Sermon - 2014-04-06

The death of a loved is a difficult time for anyone. It is an emotional time and one that we remember for years to come. i can still remember standing at the graveside of my own family.  Perhaps you can as well, the graveside of grand mother, or grand father, or father or mother, perhaps a brother or sister or even your own son or daughter.  At the time of their death, we are struck by the amazement of all.  We remember the joys and celebrations.  We remember the things we wish we would have done.  As we gather together, the loved ones who gathered there, crying and weeping.  The only thing that matters is that their loved one is now gone.  They are laying to rest their loved one, placing them in the ground so they may return to the ground and they may find a piece of closure.  We place them in a casket or urn to hold them as they return to the earth.  However, it is also at this time that the family, friends, and loved ones begin to wonder if there was more that they should or could have done.  For there are a number of times that I have heard from those standing at a graveside, “oh, I wish I would have spent more time with my loved one.”  “I wish I would have shared another meal with them.” “I wish I could have told them just one more time that I loved them or even give them a hug.”  

It was this situation and place that Jesus entered into.  He arrives only a few days after Lazarus had been placed into a grave, where his loved ones were still gathered together, mourning the loss and wishing that he was still with them.  Jesus enters into their life and actually grieves with them.  For Lazarus was also one of his good friends and a person who he cared for.  Jesus stands crying and weeping that Lazarus is not with them.  

Yet this is not the end. For God can not stand to separated from the ones who he loves.  So he declared for all who were gathered there to bear witness to that love, power and glory by having the stone removed from the tomb.  Once the stone was removed, Jesus calls out to Lazarus to come out of the tomb.  No longer would death separate people but the love that is found in God would bring them and unite them back into life.  People would no longer be bound to the “I wish I would have….” for now they are able to actually share more time with their loved one.  

Yet it is a similar situation that we find ourselves in today.  For at our very Baptism, we are drowned.  Our old sinful self is destroyed and out of the water, a new life and will that is filled for the love of God emerges.  We find ourself with a second chance to realize how important and fragile this life truly is.  We realize that we are mortals and in need of God’s constant love and grace to experience life.  

So we should not become just old bones, sitting in the sun, lying there with no life within them.  Needing to hear the Word of God spoken and breathed back into them.  Instead, we are part of the Chosen People of God, who have been called back into the life and love and service that God has created them to be apart. So this week, when you begin your busy schedule, as you begin to run from one place to the next, the next meeting, the next practice, the next rehearsal or performance.  I want you to ask yourself, is this what God calling you to be a part of in this community?  If I died tomorrow, would I be happy with the life and love that I have shared with my family, friends and God?   Or is God calling me to more within this life? this community or this world?