurrection, in the power of God to call us into new life.
Not just calling us, but actually empowering us
to walk out of the old and into abundant living.
I wonder also about the new Lazarus.
What must he have felt like as he walked into the light of a new day
the binding club dropping behind him? The crowd of family friends and onlookers
hardly able to believe their eyes not sure how to respond to this reborn
Lazarus. Well I've learned a lot from friends in twelve-step programs
who have shared what it is like to hit bottom
and to know death and then like Lazarus to discover the possibilities
at new life. They know something about Grace.
I wonder if Lazarus found it impossible
to be silent about his transformation? Did he become
a witness dare I say it an evangelist?
Like the blind man of last week's story or the Samaritan woman
the week before. There's something about the encounter with Jesus Christ
with the God of life and experience of re- birth of new life.
Well it's hard to keep quiet about it.
I once was blind but now see. I once was entombed but now I'm free.
I once was dead but now I'm alive.
I wonder how many of us have experienced such moments?
When we have been filled with the power of new life
of well resurrection?
When was the last time you heard such a story?
When was the last time you told such a story?