Scriptures and Reflection Questions for April 10

Scriptures and Reflection Questions
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
April 10, 2011
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Collect

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 for ever. Amen.
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Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary
Year A
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How to use this page:

Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it.  Some questions
are offered to help stimulate your reflection.  You'll find your experience of worship
on Sunday will be intensified.

For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient
practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading).  We've written some instructions on
how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link:
www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html
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 The Lessons

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45

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Ezekiel 16:1-13

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.

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What is dried up in your life and needs the breath of God to breathe it back into
life?
Let that breath breathe you into being.
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Psalm 130

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

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

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

I wait for you, O God; my soul waits for you; *
     in your word is my hope.

My soul waits for you, more than sentries for the morning, *
     more than sentries for the morning.

O Israel, wait upon God, *
     for with God there is mercy.

With God there is plenteous redemption; *
     God shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

                           The Saint Helena Psalter

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How do you wait upon God?

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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.

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What nourishes the life of the Spirit in you?

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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.

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This is a story that has most often been used in Christian tradition as a metaphor-story.
 In what ways are you in-tombed?  How might Jesus bring new life to what may seem
dead for you?  How might his words, "Unbind him, and let him go" be applied to your
life?

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Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Our Rule of Life:
  We aspire to...
     worship weekly
     pray daily
     learn constantly
     serve joyfully
     live generously.

Check our website: www.stpaulsfay.org