As part of North Street's 40 Days of Lent, every Saturday, Pastor Jeremy is sending out a "preparing for worship" reading. This week's passages are loaded with good stuff! They are Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 130, Romans 8:6-11, and John 11:1-45. Click here to read them.
In worship tomorrow, we'll be focusing mostly on the gospel passage which is the story of Mary, Martha, and Jesus raising their brother, Lazarus from the dead.
Despite how blessed we are living in this country, we still hear a lot of whining going on around us. Whining is a distraction from what we have in the current moment. It directs us to consider what is not rather than what is. How often do you hear the words "if only..."? "If only I had this..." or "if only this had happened instead of this..." or "if only she were like this...". One hears it all the time.
Another word we hear quite a bit that distracts us from the current moment is "someday". "Someday this will happen" or "someday it will no longer be like this." There's nothing wrong with hopeful thinking. But when we become so focused on the future and what will happen, we miss out on the current moment and what is happening.
We see elements of this in our gospel passage. Mary & Martha both tell Jesus that "if only he had been around," then their brother Lazarus would not have died. And Martha tells Jesus that "someday" everything will be okay and Lazarus will rise again from the dead in the final resurrection. Each of these responses - "if only" and "someday" were not satisfactory for Jesus.
Jesus says, "I AM". And again and again in his ministry, Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is now and available to us now.
I am just outside Washington, D.C. today for a conference called DeepShift: Everything Must Change. It's organized by pastor/theologian/author/speaker Brian McLaren. I've heard and learned a lot so far and will be going home with a lot to think about.
We sang a song last night called Today. It is very appropriate in light of the nowness of the Kingdom of God:
Today
Words and music by Brian McLaren and Aaron Strumpel, .2007, Brian McLaren.
Publishing, Revolution of Hope Music Group SESAC 2007, all rights reserved.
Today up came the sun
Today’s for everyone
Today the Lord has made
Today now we can see
Today we can be free
Today the Lord has made
So my friends let us be glad
Let’s live in hope
Could be the best day ever
So my friends let us be glad
Let’s live in joy
Could be the best day we’ve had
Today we may dance
Today’s let’s take a chance
Today the Lord has made
Today we can set sail
Today take a new trail
Today the Lord has made
Agents of Progress and Lovers of Justice
You are called to be in the moments of the here and now
So let’s not forget it, this glorious present
It’s like the sweetest kiss, this gift of today
I look forward to worshiping with you tomorrow,
For & Through Christ,
Jeremy
