Dear St. Mark’s Family,

We are about to experience the very strange reality of a Sunday without a gathering for worship. It is small comfort to know that most parishes are sharing this experience with us. Of more comfort to me is the idea that we can still be in reflection and prayer together. Please find a quiet place and time on Sunday to read through the following prayer service. You might even participate in a new and creative way by “respond all” any thoughts, or additional prayers, you might like to offer to this little “on line” community.

As the time goes along, I plan to send this sort of thing for each Sunday and from time to time during the week, too. So, please be on the lookout in your e-mail for messages from St. Mark’s.

Fr. Nelson Gaetz

Fifth Sunday in Lent March 29th, 2020

Even though we are separated by distance we are still united in God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Collect for the Day:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Old Testament:

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice; *
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

2 If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, *
O Lord, who could stand?

3 For there is forgiveness with you; *
therefore you shall be feared.

4 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my hope.

5 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.

6 O Israel, wait for the Lord, *
for with the Lord there is mercy;

7 With him there is plenteous redemption, *
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

The Epistle

Romans 8:6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law-- indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

The Gospel

John 11:1-45

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Reflection:

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones…

What fun that spiritual usually adapted for Children is. How can you read Ezekiel 37 and not feel the urge to tap your toes. You know, the ones connected to the ankle bones… and on and on. Until we get to the point “Now hear the word of the Lord.” And our story from John’s Gospel virtually pulses with human emotions. So palpable that it too draws us into the real point: “Now hear the word of the Lord.”

But what word of the Lord? What word for our contemporary setting? What word for living in the shadow of the Corona Virus? If we are honest this sort of time always drags us back to that primordial question. How can God let this happen? Isn’t it bad enough that my health is threatened, my relatives health is really threatened, my financial wellbeing is so fragile. Those are good questions and for centuries the people of God have wrestled with them. So, I don’t pretend to have a great sage set of answers that will satisfy all the questions. BUT…

Turns out Our Gospel today is a great place to start. If you had been here…. IF you had been here. But obviously he was not, so the If turns to why? Why, Lord were you not here. The precise question we ask in our contemporary situation. Why Lord? Why, Lord? Jesus gives the same piercing answer he keeps giving: “In order that you would see the Glory of God.” Be careful here, if by the “glory of God” you think of the raising of Lazarus you are painting Jesus answer way too thin. I think there is a way deeper meaning and it’s really relevant to living in the shadow of the virus. Indulge me a bit of an odd way to get at it. When I was younger (OK – way younger, before Star Wars) I was a fan of Star Trek. I loved all the interesting little details – gosh, that sounds like John, doesn’t it? – and one detail was multi-dimensional chess. Not just one chess board but a bunch stacked on top of one another. The players not only had to observe and plan strategy on each of the boards but the action between the various boards. OK, OK, I’ll get to the point.

The master plyer was able to focus all over the many boards. The beginner may master one board but inevitably got tripped up the multi-levels. That leads me to a very simplistic answer to the questions raised by the Gospel story and the pandemic. At best we master one little corner of God’s eternity, but he masters all of it – that’s the glory of God Jesus was talking about. Why does God allow such terrible things to happen? I have some ideas but all I really know is that God has a mastery of so much wider a reality. From time to time we get to glimpse a tiny corner of it. Jesus raised his dear friend from death, temporarily. The Jews, therefore, believed in him. We see countless acts of kindness and courage all around us. First responders and hospital workers rushing to the aid of obviously infected people. Parents trying to help their children understand, those corporations donating millions for medical supplies, small business owner paying their employees when no sales are being made, elderly facing death with unvarnished trust in God and on and on. We’ll never know all of what God is up to. He’s not going to tell us everything and it’s probably not helpful for us to know too much anyhow.

But, I’m sure of one thing. The old, old question keeps popping up – WHY? And the answer is always the same. That the Glory of God might be seen. May your days be filled with such seeing. And, may that give you hope and peace in these difficult times.

God bless you.

AMEN.

Now let us turn to the Lord in prayer:

The Prayers of the People:

Blessed Lord, You give sight to the blind, You open the ears of the deaf, and You make the lame to walk. Hear the prayers of Your people on behalf of all people as they have need.

In the darkness of sin and its death, we cry to You, O Lord. Open our ears by Your Word, our minds by Your Spirit, and our hearts by Your grace, that we may know and be thankful for all the blessings You have given to us in Christ, our Lord, especially the gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. Strengthen us in faith, that we may serve You with all our body, mind, soul and strength.

Bidden by Your Word, we pray to You, O Lord, on behalf of Your Church and all Your people scattered and isolated. We pray for Michael and DeDe, our Bishops, and Nelson, our Rector, the Wardens and Vestry. Keep them safe, comfort them and their families, and raise up many more servants for the work of the church.

Defended by Your grace, we ask You, O Lord, to provide us with good and faithful civic leaders who will preserve the precious gift of liberty and protect the lives of our citizens. Give them special wisdom, and help them to work in harmony in the midst of this pandemic. Bless the members of our armed forces, and protect them as they defend us. Grant Your blessing to all emergency and medical workers who continue to come to our aid in times of such great need.

Knowing Your healing will and gifts, we pray You, O Lord, to spare us from all calamity by pestilence, scarcity and fear. Remember the sick in their afflictions, calm those troubled in mind and keep steadfast the dying. Show us Your gracious will, O Lord, and sustain those who are afflicted in body or mind until that day when You will bestow upon us new bodies fit for the eternal life You have prepared for us in Christ.

All these things, O Lord, we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, asking You to grant our prayers not for our sake but for the sake of Him alone. Teach our hearts to be content with Your will and to trust that You will answer us with what is best for us and at the right time for our need. Amen.

Finally, we have nothing better to do than pray as the Lord Jesus taught:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

May God bless and keep us today and all the days of our lives. Amen.

March 2020
- Mar 29, 2020 Evening Prayer for Week after Lent V Mar 29, 2020