5th Sunday of Lent Year A

Here are some prayer resources to help you at this time. We hope they are useful aids to prayer.
We value your feedback so please tell us what you found helpful and ways in which we might be able to improve.

We would be particularly interested to hear your thoughts about the gospel passage, no matter how short - and sweet!
Simply reply to our email address:      southedclust@btinternet.com

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Let us pray

As we become conscious of the presence of God in our lives, so we find ourselves in prayer...
May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us. Amen.

The readings for the 5th Sunday of Lent follow:    (a useful commentary on these readings can be found here)

Ezekiel 37: 12-14    I will put my spirit in you, and you will live.
So, prophesy. Say to them, "The Lord Yahweh says this: I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am Yahweh, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people, and put my spirit in you, and you revive, and I resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done this -- declares the Lord Yahweh."
The Word of the Lord

Romans 8: 8-11   The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.
...and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God. You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
The Word of the Lord

John 11: 1-45     I am the resurrection and the life
There was a man named Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha, and he was ill. It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.
The sisters sent this message to Jesus, 'Lord, the man you love is ill.'
On receiving the message, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death, but it is for God's glory so that through it the Son of God may be glorified.'
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that he was ill he stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples, 'Let us go back to Judaea.'

The disciples said, 'Rabbi, it is not long since the Jews were trying to stone you; are you going back there again?'
Jesus replied: Are there not twelve hours in the day? No one who walks in the daytime stumbles, having the light of this world to see by; anyone who walks around at night stumbles, having no light as a guide.
He said that and then added, 'Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him.'
The disciples said to him, 'Lord, if he is at rest he will be saved.'
Jesus was speaking of the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by 'rest' he meant 'sleep'; so Jesus put it plainly, 'Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him.'
Then Thomas -- known as the Twin -- said to the other disciples, 'Let us also go to die with him.'
On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already.

Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house.
Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now I know that God will grant whatever you ask of him.'
Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'
Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.'
Jesus said: I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
'Yes, Lord,' she said, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.'
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in a low voice, 'The Master is here and wants to see you.' Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him.

When the Jews who were in the house comforting Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who had come with her, Jesus was greatly distressed, and with a profound sigh he said, 'Where have you put him?' They said, 'Lord, come and see.'

Jesus wept; and the Jews said, 'See how much he loved him!'
But there were some who remarked, 'He opened the eyes of the blind man. Could he not have prevented this man's death?' Sighing again, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening.
Jesus said, 'Take the stone away.' Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, 'Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day since he died.'
Jesus replied, 'Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?'

So they took the stone away. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I myself knew that you hear me always, but I speak for the sake of all these who are standing around me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me. When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of material, and a cloth over his face. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, let him go free.' Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him.
The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection time. Take your time to think about what you have read. There was maybe something in particular which "rang a bell" in terms of your own experience. This is God's Word. What is the message coming out of it for you that  can make you a better Christian in your everyday life?

Questions.
Adults: Christ calls us from death to new life. To what new life are you being called during this Lent?
Children: How does Jesus help you do what is good and avoid what is not?
Just a thought: Picture Lazarus’ resurrection party – faces full of joy and eyes wet with gratitude – a snapshot of the Kingdom Jesus talks about. What can I do to make Lent a gateway towards building that Kingdom?

From time to time, there will be a fuller reflection on the gospel of the day and today we start with 2!

Prayers of Intercession    5th Sunday of Lent Year A 

For our religious leaders, that they will adapt to meet the fresh challenges
of serving their priests and people through regular communication and
compassionate understanding of their needs at this time.


Lord hear us.

For our political leaders, that they will be guided by the best medical advice
and seek to make the difficult but important decisions
based on the common good of all its citizens,
especially those most in need of basic necessities
and those vulnerable to physical sickness or mental illness.


Lord hear us.

For all our key workers who are modelling the best of what we humans are capable of.
Keep them safe from harm and strong in their commitment.
May we remember and be grateful for their efforts
long after this crisis has passed.


Lord hear us.

For ourselves, our loved ones and our communities.
May we continue to recognise the threat posed by this virus;
But may we also see opportunities for reaching out to each other
Making “our doors wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship.”


Lord hear us.

We remember those who are sick or stressed at this time.
Lord you know their names better than we do
And hold them close to you always.
We pray for all those who have asked for our prayers

and for those whose needs we don't know about.


Lord hear us.

We call to mind our loved ones who have died.
Whilst we shed tears for their absence among us
We know that you are the Resurrection and the Life.
May they enjoy the promise of eternal happiness with you.


Lord hear us.


Let us call to mind our own intentions at this time...


Closing Prayer . 

Picture of Jesus at door
"Behold I stand at the door and knock (Revelation 3 v20
Lord continue to bless our community
in this time of transition.
Help us on our journey
to grow from a maintenance church
to a missionary church.
Give us the courage
to be missionary disciples.
Make our doors wide enough
to receive all who need
human love and fellowship;
narrow enough to shut out
all envy, pride and prejudice.
Kindle in us the fire of your love
that all who come here
will find joy, peace and love.
Make this a house of prayer
and a gateway to your kingdom.
AMEN
As we say our closing prayer, perhaps we could remember those words said by our priests before the last hymn:

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
One of the heartening aspects
of the lockdown we are experiencing
has been the amount of fun emails circulating.
One has to admire the creativity of people
to find light-hearted ways of portraying
the challenges we are facing.
They are a welcome distraction
and evidence the reason
we pay comedians so high a salary:
they make fun of the things that scare us
and make us laugh at them:
the stock in trade of the comedian is not wide:
religion, politics, mothers-in-law, relationships and a few other areas.

About fifteen years ago I received an email that said the following:
What would you do if your best friend died tomorrow
and you never got to tell them how you felt?

So, I just wanted to say, even if I never talk to you again in my life,
you are special to me and you have made a difference in my life.
I look up to you, respect you, and truly cherish you. 

Send this to all your friends,
no matter how often you talk,
or how close you are,
and send it to the person who sent it to you. 


Let old friends know you haven't forgotten them,
and tell new friends you never will. 


Remember, everyone needs a friend,
someday you might feel like you have NO FRIENDS at all,
just remember this e-mail
and take comfort in knowing
somebody out there cares about you
and always will.
Now there is nothing too remarkable about that email
except that I didn’t know this person well:
we had only met a couple of times.

I find it hard to imagine that he would have felt able
to say those things straight to my face.
And yet he could communicate it
through this means of modern technology:
a faceless and inanimate means of communication.

As the seriousness of the situation
in which we find ourselves becomes increasingly apparent,
I get a sense that there are many people
who feel more able, in this lockdown,
 to unlock and express things
they would never normally would.
We are contacting more people
and on a more frequent basis than would be “normal”.

We need to reflect on that
and try to articulate what the lesson is
that God is teaching us.
I would be very happy to have your feedback on this…………..  southedclust@btinternet.com

What I want to concentrate on for the moment
is the core message of that Email.

That everybody needs a friend.

Even Jesus needed friends.
It seems he had three special friends:
Mary and Martha
and their brother Lazarus
who lived in Bethany.
When Lazarus was sick
it was only natural that they sent word to Jesus.
 “Lord, the man you love is ill.”
Their hope was
that he would drop everything
and run to help Lazarus.

Surprisingly, the Gospel records
that Jesus didn’t drop everything
and rush to the bedside
of his dying friend.
Instead he stayed on
two whole days where he was.
We don’t know why………….
but you can imagine the heartbreak
for the sisters.
Right in front of their eyes,
their brother’s life was ebbing away.
And the one person who could help wasn’t there.

Grief is one of the strongest emotions
we ever have to face.
Even in a society
that finds it difficult to cope with tears,
especially our own,
I think it is becoming more accepted
that the way to handle grief
is not to suppress it
or run away from it.
But to express it,
bitter tears as well.

Martha and Mary expressed their grief
in very contrasting ways.
In spite of it all
Martha somehow
managed to carry on functioning.
She forced herself to get on with life.
Mary on the other hand
retreated into her shell.

The desolation the sisters experienced
is something we have all had to face.
And which one of us
hasn’t, at least for a moment,
reacted like Mary.
She reproached Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
our brother would not have died.”

Haven’t we all felt
that if God really cared about us
he would never have let it happen to us ?
We too have felt abandoned and utterly alone.

So, we need to look to Martha.
She is a model of faith.
In her hour of grief,
while Mary was
disappearing inside her self-pity,
Martha ran to the Lord
and poured out her sorrow
and her anger and bitterness to him…………
and when he challenged her to believe…..
she was able to make that tremendous profession of faith.
“I believe that you are the Christ,
the Son of God.”
The Gospel passage
is about the friendship of Jesus.
Even in death we are not beyond his help.
He didn’t leave the sisters to grieve alone.
He came to them at the height of their grief,
shared their sorrow
and gave them hope
by announcing eternal life
to those who believe in him.

He does not leave us alone either.
He gives us the gift of himself.
He enfolds us in the love and support of our friends.
If you try to think of it this way:
our friends are Jesus in human form.

So let us always rejoice in our friends………
and when things get tough,
know that they are there,
sent by God.
And let’s keep in touch with them
in whatever way we can

And remember always
to run to God in the hard times
and tell him how it is;
And also turn to your friends
and share your joys and sorrows
rather than turning in on yourself
and allowing any bitterness or hopelessness to fester.

My thought is that one of the messages God is sending us
is that we ought to allow ourselves to be tenderised
in our dealings with one another.
How do you react when a close friend dies?
Typically various emotions flood in on you all at once.
There’s sadness because someone whom you loved has gone
and you will not see them again on this earth.
You cry, perhaps, because of the separation and loss.
Then there’s regret, or worse, guilt.
You wish you could have told them things – that you loved them; that they meant so much to you.
The guilt might be because when you last parted it was not on good terms...
You might feel anger:
the anger that springs from being powerless and helpless and inadequate in the face of death.
Why did he or she have to die?
What kind of God allows that?
You are well aware that people have to die,
it’s just that it shouldn’t have been your friend, and it shouldn’t have been now…

So when Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick,
he is anxious but delays going to visit the family.

Now this is a family much loved by Jesus.
The gospels say quite clearly that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus
so naturally he would be concerned – yet he stays away two whole days.
Both Martha first then Mary say to Jesus, almost as a reproach:
“Lord, if you had been here Lazarus wouldn’t have died.”
The passage mentions twice that Jesus sighed.
What lay behind that sigh I wonder?
Not long before this he had healed the sight of the man born blind. 
Yet this had not convinced the close-minded Pharisees
whose only concern was that he had broken the Sabbath law by performing a healing.
Now the beloved sisters seem to be showing little faith in him too.
Even those he loves seem to be having doubts about him.

He’s been on the road coming up for three years and he’s tired.
His life is under threat from the religious authorities –
doesn’t Thomas the Twin talk about going to Jerusalem and dying with him?
He knows soon he will have to go to Jerusalem
and confront the powerful – be they Jewish or Roman.
It will not end well.
So, yes, he sighs and is tearful and dejected – because he’s human.

St Paul talks about Jesus “emptying himself” of his divine powers
in order to have the full experience of human nature.
At this point, Jesus must feel not just a divine emptiness
but that his human energy is all but gone.
And so he summons the source of all his power – the Father –
to hear his prayer and to strengthen the faith of his followers.
Will they be convinced of his power over death once and for all?

The scene is set and it’s quite a dramatic one.
There’s the funeral party with Martha, Mary and their relatives and friends.
They’ve been here before, just four days ago, when Lazarus was buried.
There will be the folk living in Bethany who’ve heard that Jesus is coming
and don’t want to miss something spectacular happening.
Then there are the religious police who’ve come out from Jerusalem.
They’ve newly witnessed and questioned the man born blind
and are looking for any evidence that could help to condemn this troublemaker.

Last of all are his disciples.
For them, each day seems to bring a new revelation about this man
although the message has stayed the same since the start:
love God by doing what you know in your heart is God’s will;
and love your neighbour as yourself,
especially the poorest and most despised in society.

The tension builds as Jesus approaches the tomb
and tells them to roll the stone away despite their protests of disease.
Then his command, clear and firm: “Lazarus, come out!”
Every eye is trained on that tomb entrance…
Is it possible that a man dead for four days is going to emerge?

There are gasps;
there are people calling out: some in fear – this is scary stuff;
some in joy – Lazarus is alive!
There are squeals of delight no doubt from relatives and friends.
Gradually Lazarus emerges into the light,
walking slowly with the restriction of the burial wraps
towards his friend, his Master, his Saviour.

Later, as Jesus, his followers and the wider family are gathered together
for a celebration meal,
there is a strange atmosphere to the party.
There is so much joy and delight in people’s hearts:
Lazarus is back among them, eating and laughing as if nothing had happened.
Martha is scurrying about making sure everyone has enough to eat and drink,
full of fresh energy after the desolation of the last few days.
Mary is close to Jesus’ side.
Her eyes seemed to have doubled in size from the amount of tears she has shed –
first tears of sorrow and bereavement followed by tears of joy and gratitude.
The women disciples among Jesus’ followers help with the hospitality
and share in the happy conversations.

His apostles are mostly silent and reflective.
This charismatic man has drawn them to him with his teaching and his unique way of life.
But where is it all going to end?
He’s not the Messiah they thought he was:
someone to get rid of the Romans
and give them independence to live and worship as sons and daughters of Abraham.
Indeed, he seems to be moving towards a head-on confrontation with those in power.

Yet this man seems to have a direct line to God:
he speaks of him as Father”;
he teaches with authority;
he heals and cures wherever he goes.
And now, to cap it all – he raises people from the dead!

Deep in their thoughts, they form some crucial questions for themselves:
  •     Do I trust him enough with my life?
  •     Can I live out his teaching to love and care for people, especially the poorest?
  •     When I’m faced with opposition, will my faith in him be strong enough?
  •     What gifts and abilities can I bring to work alongside my fellow followers?
  •     What are the things that are holding me back from being a true follower?
These are the questions which the apostles and all followers of Jesus must ask ourselves
over and over until a clear picture emerges
of where we are in God’s plan of salvation.

Find a quiet place and work through these questions.
Don’t be too downhearted at what you might find.
You may be a very small part of the solution
but you have Jesus’ word for it
that your part is nonetheless very important and dear to him.
He suffered and died for you to be part of the solution.
He’s calling you out of your self-made tomb.
Choose to live and love and get to know him better.