Scripture today was from John 11, the raising of Lazarus from the tomb.
Merciful God, Sometimes we feel like Mary at her brother’s tomb. We are grieving for so many things that are missing in our lives now – things we have just taken for granted till somebody turned our world upside down. We’re trying to stay positive, Lord, but sometimes we feel like “if you had been her none of this mess would have happened.” We feel like the psalmist who cried to you out of the depths of despair asking, “How long, O Lord, how long?”
Like Lazarus’ tomb this crisis really stinks. We believe, God, we really do, but please help our unbelief! This season of Lent has been like none we can remember. We are only 3 weeks from Easter, but it seems so very far away. Remind us, O holy one, that every Sunday is a day we celebrate resurrection because it was on a Sunday that our Lord and Savior escaped forever from the bonds of death.
We see an Easter preview when we watch Lazarus emerge from the tomb. Out of a season of weeping come tears of joy, but before we can experience the joy of resurrection we have to be unbound and set free. And so we pray today, O God of Glory and Grace, to be set free from any and all things that have us bound up – cut us free from guilt and sin, from doubt and fear, from fatigue and loneliness. Unwrap our troubled souls from the chains of regret and grief.
On this first day of the week send your Holy Spirit among us all, even as we are physically apart from each other but united by the ties that bind us forever to each other, to the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, and most of all to our Lord and Savior who calls us to “come out;” to come out from the darkness into the light of resurrection faith.
Empower us to serve you in new and creative ways for the needs of this time and place. Roll away the stones of our excuses and set us free as agents of your unstoppable grace and mercy, for we truly believe in the one you sent into the world to redeem all of creation. Christ has taught us that those who mourn are blessed for we will be comforted; and so we trust that you will turn our mourning into a morning of Resurrection and new life. Forgive us when we falter. Remind us that we all fall short of your glory, but that failure and even death no longer have power over us because we are one with the risen and living Christ, and in his name we pray. Amen
Peacefully Harsh 