Loading...Dear Good People of St. James’,
I am so sorry I cannot be with you this morning. At our vestry meeting last Sunday, I ended our time telling the vestry how very tired I was. I went home and slept for three hours. Apparently, I was more than tired. After a meeting on Monday, I came home, weary and congested, and have been here since.
It’s not unusual for me to react in some physical way to the change from winter to Spring. Tree pollen, temperature fluctuations, and earthy, moldy, scents as the ground thaws irritate my body and sometimes, especially when I’m tired, they can wreak havoc on my immune system. Apparently, this was my year. I have a raspy voice, I’m coughing and sneezing far too much, and with Palm Sunday only a week away, a few of us decided it was better for me to remain home than push myself.
Even so, I want to share a few things with you about the lessons you heard today.
I attended the Brennan Lecture Series at the cathedral a little over a week ago to listen to Canon Stephanie Spellers speak about her new book called, Church Tomorrow? It is a book about the “nones” (N-O-N-E-S, not “nuns” or people wearing habits in a convent) — they are people who self-identify on surveys that they do not belong to a religious organization. And “Dones”— people who are “done” with organized religion for a variety of reasons.
It’s a fascinating book. Canon Spellers looked at research based on historical participation in organized mainline Christian denominations, beginning with the Silent Generation through today, and interviewed several people aged 18 to 45 to understand why they consider themselves without a religion to call their own and to learn more about what impacted their decision.
The next day, many clergy gathered for a few hours to hear more from Canon Spellers. We began with the reading you heard from Ezekiel this morning. We did Lectio Divina, a process where we ask questions of the text to better understand what might surprise us, what questions we might have about it, and how we might feel. Our purpose that Friday morning was to think about what this story might mean when we think about the future of the church.
Are the “nones” and “dones” like the dry bones? Is there a chance that God can put skin on these bones and breath into these lungs? And what is required of we Jesus Followers to help make that happen?
The story in Ezekiel is the tale of God’s miracle of transformation. Of taking what once was dead, where there seems to be no further hope, and turning it from death into life. It is fitting to read this as we prepare for the death and resurrection of Jesus. God has shown that when God wants to make a point, that when it seems that all is lost, it isn’t.
It is also fitting to pair it with the story of the raising of Lazarus. The dear friend of Jesus who dies and Jesus raises from the dead four days after being wrapped in a death shroud embedded with herbs and oils, and being placed in a tomb. Dead enough to smell awful, but not yet completely decomposed. Jesus prepares his followers for what is coming for him in the near future.
These are mysteries, they are miracles, they are messages of hope.
The book, Church Tomorrow? using the reading from Ezekiel and today’s Gospel reading from John are reminders that God is in control of life and death … and life. Our role is to see and respond to the miracle of the cycles, because as we become more consciously aware that God created it all, we see that everything truly does have a season and a purpose under heaven.
Sometimes, especially when the statistics tell us that the institutional Church is like the dry bones, when it is seemingly impossible to change what some believe is dying or dead, we might just need to trust that God will provide the necessary breath needed to change the story.
So, I have some questions for you to ponder:
- Looking at the story of the dry bones in Eziekiel and the raising of Lazarus in John, what in our lives (perhaps a system, organization, human, or personal situation) seem to be dead or dying?
- Have you ever been surprised when something that you thought was dead came back or had some sort of revitalization, reimagining or rebirth?
- What actions or behaviors made it happen?
- What was different about it? What was the same? Why?
- Finally, is it okay to let some things die, or end? Like what? Why?
In the coming weeks, I hope you will think about these questions. Talk with one another about them. Pray with them. Listen to what God has to say to you about them. To help you remember them, you will each be given a copy of them to take home.
I hope you will spend time seeing, listening, smelling, and touching how God created the earth and all that is in it with seasonal markers that remind us of life cycles. We are seeing it now as the trees are leafing out after a winter of barren branches. We hear it as the frogs are peeping and insects are buzzing after a winter of hibernation. And we know that in about 7 months, all those things will go barren or silent again, only to do the work of transformation needed to start all over again.
You heard in the lessons today how God put flesh on dry bones. How Jesus raised his dead friend back to life. We know that these are miracles, but they are also reminders that even when we think something has come to an end, we might be surprised when new life springs out of the dust, reminding us that there is always hope.
There is always hope.
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Prayerfully, hopefully,
Debbie+
Amen.
