Resurrection and Life. March 29, 2020 The Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

John 11:1-45

Lazarus is dead. And one of Lazarus' sisters, Martha, can’t make sense of it. She can’t make sense of it because she knows that Jesus loved Lazarus. And she knows that Jesus loves her. Yet when they really needed him he didn’t come, at least not in any timely manner. And now Lazarus - her beloved brother, and likely her sole provider and protector as well - is dead.

Lord, if you had been here!

It’s the first thing out of Martha’s mouth when Jesus finally decides to show up. “Lord, if you had been here!” Did Jesus hear anger, grief, confusion, fear? Probably all that and more. Because I know when I or others have made similar cries to God they are loaded with layers. Lord, if you had been here...my loved one would not have died. Lord, if you had been here, my ability to pay my bills would not have died. Lord, if you had been here...my marriage, my sobriety, my dreams for the future...would not have died. Lord, if you had been here!

So what do we do as people of faith when Jesus, who we hopefully know loves us - and not just loves us passively, but as our Bishop Susan is wont to say, loves us fiercely - what do we do when God who loves us so doesn’t show up in our lives and save the day? Perhaps Martha can show us the way as she goes to Jesus and pours out her distress.

“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus tells her. Cold comfort for a grieving sister. Likely it rang in Martha’s ears as a hollow religious platitude along the lines of, “Don’t be sad, he’s in a better place,” or “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” or “Don’t worry, this is all part of God’s plan.” Martha was a woman of faith. She already knew that her brother would rise again in the resurrection on the last day. But what she didn’t know was that’s not what Jesus was talking about here. Jesus wasn't offering some far off hope to grasp, but a present reality to live. The truth that right there and then, in the present moment of Martha’s grief Jesus was, Jesus is resurrection and life. Even though circumstances hadn’t changed on the outside - Lazarus was still dead and Martha had no idea what was coming - her encounter with Jesus changes her on the inside. Something shifts or opens in a way so that she is able to say, “Yes Lord, I believe.”

Jesus is the resurrection and the life in all times and in all places, for sure. But that truth, and the peace that comes with that, can only be known to us in the present. Martha experienced it, amazingly, in the midst of her grief. We too can experience it right now, no matter what this moment holds for us. For it is only and always in the here and the now where we find Jesus as our resurrection and life.

Is that what you want? I know I do. I not only want resurrection and life I need resurrection and life, especially in these unsettled times. So if you are like me, I invite you to join in seeing that need, that desire, as a gift. A gift of the Holy Spirit prompting us to pause more often in our disrupted days, seek Jesus in the moment and trust God’s resurrection and life.

That’s not to say that resurrection and life protects us from all harm - as in “Lord, if you had been here…” everything would be ok. It’s quite telling, isn’t it, that the one who is himself the resurrection and the life is not protected from harm and, in this account, is deeply affected by human grief and loss- so much so that Jesus joins the mourners in weeping for Lazarus. And in doing so his tears make our tears holy.

But even tearful or worrisome times Jesus remains the resurrection and the life. And we can trust that nothing, not the powers of pain or fear or even death, as real as they are, can stop the spirit of God from working her ways in our lives and in our world. For God’s love - God’s fierce love - will always bring forth life from death.

“Those who believe in me,” says Jesus, “even though they die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Together, for we are one in the Spirit, let us answer with a resounding “Yes!”

Yes, Lord, we believe!

We believe in the one who meets us in this very moment. The One who is our resurrection and our life.

Virtual Sunday Worship. March 29, 2020

Virtual Church

Prayers for March 29, 2020

COOS Children's Sunday Time - 9:00am

Midweek Message from Fr. David, March 25, 2020

Midweek Message from Fr. David

March 25, 2020

We are the church - a reflection by Carolyn Voldrich. March 23, 2020

Drive-by photo on Sunday, March 22

Here is the church,

There is the steeple,

Open it up…

And see all the people.

Stopping in the church to process mail and checks for our Grab A Bag and Salvation Army Dinner Teams is an eerie experience. The building calls out for its people. That would be us.

You. Me. We are the church.

Always called to love. March 22, 2020 The Rev. David M. Stoddart

John 9:1-41

Why does there always have to be someone to blame? In recent memory, we have heard one prominent televangelist tell us that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was wrought by God because of that island’s “pact with the devil.”Another well-known Christian preacher proclaimed that Hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment on the sins of New Orleans. I was living in New York City back when the AIDS epidemic first struck with lethal ferocity and I heard too many Christians opine that God was punishing the gay community. And beyond the big public examples, I have listened to people in my office tell me that some disease or catastrophe in their life was God’s way of inflicting punishment on them. And such thinking is obviously not new. Some Old Testament writers espouse it, and, apparently, so do the disciples of Jesus. Meeting a man born blind, the first thing they have to say is, Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Who’s to blame? Clearly, God must be punishing someone.

It’s a terrible view of God and egregiously awful theology, so I am happy to note that Jesus will have none of it. During his ministry, he is literally surrounded by sick people, and he encounters suffering to a degree most of us never do: lepers, epileptics, demoniacs, maimed people, crippled people, blind people, deaf people, insane people. There are scenes in the Gospels that read like horror movies. But Jesus never once lays blame on anyone. He never says, “Oh, this disease is a result of your sin” or “God is punishing you by making you sick.” Every time he encounters a suffering person — every single time — he heals that person. 

So in the Gospel today, when his disciples try to play the blame game, Jesus quickly stops them. For him, this man’s blindness is an opportunity to love, a chance for God’s works to be revealed. Period. In a way, this might disappoint us. Jesus never explains why God allows disease and suffering. He never gives an answer to the vexing problem of natural evil. Clearly he thinks that it is either unimportant or simply beyond us. What he does make clear is that sickness is always and everywhere a way for God’s works to be revealed. And those who love God will embrace that.

So I have no idea why God allows pandemics, just as I have no idea why God permits suffering of any kind. What I do know, and what Jesus teaches, is that we are always called to love. In our current situation, that obviously means caring for people who are sick, supporting the work of doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers, and protecting our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable, from infection. I am heartened by all the people in our parish who are doing those very things, just as I am encouraged by all those practicing social distancing to help our society as a whole minimize the effects of this disease. In doing so, we are following Christ.

But there is more to it even than that. Caring for the weak and the hurting among us is not just a way to love like Jesus. Doing so is a primary, if not the primary way we will experience God in our lives. We might wish for mountaintop experiences and brilliant theophanies, but what Jesus teaches us and shows us is that the glory of God Almighty is chiefly revealed in simple acts of love and mercy. You want to feel close to God? Take care of someone who is ill. You want to experience the movement of the Holy Spirit? Be kind to someone who is hurting. You want to see the face of Christ? Look into the face of anyone who is sad or sick or dying. Nothing reveals the glory of God more than one frail and fallible human being helping another frail and fallible human being. I think I could spend the rest of my life meditating on that truth and not exhaust the wonder of it. And it’s that truth I commend to you today.

Virtual Sunday Worship. March 22, 2020

Virtual Sunday Worship

March 22, 2020

Prayer Concerns

COOS Children's Time 9:00am

COOS Church Office Update March 19, 2020

March 19, 2020

In consultation with the Rector and Senior Warden, we have decided to close down the church office and work remotely as of Friday, March 20. We can still take incoming calls to our church phones and keep in touch through email:

Scot Jonte - scot@cooscville.org

Carolyn Voldrich - carolyn@cooscville.org

Emily Rutledge - emily@cooscville.org

Kathleen Sturges - kathleen@cooscville.org

David Stoddart - david@cooscville.org

Likewise, watch for parish-wide emails with messages and virtual church from clergy on a regular basis. Don't forget the COOS blog (cooscville.blogspot.com), website (www.coosonline.org) and Face Book page (Church of Our Saviour, Charlottesville VA).

Thank you to all those helping our Food Pantry with meat purchases - we are asking that you drop off directly to the Food Pantry in the Mission during their operating hours (Mondays & Wednesdays 12:30-2:00pm and Fridays 10:30am-12:00pm). Thank you, everyone, who has offered to run errands, make & deliver meals, and assist others. You all are sharing Christ's love with the world and it's a beautiful thing!

Peace,

Carolyn Voldrich

Parish Administrator