Fifth Sunday in Lent -- Year A - Worship Service - 11:00 AM Service -- Pastor Naomi Carriker

We are a small church, but big on Grace. We gather each Sunday at 11:00 am for worship by singing hymns, hearing readings from the bible, praying together and a celebration of Holy Communion. Communion is the spiritual bread our bodies need to live. All are invited to join us at the Lord's table to be fed by his heavenly food, There are no strangers in God’s house, and if you choose to worship with us, we would be honored by your presence.

Introduction

In today’s gospel Jesus reveals his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead. The prophet Ezekiel prophesies God breathing new life into dry bones. To those in exile or living in the shadows of death, these stories proclaim God’s promise of resurrection. In baptism we die with Christ that we might also be raised with him to new life. At the Easter Vigil we will welcome the newly baptized as we remember God’s unfailing promise in our baptism.

 

 

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, your Son came into the world to free us all from sin and death. Breathe upon us the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ and serve you in righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

 

First Reading: 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones is a promise that Israel as a nation, though dead in exile, will live again in their land through God’s life-giving spirit. Three times Israel is assured that through this vision they will know that “I am the Lord.”

 

Psalm: 130 I wait for you, O Lord; in your word is my hope. (Ps. 130:5)/p>

 

Second Reading:  

Romans 8:6-11 For Paul, Christian spirituality entails living in the reality of the Holy Spirit. The driving force behind our actions and values is not our sinful desire for self-satisfaction but the very Spirit by which God raised Jesus from the dead and will also raise us from the dead.

 

Gospel:  

John 11:1-45 Jesus is moved to sorrow when his friend Lazarus falls ill and dies. Then, in a dramatic scene, he calls his friend out of the tomb and restores him to life.

1  Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2  Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.

3  So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

4  But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5  Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.  

 7  Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

8  The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 

9  Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world.

10  But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.”

11  After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

12  The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”

13  Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

14  Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

1 5 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16  Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”  

17  When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

18   Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,

19  and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.

20  When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

21  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22  But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

23  Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24  Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

25  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

26  and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27  She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”  

 28  When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

29  And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.

30  Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

31  The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32  When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33  When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

34  He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

35  Jesus began to weep. 

36  So the Jews 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  Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

39  Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

40  Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

41  So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.

42  I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”

43  When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44  The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”  

45  Many of the Jews, therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him.

 

 

After the Sermon, Holy Communion will be offered. Come as you are, the gift of the Table of the Lord has been prepared as Jesus has requested and now we are invited to the meal. Come to the table like Peter, with m ore enthusiasm than resolve and like James and John, disappointed and the priorities of God’s reign. Come to the table like Martha, hosting and leading with confidence like Mary, full of love and grief. Come to the table like Judas, disillusioned and rebellious and like Mary Magdalene, faithful till the end. Come to the table, because it is God who invites us and it’s God’s will that those who want to should meet God here.

Blessing for the day (Our blessing is an adaptation of a Franciscan Prayer)

May God bless us with discomfort at a Easy answers, half truths and superficial leaderships so that we may live out God’s will deep in our heartland in our world.

May god bless with anger at injustice, oppression and exploration and the environments that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger and war so that we may reach out with hands and hearts to help them, walk with them and turn their pain into hope and joy.

And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done. To bring justice, peace, hope and love to all children, the poor and all others in any need.

God be your comfort, your strength;

God be your hope and support;

God be your light and your way; and the blessing of God Creator, Redeemer and Giver of Life, remain with you now and forever.