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Welcome: On this final week of Lent we will hear of the resurrection of Lazarus. Perhaps the story has a deeper meaning for us than his being raised from the dead. What other deeper meaning lies in the story? And what does that call us to?
Opening Song: Rise up by Maggie Wheeler
https://youtu.be/jPXHphr0tT0?si=RleaNTxxvr7rAgC_
Opening Prayer: We gather as a holy people called forth to bring love and peace to the world. This world that is often bound and gagged by fear and apathy. Let us, in the way of Jesus, awaken to a new way of living, and free our voices to proclaim a new day of freedom and justice. Amen.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reading 1: A reading from the Book of Ezekial (Ez 37:12-14)
Prophesy, therefore, and say to them, ‘Thus says Sovereign YHWH: I am going to open your graves and raise you up from the dead, my people. I will return you to the land of Israel. When I open your graves and raise you up, you, my people, will know that I am YHWH. Then I will put my Spirit into you and you will return to life, and I will settle you back on your own land. Then you will know that I, YHWH, have spoken and made all this happen, says Sovereign YHWH.’ ”
The inspired words from the Book of Ezekial, which we affirm with, Amen.
Reading 2: A reading from theologian Leonardo Boff, adapted by Dennis
Still celebrating the extraordinary encyclical on "caring for the Common Home", we reflect again on an important perspective of Pope Francis, a true expression of his understanding of the Church as "a Church emerging.” This phrase carries a veiled criticism of the previous model of the Church. It was a "jailed" Church, given the various moral and financial scandals that forced Pope Benedict XVI to resign, a Church that had lost her most important asset: morality and credibility among Christians and the secular world.
But the concept of a "jailed Church" has a deeper meaning, made possible because it comes from a Pope outside the institutional sectors of the old and tired European Christianity. This had encased the Church in an understanding that had rendered it unacceptable to the moderns, a hostage to fossilized traditions and with a message that did not address the problems of Christians and the world today. The "Church emerging" marks a break with that state of affairs. The word "break" annoys the representatives of the ecclesiastic establishment, but that does not make it less true. Then the question comes: “emerging” from what and to what?
Let's examine some steps:
-Emerging from a Fortress-Church that shielded the faithful from modern liberties to a Field-Hospital-Church that cares for all those who come to her, without regard to moral or ideological matters.
-Emerging from an Ecclesiastic Authority-Church, distanced from the faithful or even denying them, towards a Pastor-Church that walks among the people, merciful, and with the odor of sheep.
-Emerging from a Church that speaks of the poor, to a Church that goes to the poor, talks with the poor, embraces and defends the poor.
-Emerging from a Church of order and rigor towards a Church of the revolution of tenderness, mercy and caring.
-Emerging from a Church of the devout, as those who appear in television programs, with performing priest artists of the religious market, towards a Church committed to social justice and the liberation of the oppressed.
More than doctrine and dogma, the Tradition of Jesus is comprised of unconditional love, mercy and compassion, that is actualized and reveals its inexhaustible humanizing energy through Him. Truly, among other things, this is the central message of Jesus, acceptable to all people from all corners of the world.
These are the inspired words of Leonardo Boff which we affirm with, Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: Spirit of the Living God by Michael Crawford by
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of John
(Jn 11:3-7, 17, 20-45)
The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”
He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
This is a lesson from the Gospel of John which we affirm with, Amen.
Homily Starter:
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One’s
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Prayers for the community
As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns for the community.
We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen.
Eucharistic Prayer for Lent
Presider: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.
Blessed are you, Holy One, source of everything that has ever existed. Through your goodness you set this universe in motion. Through ages and eons, you have called your creation to become, and we are becoming.
You called our brother Jesus into the wilderness of the desert, and there you revealed to him his own path of becoming, and he called his friends to follow.
During this season of Lent, let us enter into the wilderness of our own lives. Let us rest there with open eyes and hearts, as you reveal to each of us the path that we are called to.
In great joy and gratitude, we join with friends living now and with those living in eternity. Together we celebrate the continuing evolution of our becoming, as we sing:
Holy, Holy: Holy, Holy, Holy by Peter Mayer - video by Denise Hackert-Stoner
We thank you for Jesus, who in word and action reminded us of who we are, and who we are called to be.
Through his compassion for the least among us he showed us what love looks like.
Please extend your hands in blessing.
The bread and wine on this table have been blessed by air, water, and soil to become the gifts before us today. We bless them together once more, and gratefully receive them, for they come from you, Holy One.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like a household slave, he washed their feet, so that they would remember him.
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
(pause)
Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
(pause)
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives. As we share communion, we become Communion both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.
Please receive Communion with the words, I rise up in union with Jesus
Communion Song: We Shall Overcome: Love Will Rise Again by Empty Hands Music
https://youtu.be/S6FN0EmK87c?si=h5W2NANEiAY6tUff
Prayer after communion:
Holy One, like Jesus, we are willing to enter the wilderness of our lives, opening ourselves to you and to the path of our own becoming. Like Jesus, we want to be the people you created us to be. We want to live compassionate lives, bringing hope to many, simply by being true to our best selves.
We open ourselves to your Spirit, especially during this holy season of Lent, and we call on that Spirit to fill us with your life and purpose, as we join with our brother Jesus in giving you unending gratitude. Amen.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, Amen.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
BLESSING
Please raise your hands in Blessing:
Closing Song: Rise Up by Cain
https://youtu.be/pw8IgPHRBr4?si=236StLY3SNU0MbQE
