Opening
Lord, as I sit here with you, quiet my heart and mind. You invite me to come as I am and so I come. Open my heart to all you have for me. Awaken me to your voice within.
Reflection
As we continue our journey through Lent
we slow our pace so we can listen well
to what God desires to say to us.
God’s love seeks to heal the broken places within us,
To free us from the things that bind us
To bring light into our shadow places.
God desires us to know life in a fuller way,
And to live from a place of belovedness and belonging.
Invitation
Read the Scripture through slowly a couple of times. Pause where your heart is stirred.
Scripture: John 11:32-44 (Read verses 1-44 to read the whole story)
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.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 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.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 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.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 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.”
Prayer of Response
Beloved One,
How much it means to see your humanity,
to know that you loved your friends so much
that you were moved to tears by theirs.
How much it means to have a God
who loves us so deeply
that you feeling the ache in our hearts cry with us.
How blessed are we that you love us that much!
How blessed are we
that just as you unbound Lazarus
You unbind us and free us
with the life we have in you-
the life that heals, transforms, makes new.
Bless You oh Compassionate One. Bless You. Amen.
