We appreciate the kind words following our last virtual worship. We pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through what follows, offering a sense of comfort and connection. Please feel free to forward this service to others.
PRELUDE: Lord, listen to your children praying
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Lord, send your Spirit in this place;
Lord, listen to your children praying,
Send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace.
OPENING PRAYER
Gather us, God,
from the solitary places
from every form of shelter
from all that separates us.
Gather us, God,
from a time of trouble
from a time of trepidation
from every type of trial.
Gather us, God,
when only prayer can bind us
when only love can hold us
when only life in Christ can lead us home.
Amen.
HYMN OF PRAISE: When morning gilds the skies
When morning gilds the skies,
my heart awakening cries:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
When evening shadows fall,
this rings my curfew call:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
To God, the Word on high,
the hosts of angels cry:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals, too, upraise
their voice in hymns of praise:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Let all of humankind
in this their concord find:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Let all the earth around
ring joyous with the sound:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this, while life is mine,
my canticle divine:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this th’eternal song,
through all the ages long:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Words and music by Casual/Barnby
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Jesus said:
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
We seek the life you give, Lord
Life abundant
Life everlasting
Life in you.
Give us that life: that no more will we
Long for things that do not satisfy
Dwell on things that diminish us
Give in to things that we know
we can overcome when we trust in you.
Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
God will give us what we need:
strength for today,
hope for tomorrow,
and forgiveness
for all that is past.
Amen.
FIRST LESSON: Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.
SECOND LESSON: John 11.17-44
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many people had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the people who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the people said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Photo by orientalizing (Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0)
REFLECTION
Help can come from unexpected places.
Somehow I fell upon an article in the Harvard Business Review with the simple and arresting title, That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief. As the author describes it, the editorial staff were meeting online when the conversation turned to how people were feeling. When one colleague added that she felt mostly grief, the group resolved to learn more.
They turned to David Kessler, grief expert and protégé of the late Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Kübler-Ross, you will recall, pioneered the five stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, sadness and acceptance—and helped millions overcome a common burden. Kessler, with permission from the Kübler-Ross family, added a sixth stage, something we will turn to later.
To begin, though, we should let David Kessler explain how the five stages fit into our current situation:
“Whenever I talk about the stages of grief, I have to remind people that the stages aren’t linear and may not happen in this order. It’s not a map but it provides some scaffolding for this unknown world. There’s denial, which we saw a lot of early on: This virus won’t affect us. There’s anger: You’re making me stay home and taking away my activities. There’s bargaining: Okay, if I social distance for two weeks everything will be better, right? There’s sadness: I don’t know when this will end. And finally there’s acceptance. This is happening; I have to figure out how to proceed.” [1]
And this, of course, is just the surface. Kessler’s five examples mirror the earliest stages of the crisis—the part we’re already experiencing—and not the profound loss that may visit or has already visited families during this time. And this takes us to another point that Kessler underlines: much of what is troubling us right now is anticipatory grief, the worst-case feelings that can overwhelm us. His primary lesson is this: acknowledge these feelings and don’t try to suppress them—and then balance them by calling to mind all that we are doing to avoid what we fear most.
It is a gift of the Holy Spirit that the reading for today is master class in grief. But before I go further, I need to make a couple of points about the story of raising Lazarus. First, and most importantly, this is a miracle story—Jesus resuscitates Lazarus—and not a resurrection story. Resurrection is coming, but we still need to wait. And this takes us to the second point: Lazarus was raised from the dead, but still died. The defeat of death will come later—once and for all—but for now, the story of that blessed day will still need to wait.
So let the class begin: the denial begins early, in the first part of the chapter, when Jesus breaks the bad news by saying that Lazarus has fallen asleep. In their denial, they take him literally—the first stage of grief. Stages two and three—anger and bargaining—appear the moment he meets Martha: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” It seems like Martha knows the end of the story, that she believes that her brother will be raised, but her next comment tells the real tale: “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” What seems like a hopeful statement is really sadness: she understands that she will not see her brother again in this life. And at the same moment, there is a measure of acceptance—providing examples of sadness and acceptance in one simple statement—and the final two stages. Or so it would seem.
And here is where we get to explore the difference between what seems to be happening and what’s really happening. You may recall that last week I described John’s Gospel as an extended book of signs that all point to God’s glory. And that’s what is really happening here: the raising of Lazarus is another sign of God’s glory. John himself sums this up in the beginning of his book when he says “In Him was life, and that life was the light for all people.” In the same way Matthew, Mark and Luke speak of the kingdom, John speaks of life: abundant life (10.10), life everlasting (3.16) and the bread of life (6.48) where Jesus reminds us that he is the “living bread that came down from heaven.” [2]
And this takes us to David Kessler’s sixth stage of grief: meaning. The author expresses the hope that we can move from ‘acceptance’ to meaning: finding light in the midst of our grief—some life-giving meaning that comes despite the dislocation and fear. And he suggests a couple of examples: remembering the joy of an extended telephone conversation, or really savouring a walk outside, not just walking to get somewhere. The challenge is to name your own examples, to find the meaning that will allow us to defeat anxiety in a tense time.
Before I close, I want to share a word about that unique little verse that makes this passage noteworthy: “Jesus wept.” Even when the sign was ready, even as the plan was unfolding, even as the end was assured—Jesus wept. Jesus wept for the pain of everyone around him, for the fear and the heartbreak, for the damage this event might cause his friends. He wept for them and he wept with them. And the weeping continues. Whatever befalls us in the days and weeks to come, remember the compassion of Christ: he weeps when we are weeping, and we never walk alone.
Back to our search for meaning, Jesus provides—even before he brings his friend back to life: “I am the resurrection and the life,” he says. “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” The question, of course, is another challenge in the meaning-making that only Jesus can give. We need to remember and cling to the new life we have already received in Christ Jesus—the life that is meant to be a light for all people. May our light shine forth even in this time of trouble. Amen.
[1]Scott Berinato, “That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief,” HBR. [2]Craig S. Keener, “Eternal Life in John,” bibleodyssey.org
HYMN: 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 my will is one with thine,
to do and to endure.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
till I am wholly thine,
until 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.
Words and music by Edwin Hatch
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Gracious and loving God,
We come before you as one body,
together but in separate places.
As we pray these words, alone or in twos,
we remember that the Risen One is with us,
binding us, one to another, now and always.
We praise you this day, O God,
for the creation you give us,
for the earth and all it’s goodness,
for the hidden potential in field and forest,
for the spring that is unfolding—
even if we remain indoors.
We thank you for our congregation,
for care extended and love made known:
for calls and messages,
for questions and interest
for timely reminders that are never alone.
Enrich our ministry to each other,
and extend this care beyond our fellowship
to include all who seek to dwell in your love.
Today, O God, we ask:
When we are anxious, send calm
When we are restless, send meaning
When we are overwhelmed, send comfort
When hearts are heavy with grief, send assurance
and help us see light in this time.
We gather these and other concerns, praying
for everyone on the front lines of this crisis:
nurses and physicians,
hospital staff and technicians,
caregivers and everyone who supports them.
We pray for all essential workers:
hold them through fatigue and fear.
We also pray for those compelled to remain home,
but would rather be practicing their vocation.
God, be with our friends and loved ones,
keep them from harm,
and remind them of your abiding love.
Out of the depths we cry to you, Lord;
we trust you will hear our voice.
Remain attentive when we cry for mercy
and remain with us now
and forevermore.
Amen.
HYMN: There is balm in Gilead
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole.
There is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged,
and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again. R
If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
you can tell the love of Jesus
and say, ‘He died for all.’ R
Traditional African American spiritual
BLESSING
God’s goodness and mercy follow you.
Christ’s compassion surround you.
The Spirit dwell with you
–in the house of the Lord–
now and forever.
Amen.
SONG TO GO FORTH
God be with you till we meet again;
loving counsels guide, uphold you,
with a shepherd’s care enfold you;
God be with you till we meet again.
Words and music by Rankin/Williams
