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Finding Faith ... in living through the cross

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on March 29, 2020. This was the second digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.


Jesus raises Lazarus from the tomb.

No long message this week, Faith Family, but I do draw attention to two of the readings in particular this week in Ezekiel and our gospel in John today where God promises us over and over ... in Ezekiel alone, he promises three times ... that life will rise from the dead. Our valley of bones will rattle together, and they will come together, and soon they will form a body with flesh on top of it again, just as it does there in the scripture in our Old Testament reading.


And today, in our gospel, who could not look at that gospel and apply it to this time we are living in now when we're looking for hope and we're standing outside of that tomb thinking, "God, where are you? If only, if only you had been in our midst, maybe Lazarus wouldn't have died. Maybe the Corona virus wouldn't have taken off. Maybe those who we know have contracted the disease wouldn't have it. Maybe the 20,000 or more that had perished from the disease may have not died.


But God is here. ... Very poignantly, I started our service today with a sign that I saw yesterday as I was walking on my walk. This beautiful child's message to us that God loves us. And that's what John's gospel is today: God loves us. And Jesus, in that moment can see that heartfelt anguish of the loved ones of Lazarus, and even Jesus weeps with them.


Where else in our gospels does it tell us that Jesus is in the midst of our messes, in the midst of this messiness that we live through on earth, and that he weeps with us. And so in these moments, when we as a Faith Family miss our Sunday services, and we miss that tradition of Lenten services, and coming together for LYO meals and to hear Mike and Veronica sing the Holden Evening Prayer ... when we miss going to school and seeing our friends and miss going to work and being next to our colleagues ... when we miss the opportunity to go and congregate for entertainment or the ability to see and visit with the most senior of our family members or our community members ... I remind you that you are not alone in this moment. Jesus is in this moment, and he is weeping with us.


But the other piece of the Good News, Faith Family, is that Jesus is standing right outside of that tomb with us, and he is calling to those of us in that tomb, and saying, "Come out."


Our faith reminds us that we do live in Christ and that we will be resurrected again, and while this will be a short time, and we don't know what our Faith our communities, or even work or school will look like on the other side of this disease. ... Maybe what Jesus is turning back for us in this moment is those things that really do matter. Those families whom we are huddling with faith with in our home, and the opportunity to reach out to those around us in very small ways through cards or chalk messages on the sidewalk or walks with an exuberant puppy ... maybe that's God being in this moment with us and he is weeping with us.


But he is also trying to remind us that we live in Christ, and although death is a part of our life, and mourning is a part of our life, on the other side of that is the cross. And that cross that you can see up behind my right shoulder ... that cross brings life. And so Jesus is standing outside of that tomb, telling us, "Lazarus, come out." And he is doing that for us today, in a myriad of small ways. He's standing there in the opportunity I get to meet with our Sunday school through Zoom, and see their smiling faces, and their squirmy little bodies, and get to watch them come together, and be excited, and say hi to their friends, and wave to their Sunday school teachers.


And I'm sure that each of you has your own stories as to how you are on the inside of that tomb and you hear Jesus crying out to us to come out because in a lot of ways all of us are Lazarus right now. And if we're not Lazarus, we might be Mary or Martha, his beloved sisters, or the members of his community.


Regardless, I remind you that, yes, we do live through death in this life, but the cross symbolizes that there is also a resurrection, and that is what these two readings this week focus on.


And that is the Good News for this Sunday, Faith Family. Amen.

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