Lessons: John 11:1-45
This Sunday is our last Sunday before we head into “Holy Week,” the week we spend journeying with Jesus into Jerusalem and to the cross. Your worship committee has set up so many opportunities for us all to make lasting meaning of this most significant time for Christians.
As our final Lenten Sunday we will consider the story of the raising of Lazarus, John’s depiction of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life after he had been dead for 4 days. Again, we are given a story that is so much more than its summary. Despite that we would imagine any story of a beloved friend being raised from the dead to be celebratory, this telling is saturated with emotion and grief. It is one of the only times in all of our Christian bible where we read of an emotional Jesus and THE ONLY time we are told “Jesus wept.”
What does it mean to worship a God who weeps with us? How do we hold this alongside our faith in this same God who can also raise from the dead? And why are these thoughtful questions important as we turn our attention to the cross.
Join me on Sunday to hear the story and wonder about the presence of the divine in our grief.
See you then!
Music:
Prelude: “Fugue in G, III,4” Johann Pachelbel
Anthem: “Turn, Turn, Turn” Pete Seeger Matt Carrieker, vocalist
Meditation: “Psalm 19” Liturgical chant
Postlude: “Largo in E-flat” P. Carlmann Kolb
Live Stream Information
We will continue streaming our worship on both Zoom and Facebook Live. Please share these links with your friends. Bear in mind that we cannot share the Zoom links publicly (to keep from being Zoom bombed), so please share it person to person rather than posting it on Facebook/Twitter, or other public social media. It’s fine to share the Facebook link broadly and publicly. For zoom login information please reach out to Pastor Cheryl at cherly@newtonchurch.org.
Note: that we continue to work on streaming as we make improvements to the sanctuary sound system.
Zoom Link: UPA Sunday Morning Worship
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81334929545?pwd=S1lsRlRmSnlkTUE0cHRlWWQwWUJndz09
Facebook Livestream Link: https://www.facebook.com/upanewtonma/live