John 11:33-36
33 Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.
34 “Where have you buried him?” he asked them.
“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35 Jesus wept.
36 “See how much he loved him!” the people said.
This past week Canada commemorated the one year anniversary of the diagnosis of Covid-19 in Canada. It has been a very long year.
Over 22, 000 people have died in our country, 1, 397 of those people lived in BC. That’s a lot of people who have died and even more family and friends, who have been left to mourn their loved ones. Thankfully, many people have recovered from the virus but some are living with complications and effects that we still don’t understand.
Many of us just want to hurry the days along until we are vaccinated and then finally we will be able to breathe easy and get back to our “normal” lives. How lucky we are to have the normal to look forward to.
On our Lenten journey this week we meet Jesus. Jesus, whose heart is touched by the grief of those around him, and he responds by weeping with them.
At an interfaith commemoration service in Montreal, the Rev. Rosemary Lambie of the United Church of Canada prayed:
We gather with broken hearts, mindful that you created each one of us,
and those we love, and those who have gone before us…
and especially on this day, we gather to honour the over 22,000 people
who have died due to COVID – real people with names, families and friends
who mourn their passing, histories to be shared for 7 generations,
and passions now to be carried on by those who remain…
They were our family, our friends, our neighbours,
People who influenced our lives with their love and their goodness.
They have suffered, both physically from the disease, but also emotionally
from the isolation and loneliness of being cut off from family and loved ones.
It has been such a hard year for everyone; the sick,
those of us forced to witness at a distance, and the medical care givers
who did all they could, working tirelessly to save and restore life.
God, we are all crying for the overwhelming loss of life.
Jesus wept. What can any of us do except weep along with him. Let our hearts be touched and let us weep for all the loss and fear and heartache.
Now the story of Jesus in John doesn’t end with grief but with Jesus thanking God and calling for Lazarus to come out of the burial tomb, into the light, and back into the world. The story is one of breathing new life into Lazarus! The darkness and despair of mourning and pain is relieved by the living Word that Jesus speaks. The God of love brings healing to the broken and brokenhearted.
Traditionally in times of grief we recite words of comfort, remembering that God is always with us. Psalm 121: “My help comes from the Lord”, Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd”, Isaiah 9:2: “The people who have walked into darkness have seen a great light”, John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them saying: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”” and many other passages. They all have in common that we are not in this life alone, we do not grieve alone, we do not hurt alone – God is always with us. We are all connected.
33 Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.
34 “Where have you buried him?” he asked them.
“Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35 Jesus wept.
36 “See how much he loved him!” the people said.
This past week Canada commemorated the one year anniversary of the diagnosis of Covid-19 in Canada. It has been a very long year.
Over 22, 000 people have died in our country, 1, 397 of those people lived in BC. That’s a lot of people who have died and even more family and friends, who have been left to mourn their loved ones. Thankfully, many people have recovered from the virus but some are living with complications and effects that we still don’t understand.
Many of us just want to hurry the days along until we are vaccinated and then finally we will be able to breathe easy and get back to our “normal” lives. How lucky we are to have the normal to look forward to.
On our Lenten journey this week we meet Jesus. Jesus, whose heart is touched by the grief of those around him, and he responds by weeping with them.
At an interfaith commemoration service in Montreal, the Rev. Rosemary Lambie of the United Church of Canada prayed:
We gather with broken hearts, mindful that you created each one of us,
and those we love, and those who have gone before us…
and especially on this day, we gather to honour the over 22,000 people
who have died due to COVID – real people with names, families and friends
who mourn their passing, histories to be shared for 7 generations,
and passions now to be carried on by those who remain…
They were our family, our friends, our neighbours,
People who influenced our lives with their love and their goodness.
They have suffered, both physically from the disease, but also emotionally
from the isolation and loneliness of being cut off from family and loved ones.
It has been such a hard year for everyone; the sick,
those of us forced to witness at a distance, and the medical care givers
who did all they could, working tirelessly to save and restore life.
God, we are all crying for the overwhelming loss of life.
Jesus wept. What can any of us do except weep along with him. Let our hearts be touched and let us weep for all the loss and fear and heartache.
Now the story of Jesus in John doesn’t end with grief but with Jesus thanking God and calling for Lazarus to come out of the burial tomb, into the light, and back into the world. The story is one of breathing new life into Lazarus! The darkness and despair of mourning and pain is relieved by the living Word that Jesus speaks. The God of love brings healing to the broken and brokenhearted.
Traditionally in times of grief we recite words of comfort, remembering that God is always with us. Psalm 121: “My help comes from the Lord”, Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd”, Isaiah 9:2: “The people who have walked into darkness have seen a great light”, John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them saying: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”” and many other passages. They all have in common that we are not in this life alone, we do not grieve alone, we do not hurt alone – God is always with us. We are all connected.
I pray that this Covid year has opened our eyes and hearts so that we don’t go back to “normal” but forge a new future that is better and more just. I imagine that when Lazarus came out of that tomb, he came out changed. We are not told anything because the story is focused on Jesus, but I would bet that Lazarus was looking at the world with a new perspective- after all death is a pretty big event to survive. This Covid year has been a pretty big event for many of us. We may have lost family or friends. We may know someone who continues to struggle with the many symptoms of Covid or the effect Covid has had on their work, studies or income. We know that loneliness and violence in the home has increased in many people’s lives. We are not separate from any of it when our hearts are open, and our eyes are clear and our ears are attuned to God’s voice.
I pray that this Lenten journey we have been on breathes new life into us. May we hear God’s word for our lives just like Lazarus heard Jesus calling for him to come out of the darkness of the tomb.
Don’t Be Afraid #90 More Voices
(can be found on Youtube https://youtu.be/xWy4GVwowLs)
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger,
My love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger
And I have promised, promised to be always near.
I pray that this Lenten journey we have been on breathes new life into us. May we hear God’s word for our lives just like Lazarus heard Jesus calling for him to come out of the darkness of the tomb.
Don’t Be Afraid #90 More Voices
(can be found on Youtube https://youtu.be/xWy4GVwowLs)
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger,
My love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger
And I have promised, promised to be always near.
