​HOPE DOWN TO THE BONE
We have spent the past few weeks looking at our needs.  The first Sunday in Lent helped us to better understand that temptations may draw us away from the will of God.  In the second week, we heard Nicodemus and, through his struggle to understand who Jesus is, we discovered our need for rebirth.  We visited with the woman at the well in the third week and noticed our personal thirst for living water.  As we explored last week’s scriptures, we encountered the blind man and perhaps recognized our own blindness, our own need to see that we have been cleansed and are now sent to be witnesses to the light.  These texts all throughout Lent draw us into a deeper understanding of our human needs and God’s divine provisions for us in those needs. 
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Today’s Gospel lesson from John moves us more intently into our needs – actually introduces us to our own mortality – and focuses our gaze on God’s saving grace through the story of Lazarus. 

The raising of Lazarus from the dead shows continuing life just as Jesus’ own death and resurrection leads to eternal life.  In his conversation with Martha, Jesus makes clear that not only Lazarus will live after death, but also all who believe in him.  Jesus assures Martha (and us) saying:  “I am the resurrection. I am the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
That’s the same theme woven into the text of Ezekiel’s vision, and both readings call for our Christian response to God’s grace as we are drawn toward a reconciled relationship with God. 

You know, at this point in the Christian year, we are eager to see the Scriptures through the lens of the cross – as if we are looking back and have already moved past the point of examining Jesus’ suffering and passion. In this season of unrest and uncertainty, we long for the hope that comes after all the crucifixion stuff. With all the information we are getting that only feeds our doubt and insecurity, we want happy; we want comfort. And with Holy Week and Easter approaching so rapidly, we are tempted to leap toward the resurrection. 

It going to take some great restraint to rein in those urges and plant ourselves firmly in this Lenten season.  We have to be really intentional right now to face the things which separate us from God – our temptations, our struggling, our thirsting, our blindness, our very death – really intentional to prepare our hearts to return to God.  Really intentional and firmly grounded in this season of preparation when we turn from the physical raising of Lazarus and look back to the spiritual visioning of the Ezekiel passage. Right now we are seeking a better understanding of the new life that is made available to Israel and continues to give us hope today. 

Looking at Ezekiel, it is in the first verse of chapter 37 that the prophet experiences the hand of the Lord leading him in a powerful way.  You see, Ezekiel is a Hebrew who has been captured by Nebuchadnezzar.  His tribe of Levi, as well as the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, have all been seized.  Remember, we are only talking about the ten Northern tribes here.  The two Southern tribes are down in Judah with their capital of Jerusalem.  The ten tribes of Israel (north of Judah) are scattered to the wind – they are all over the surrounding nations – and it’s looking as if they will never return to their promised land and be joined together as one people again.  The exiled people of Israel have lost their hope in the future.  They cry out that their “bones are dried up… hope is lost” (v. 11).  They had hoped that Jerusalem would be their forever home, but they had found that to be a false hope as they were exiled from their land.  Their identity and their destiny as God’s chosen people, as a nation, seems lost forever. 

In Ezekiel’s vision, the prophet is shown a valley of bones, and he is asked whether the brokenness before him can live.  The prophet replies that: God alone knows.  Think of a broken piece of clay – like a pottery vase – once it is broken, then the one who made the vase is probably the best one to decide whether or not it can be put back together.[1]  So can the bones and the brokenness live?  Ezekiel answers well:  God alone knows. Only the creator knows. 

Ezekiel is then instructed to prophesy to the bones before him, and he witnesses the bones being covered in flesh.  He is instructed to prophesy again and the spirit of life is breathed into them.  The imagery is hard to miss.  This is Israel.  This is God’s church.  Israel is scattered all over the place like dry bones across a valley – spiritually they’ve been removed from their promised land from their hope – this is a spiritual death.[2]  Can Israel escape this death and live again?  Is this coming up out of graves a metaphor of the restoration of Israel? 

For Jews today, this chapter of Ezekiel is the one of the traditional readings during Passover.  This is the traditional prophetical reading for the Sabbath during Passover, [probably] because being brought out of Egypt, out of their spiritual death, was a sort of resurrection. The people of Israel are free to live again.[3]  Perhaps the life which enters the dry bones indicates that new life is being offered to God’s people, that they are being rescued from a dead past.  Perhaps being again placed on their own soil suggests that they are being returned to the way of life that was God’s original intention. 
In both the Ezekiel vision and the Lazarus story, it is obvious that death has occurred.  Lazarus has been in the tomb for days.  His sister balks at the notion of removing the stone seal and opening the grave.  “Lord!  He’s been in there four days – he’s going to smell!”  For Ezekiel, the valley is full of dry bones.  And not heaped up bones in a great pile, but strewn out bones as if some great battle has occurred and the remains of the dead have been left to be ravaged or to rot. 

These images are anything but pleasant, and the resulting understanding is that death has obviously occurred.  Our own impending death may not be quite as obvious.  We tend to look for those physical signs of decline or decay; maybe we have in mind a bloody battle that strips us of our humanity. 
But today’s reading from Romans reminds us that “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit* is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6).  And we acknowledge that, by being brought into the Body of Christ, we are given new life.  Through the work of the Spirit of God, we experience victory over death in our own lives – victory over both physical death and spiritual death. 

This is from where our hope comes.  We cannot act for ourselves, but we can turn to God for action.  We see hope as God acts in Christ at Lazarus' tomb and Lazarus is called to life. We see Lazarus emerge from the tomb still in his grave clothes – truly dead but brought up alive so that we may believe in the power of God Almighty.  We experience hope in the valley of bones as the Spirit of God acts on those bones.  Flesh and tendons and muscles form, and life is breathed into the dead – truly dead – but brought up alive so that we may believe in the power of God Almighty. 

Even those of us who have been dead a long time – when we become a part of the Body of Christ – when we accept Jesus into our hearts and promise to live in a renewed way – that’s when we hear God call for breath and our hearts are changed and the Spirit brings new life![4]

This is from where our hope comes!  From the new life that God makes available to us through Jesus Christ and the work and breath of the Holy Spirit.  And in this hope, the most important thing for us to remember is that no matter who we are or where we come from or what we have done, this new life through Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit is available to every single one of us.  Every ONE – regardless of what we look like or who our parents were or even if we have hearts that have been dead.  Regardless of anything. 

By looking at a bone, you cannot tell what kind of person it was that bone belonged to.  Was it a good business person?  Maybe.  A hard working person?  Maybe.  A Christian?  Maybe.  A person that looked just like you?  Maybe.  But maybe NOT.  What we do for a living or how we live our lives or even what color our skin is really has nothing to do with the reality that God is available to bring life to every one of us.  EVERY one of us.  That’s the wonder and the glory and the mystery of who God is – that regardless of who we are, God loves us enough to offer us life!  Everlasting life! Forever life where we are loved in our forever homes!

Even when we are nothing more than bones.  Even when we are dead.  We are often swept up in whatever is going on in the world. We all understand that right now. And when that happens – when we get caught up in the worldly – often we fail in our calling to be God’s holy people, a people set apart for God’s divine purpose. 

We live more in indifference than in passion, more in a spirit of death than in that born of hope.  We are moved more by private ambition than by social justice. We dream more of privilege and benefits than of service and sacrifice. We try to speak in God’s name without relinquishing our own glories, without nourishing our own souls, without relying wholly on God’s grace – when in reality we should be crying out:  O God!  Help us to make room in our hearts and lives for you.  Forgive us, revive us from being nothing more than bones, and reshape us in your image.  Nourish us right down to the bone.  Nourish your Church right down to the bone so that we all experience victory over physical AND spiritual death. 

Remember the children’s song: “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones – o hear the word of the Lord?” People of God, hear the word of the Lord! Hear God’s voice in these stories and then reply in your own voice.  How will you move through these last few days of Lent?  Will you recognize that even when you feel hopeless, God offers hope? 

We offer our sorry, dried up, worthless, boney lives, and God breathes life into us… and our faithful answer is to be a living, breathing, hands-on, active member of the Body of Christ where the foot bone is connected to the ankle bone and we are the feet of Christ… and the hand bone is connected to the wrist bone and we are the hands of Christ.          
We are living members of Christ’s Church!


[1] Solomon B. Freehof, Book of Ezekiel (New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1978), 212.

[2] William Neil, Prophets of Israel (2):  Jeremiah and Ezekiel, edited by William Barclay and F.F. Bruce, (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1964), 85.
 

[3] Freehof, 211.

[4] www.umcworship.org, downloaded February 2008.

A NEW WAY OF SEEING
The stories we have read from the Scriptures this morning have been pretty lengthy and pretty straightforward in their meaning.  I’m tempted to let them stand on their own and just go home back to bed – but I do want to make sure we see just a couple of things before I head that way. You see, the Scriptures are teaching us that we may not always be seeing what God is seeing – especially what God is seeing in others.  Remember what we read in 1 Samuel?  Samuel was sure several times that he knew what was best – what should happen – but God saw things in a completely different way.  It wasn’t until he allowed God's direction to guide him that Samuel did finally see what God saw.  Think of it as Samuel being blind until he allowed God in and he finally saw clearly with his heart.  He finally found a new way to see.    

There are times in my life when I think I know what is best.  Without seeking God’s will, I’m usually wrong – but I think I know what is best.  I thought I knew what was best when I said no to becoming a pastor – for 20 years I said no.  How blessed I have been since saying yes!  Just imagine what our lives could become if we would begin… to seek God’s will in everything, to see through God’s eyes, to allow God to guide us, to live into God’s timeline, and see with our God-inspired hearts.  It would be a whole new way to see!

What would have happened if Samuel had anointed one of those brothers – who appeared to be just what was needed – without discerning what God had planned?  We know about David – the warrior, the righteous king of Israel, the man after God’s own heart, the slayer of Goliath, the writer of the psalms, and most of all the ancestral line of Jesus Christ! The face of our world history would be very different if we had missed that youngest son David.  Samuel sought God and was given a new way to see.
 
My Uncle Carl was not born blind, but as an adult he lost his vision.  I never knew him as a sighted person, and it was always interesting to experience things in a different way when we were with him.  He would put his finger into the top of the bucket so he could tell when it was almost full.  He knew how many steps it was from sink to refrigerator in the kitchen.  He memorized every word of every anthem the choir sang and walked himself from the choir room, up the steps, into the choir loft every Sunday and never missed a step and never missed a note. 

Even though he couldn’t see, he looked in your direction when he talked to you – and he said things like “It’s good to see you!” 

When my granddaddy (from the other side of the family) met Uncle Carl for the first time, he sat in the living room and talked with him for an hour – and never knew Uncle Carl was completely blind.

Uncle Carl could tell by the sound of your voice how close you were so he knew when it was time to shake your hand or give you a hug as you were coming or going.  He never used a cane, but he just put his hand on my aunt’s shoulder and off they would go.  She never gave a word of direction, he just knew from her movement where he should walk.

Uncle Carl had a watch that fascinated me.  It was a Braille watch.  The face popped right open, and he could feel what time it was. 

He may not have been able to see his surroundings and get clues as to the passing of time, but he did something about it.  He found a way to move past his darkness and be well-informed.  Uncle Carl, although physically blind, lived in light. 

The thing I can tell you about Uncle Carl is that his entire life was dedicated to his relationship with Jesus.  Even without being able to look it up, he knew more scripture by heart than I will ever be able to master.  He was well-prepared for life – even when life threw him a curve – and he was never truly blind.  Uncle Carl found a new way to see even in his darkness. 
 
Now Ephesians calls us out of the darkness to live in the light.  What we read says “Live as children of light — for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.”  This is Paul telling us to wake up from our spiritual sleep.  This is our call to expose darkness for what it is.  Have we been so eager for everyone to just get along that we have become blind to our surroundings?   That we cannot see what is really going on around us?  All the darkness that surrounds us every day?  And if we do recognize it, then what do we do about it?  The Bible tells us that we are all born blind, all of us, through no fault of our own – but our task is to do something about it. 

The long story from John today drives us home.  But not only does it make the point – it powerfully shows us God's way of healing our blindness – and not ours only, but that of the whole world.  Jesus does not wait for this man to ask to heal him.  Look at verse 4:  “We* must work the works of him who sent me* while it is day…”Jesus has been sent by God to work God's works in the God’s world.  Jesus goes to the man, makes mud from soil and his own spit, places mud on the man's eyelids, and tells him to go wash in the pool called Sent.  The man does all of these things, and finds himself not only healed but “sent” to proclaim the truth about his healing.  He does not become a “disciple” of Jesus until later in the story.  For the majority of the story, he is simply bearing witness to what has happened to him.  He was blind; now he sees, thank you Jesus.

You see, if we stop with our own cleansing – our baptism – if we stop there and do not respond to where we are sent, we remain blind ourselves – we stay in the dark.  As Christians, we have been cleansed but we know that it doesn’t stop there!  We are to do something about it.  We are to find a way out of our own darkness and experience the light. 

Now that we have been cleansed, we are sent to be witnesses to this light – Jesus Christ.   Now that we have accepted Jesus into our hearts, we are to see things through his eyes – in a new way of seeing.

Now that we have this new way of seeing, we challenge ourselves to fund Divine Street United Methodist Church. Even if we cannot be together physically, the work of the Church never ends, and your faithful generosity will allow us to help others now and to open our doors again when the time comes and we are on the other side of this virus.

If we meet the new guidelines of being under 50 and healthy, we show up at the food pantry on Tuesday. This is all new to us. The typical volunteers don’t meet those requirements – I don’t meet those requirements – and those of you who do are desperately needed.

We continue to make our donations to Rise Against Hunger without being begged. Yes, we have postponed the meal packaging event, but we haven’t cancelled it so that need is still there. 

Maybe we make it a point to write one note a day and make one phone call a day – just to reach out to someone and say “hey! Was thinking about you and wanted to check in!”

Now that we have this new way of seeing, we don’t put up with bad behavior around us.  We take a stand for the things we believe in.  We take seriously our responsibility to know what is going on in the world.  We don’t just glance at the newspaper headlines and go on with our day – we see with new eyes – we study the news reports to see how we can be proactive in making changes.  We pray through the evening TV news for God to open our eyes, take away our blindness, and show us a new way to see.

We don’t get sucked in to political rhetoric – we pray for our leadership.  We don’t say “oh, what a shame there are over 2 million people in prisons in this country today.”  We say “how can we reach people before they head that direction?”  

Folks, we are not always going to be confined by such strict social distancing. When this is behind us, how can we meet those people when they come out of prison so they don’t re-enter?”  Now is the time to put the effort into an infrastructure like we’ve never had the time to do before. We are finding ourselves with some extra minutes – let’s find ourselves BEing the Church!
We recognize that there are 14 times more men in prison than women, but with our new eyes maybe we specifically ask “how can we reach young men early enough that they don’t become part of that statistic?” 

Church, these are the difficult dialogues we have when we are living for Jesus.  These are the conversations that take place in our meetings. These are the books we are reading. These are the Bible studies. These are the places we are learning new ways to see and discerning how we will step up our game.

And with new eyes and a new way to see, we will want for nothing because Jesus Christ leads us and restores us. With new eyes and a new way to see, our Lord makes us bold, comforts us, and prepares for us.  With new eyes and a new way to see, our shepherd anoints us, and offers us goodness and mercy all the days of our lives.  What wonderful promises are before us held right within our own scripture! 

URGENT SIRENS
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I remember when my little brother was first learning to drive.  The whole family was in the car on a road trip, and we were travelling down a narrow two-lane road full of curves and hills when all of a sudden we heard the familiar sound of a fire engine coming up behind us – lights flashing and siren blaring. It was a situation he had never faced before, and he became very anxious.  “What do I do?  What do I do?” Now, I’m not much older than he is so I was probably around 17… but with my parents in the back seat, I quickly realized he was looking to me for guidance.  I also knew that our dad was about to start screaming directions at him which was going to make things terrible. 
 
So I quickly looked behind us and checked out our situation, then I spotted a place just ahead where he could safely pull over, and I talked him through it step by step.   “You’re going to pull over to the side of the road.  Put on your turn signal.  See that open area right up there?  You have plenty of time to slow down and get over there to let the fire engine pass.  Start slowing down.  A little slower.  Now easy – just slowly pull into that flat spot off the road and stop. Let them pass you.  Ok, stop right here. Perfect.  Stay still. You’re good to go!” 
 
He did a really good job, and I was proud of him.  What could have been panic was handled gently.  The whole thing only took a few seconds, but everyone relaxed and we went on our way safe and sound.
 
At the beginning of our daily text, Jesus is in Samaria at the town of Sychar and has stopped by Jacob’s well around noon. The town name Sychar is probably another way of saying Shechem which is about 40 miles north of Jerusalem, and it is believed that this well we’re talking about is the one that sits about a quarter mile away from the edge of Shechem.  The same well that today sits under a Greek Orthodox church that was built to shelter it. 
 
The Scripture we just read says this isn’t just any old well, this is Jacob’s well that sits on the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  When son Joseph died he was buried on this same site.  Actually, his body was mummified, and somewhere along the line his mummified body was brought up from Egypt by the Israelites and then buried here on this site when the Israelites entered Canaan. 
 
What this means is that this site is tied not only to Jacob and Joseph, but to all the northern tribes and especially to Joseph’s son, Ephraim.  You see, Ephraim’s name is another name for Samaria which is the northern kingdom. 
 
So we have Jacob’s well on the land that was given to his son Joseph who is buried on the land that is tied to his son Ephraim who is tied to the Samaritans.  Jacob’s well is tied to Jacob’s people, and to Joseph’s people, and to Ephraim’s people, and to the Samaritans.
 
Now, the Samaritan people were sort of tossed around a little after war – kind of deported from land to land.  They had been mixed in with other peoples and were considered to be of a mixed bloodline. Even though we can read about how this sect sort of fell away from God, there were a number of descendants who continued to worship God and even built a temple in which to worship. 
 
They built that temple because the Jews who were not of Samaritan descent thought that these people were heretics and would not allow them to help rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem after the exile. The Samaritans were considered to be of an impure bloodline and were thought to be unclean, but they wanted to worship God and so they built their own temple.
 
The point is that mentioning Jacob in this story means that this well and the tradition which surrounds the well belongs to all of Israel – all of Jacob’s bloodline, Jacob’s descendants. We have the Judeans in the south – those are the Jews of pure bloodline and pure following of Jewish law; the Galileans in the north – those who are pure Jews but not quite as committed to following the Jewish law to the letter; and the Samaritans in the middle – those who are of mixed descent and committed to no Jewish law but still worshippers of God.
 
Everyone comes from Jacob, and Jacob’s well belongs to everyone.  Even though the areas don’t get along, they all recognize this well water as being important to their lives.  Now that you have the lay of the land, you can picture that Jesus has left Judea, headed to Galilee, and goes through Samaria to get there. 
 
Now we understand that Jesus came for everyone, and the well belongs to everyone, but we are looking at things from a much different perspective than these folks.  As Christians, we view everything through the lens of the cross. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has already happened, and we have already been made to see that the Messiah lives.  For this woman at this well at this time, though, a much different picture is in place. 
 
Remember, the Samaritans and the Jews came from very different mindsets, and there was no love lost between them.  As we said, they were separated by their history ethnically, religiously and even politically.  They had fought one another in war; they had opposed one another in the building of worship sites; they were hostile on many fronts.  They even thought that the utensils (even the drinking cups) of one another were unclean. 
 
So when Jesus sits down at the well (Jesus, obviously Jewish) and talks to a Samaritan woman asking her for a drink… from her bucket… from her cup… it is pretty surprising to the woman, and truly surprising to those who will be hearing this story. 
 
But Jesus doesn’t stop at her surprise.  He handles the situation gently saying “you know, if you knew who I was, you’d be asking me for living water.”  Again she is surprised saying “You don’t even have a bucket – how are you going to get this living water?  You know, Jacob dug this well and gave it to us.  Are you a better man than Jacob and his family?”
 
“Anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but the water I give is from an artesian spring.”  Artesian spring – that means a well that has water under pressure, where the water flows to the surface naturally.  Jesus is talking about a “gushing fountain of endless life.”  
 
Can you imagine?  Can you imagine being as thirsty as this Samaritan woman was at noon in the heat of the day and someone offering you water that will quench your thirst forever?  I might have had the same response she did: “Yeah right.  Show me THAT water so I don’t have to come here and fetch from this well anymore.”  Or, just maybe, she’s hearing the siren and anxiously saying “What do I do?  What do I do?”
 
Jesus tells her to do a curious thing.  Go call your husband and then come back, but she doesn’t have a husband and Jesus says “I know.  You have had five, and the one you are living with now isn’t even your husband.” 
 
Now, I think a lot of times this Samaritan woman is represented in a less-than-positive light, but we need to understand that women of this time were many times treated like property.  She would not have had means to care for herself and would have been at the mercy of the men.  So if she had been widowed or if a man had (for any reason at all) decided that he didn’t want her around, he would have just written her a divorce statement and passed her along to the next man.  It would not have been her choice.  It’s likely that she just would have been passed around. 
 
In Paul’s letter to the Romans that we read earlier, Paul asks us if our spirits are dried and in desperate need of the living water that Jesus brings.  Well, maybe we don’t feel completely dried up – maybe we just feel a little dusty.  Maybe it’s just a little easier to put Jesus off for now hoping that this life we are living isn’t a real emergency – maybe like the woman at the well had done.
 
Maybe we just aren’t open to accepting what he has to offer us.  But even though we may originally put it off, we are eventually going to need to ask “What do I do?” In this climate where we find ourselves today, I cannot think of a better time to consider that getting our spiritual health in order is urgent.
 
Whatever we feel, whatever we think about the shape the world is in today, Jesus said the time is now – the time to drink of the water that quenches all thirsts.  The time when we realize that we cannot face this world on our own, we need to ask for help, we need to slow down, pull over, and get out of the way… because if we try doing things all on our own, we’re not going to make it.
 
 
Paul speaks right into this. He hears the call for help and already has the sirens going when he says:  “By entering (through faith) into what God has always wanted to do for us — set us right with him, make us fit for him, reconciled us to him — we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus.
 
And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand — out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.”  These are the words straight from Paul.  
 
“There's more to come”, Church! Read it in The Message:  “We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles.  We shout our praise with siren urgency!  And God takes care of us, never leaving us – we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”
 
POURS in – like water from an artesian spring – a gushing fountain of endless life.  No matter where we come from or who we are, God generously pours into our lives, and because of the pouring in of that hope, we couldn’t keep this to ourselves if we wanted to!
 
Our job now is to move forward with wisdom and generosity of heart with the urgency of a siren. Stay grounded and healthy, safe and sound, but make sure your neighbors have their needs met. Folks, the least among us at this time in our community are not necessarily the ones you might think,
 
At this time, it’s the ones who are advanced in age. What do they need and how can you supply it? 
 
It’s the ones who have existing medical issues. Can you go through a pharmacy drive-through line for anyone?
 
It’s children who usually get their meals from a school system that isn’t in session right now. Are you looking for ways to help?
 
It’s people who are isolated because their families are not being allowed into the health facilities to visit.
Keeping spirits up is a big deal. Who can you call – today? To whom can you send a note – tomorrow?
 
We have to provide for one another. God pours into us an overflowing abundance of life. Maybe we cannot share that life by hugging our friends at church today, but maybe that’s not what church is intended to be in the first place! In a world of uncertainty, we don’t hunker down and hide, and we certainly don’t quit being the church.
 
What could be panic in these times is to be handled gently by Christians. Maybe this worldwide virus is interrupting our progress, making us pull over and wait for a bit, but we simply need to check out our situation, spot a place ahead to safely serve, and walk through this step by step. Now is the time to BE the church – to BE God’s people.
 
And all God’s people say, AMEN!
 
PRAYER
As we move into a time of praying together, I know you have particular folks on your hearts this morning, and I invite you to take just a moment to think of those friends, maybe family members, maybe neighbors. Think of their situations, the things you want to lift up to our God. It might be helpful to write them down so you can see your thoughts throughout the day, or maybe you’d like to say the names out loud.
 
I encourage you to pray intentionally for all of us as we are being affected by the coronavirus in our world. Let’s pray not only for those who are testing positive and dealing with the symptoms of the virus, but also

• for those school children whose parents are wondering how to feed them while they are out of school
• for the workers who aren’t sure how they will survive while their jobs grow smaller each day
• for the business owners who are terrified of losing everything because customer traffic is too light to manage or mandates have shut off their means to make a living
• for the food pantries who are working tirelessly to figure out a way to meet ever demanding needs
• for those who are cut off from family because no one is allowed into nursing homes and hospitals.

 
In other parts of the world, let’s remember those who continue to rebuild after storms – particularly on my heart is Nashville, TN.  Let us remember the U.S. troops in Iraq who are under active attack. But even as we pray for health and courage and answers, let us also remember that God is faithful, and we give praise for all things.
 
O Jesus, we are all the woman with her water jar, bent on the chore of the moment, angry thoughts in our weary bones, with our thirst for God hidden in the business of the day.  Lord, we know that you meet us gently, too.  Sometimes you are hardly recognized, quietly leading our thoughts towards the deeper waters, and there our souls find rest.  Help us Lord, to see you close by and to drink from your living well.  And then, Lord, help us to bring others to your well – so that your desire that we go and make disciples for you – may be fulfilled.    Holy God, we find ourselves in a mess right now. A mess so big that we are not sure how to move forward. We are concerned for our families, for our friends, and particularly those among us who are a little more advanced in age. We know that diseases are among us because we live in a fallen world where nothing is perfect, and we know this is not your best plan for us. But, Lord, even our worship together is being affected by this virus and that’s a really uncomfortable place for us.      
 
As we move through this unfamiliar territory, help us not to be so sidetracked by the ever changing news stories that we miss your presence among us. As this story becomes bigger and bigger, help us also to remember those who are suffering from the far-reaching effects of uncertainty. Grant us patience, wisdom and health. Move our hearts to reach out to one another in creative and effective ways. On this day when we pause to worship you alongside people from all over the world, hear our prayers and bless us with your mercy. We come before you in hope – hope that will carry us through these unsure times – hope that the living water you offer will refresh us and rejuvenate our spirits – hope that your never-ending love and forgiveness will flow through us like an artesian stream. As we lift up the names of those who are on our hearts this morning, we join our voices together praying the prayer you taught us to pray…
 
THE LORD’S PRAYER
 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
 
GIVING
I’ve enjoyed being with you and pray that you have heard the hope offered through our Lord. As we wrap things up until next week, I remind you that even though we are working from home these days, we are working, and the efforts of our church continue. Because of that, it is necessary that you remain faithful in your giving.
 
There are still ways to support Divine Street – one is through the mail, and the other is through online giving. You’ll find information on both ways on our website at divinestreet.org. Since I believe you will go from here to respond to God’s call and meet the needs of God’s children, I invite you to bow with me as I thank God for your generosity.
 
Life-giving God, we offer you ourselves and our resources. Use us and our gifts, that we may be water bearers to a world thirsty for love, for meaning, for justice, and for hope. May all your people encounter fullness of life through the love of Christ, which lives within us. Amen.
 
HYMN                        CCLI 20094815
I'm forgiven because You were forsaken
I'm accepted, You were condemned
I'm alive and well, Your Spirit is within me
Because You died and rose again
 
Amazing love, how can it be
That You, my King, should die for me?
Amazing love, I know it's true
And it's my joy to honor You
In all I do, to honor You
 
BLESSING
Go now from this service of worship to the service of God’s people near and far, refreshed by the living water that Jesus offers to you. Listen for the parched voices of the least of these; search out the dry places and the arid souls, and become for them a spring of living water. 
 
And as you go, may the blessings of the God of life, the Christ of love, and the Spirit of grace be upon you this day and forevermore. Amen. 
 
Go and make it a good day! We’ll see you next time.