The last few weeks our gospel readings have been long. Several people
have remarked how long they are. Some of you are starting to wonder about staying
home and reading it yourself. It might take less time and have the same effect.
And some of the people who aren’t here today have already made that decision.
It’s a transition time. Why bother to be here? Let’s wait until the next priest
comes. Then we can act like a real church again. Let’s wait.
Let’s wait. Yet today’s Gospel challenges us to look at now in addition to what’s next. Because
sometimes it’s not enough to be raised from the dead, the community has to set
you free.
Sometimes it’s not enough to be raised from the dead. In the Gospel this
morning, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. But Lazarus still needs to be set
free to live. Lazarus requires the
blessing of his community to unbind him from his grave clothes so he can move
and eat and dance.
If the community had not blessed Lazarus by setting him free, all they’d
have is a formerly dead guy stumbling around in his grave clothes. What would
you rather have? Lazarus the undead: wrapped up and unable to participate in
life? Or, Lazarus the resurrected, fully able to be a living member of the
community? Jesus calls us out of the grave, but the community has to set us
free.
I ask you this morning: Would you be happy with a church that’s heard
about the blessing of God’s Resurrection but is still stumbling around wrapped
in its grave clothes?
Who do you want this church to be? Do you want to sit still and wait for
the next priest to bless this place? Do you want to continue waiting for God’s
blessing, when you can be part of the blessing now?
If you want this church to be a place of Resurrection and joy, then we
have to release one another from our grave clothes!
What does that mean? That means making things happen. It means blessing
one another by being willing to try new things, and try old things in a new
way. It means blessing one another by doing things you’re not sure you want to
do. It means to be the blessing you
want to have happen. It means becoming
the church you want to be now, because it’s not enough to wait.
If you want this church to be a place that casts off its grave clothes
and dances for the sheer joy of being blessed, you have to bless the church you
want to become. If you want to be a church that speaks and lives and breathes
God’s blessing, then each of us has to bless the church we want to become.
What does that mean? It means each of us has to be willing to be set
free. It means blessing one another by participating in services and events and
music and ministry and teaching folks and feeding folks and eating together and
laughing together, and yes, even generously giving money together. Most important
of all, it means being here!
Each one of you can bless the future of St. Alban by being participants
in blessing. Blessing each another and blessings everyone who walks through
these doors will make a difference in the kind of priest and the kind of
leadership you have in the future. Your future rests on the blessing each of
you is already and what we do with it now.
St Alban’s future turns on transition time. I guarantee you that any
quality priest looking at this parish will want to know: Are St. Alban‘s people
blessing one another by working and playing and praying and giving and being there during this transition?
Your prospective priests are going to ask, “How are you blessing one
another now?” And the answer to that
question is up to each of you.
Sometimes it’s not enough to wait. You have to be part of the blessing
now. And sometimes it’s not enough to be raised from the dead. You have to be
set free. You have to cast off your grave clothes and dance. And you have to
dance now! AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2017
No comments:
Post a Comment