Fifth Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent are:

1. Ezekiel 37: 12-14
   
2. Psalms 130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
   
3. Romans 8: 8-11
   
4. John 1: 1-45
   

• Courage to hope
  
• The cynic oftentimes is one who has been hurt too often, been disappointed in their hope so many times that they can no longer muster the courage to hope.  So they retreat into a fortress of angry cynicism where they are miserable, but at least safe from the unexpected disappointment.
• Has anyone in your life ever disappointed you?
• How did you get through that disappointment?
• Did you ever learn to trust them again?
• Has God ever disappointed you?
  

• Forgive like God
  
• Forgiving another is, perhaps, the holiest thing that we can do.  It is the most precious gift that we can offer another, and even more a gift that we offer to ourselves.
  
• Who has been particularly hard for you to forgive?
• What made that forgiveness hard?
• Are you still glad that you forgave them?
• What benefit is there to not forgiving?
  

• Pleasing to God
  
• "Why am I here?" is a question that each of us ought to ask ourselves at least from time to time.
• What sort of a reception are you looking forward to when you die?
• What sort of an expression do you think God wears when He looks on you today?
• What sort of an expression do you wear when you gaze on God in your prayer?
• Would you rather a different exchange of glances between the two of you?
  

• Resurrection, here, now
  
• Each of these epic Gospel readings for the 3rd, 4th, & 5th Sunday of Lent are a journey of the out there, the theory, to where Jesus stands, here, now.
• How does hope of your resurrection change your life on an ongoing basis?
• How does hope of the resurrection of your family, community, God's people worldwide change your life on an ongoing basis?
• What is one grace that you would want to appropriate today?
• What's holding you back?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God calling me into greater hope in my life?
2. Where would God call me to be more free, by being more forgiving?
   
3. When was the last time that I took time to gaze upon the Face of God?
   
4. Where is God offering me resurrection in my life?
   

The Smell of Lazarus

My brother left us suddenly.
It was an August like no other.
The hot dry winds raking the landscape.
Merciless as death itself.

When Jesus finally came to our village,
My sister and I were wrung out.
Our grief the only thing left to us.
All else seemed to have left us.

I ran out to greet Him,
Not knowing what I would say,
Needing to share my grief
With someone less bitter than I.

Jesus spoke of resurrection
And hope, and life, and all
All I knew was loss,
And emptiness.

Jesus told us to roll away the stone
Set there to protect all that was left of poor Lazarus.
I felt I could not take a desecration of his wasted remains,
But Jesus insisted.

We did what He said,
And got what we expected.
Gagging on the waves of fetid air
Rolling from the grave.

I don't know why we obeyed.
It seemed so futile at the time.
But Jesus had always been good to us.
So faithful, wise, and kind.

I felt as though He must have some purpose.
Jesus just stood there for a moment.
Then commanded my brother forth.
Inviting him back to his family here.

I helped him out of his burial bands.
Crying over him with tears of joy.
Forgetting all the mourners and guests,
In an outpouring of love.

Finally I turned to Jesus.
Stumbled over my words of thanks.
He, He just looked at me with eyes of tenderness.
And He reminded me that my brother still needed a bath.

Shalom!