​John11:43 & 44 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.”

One of the joys of being an Episcopalian is the centrality of the Holy Bible to our faith. Through the lectionary we are able to read almost all of scripture in a three-year cycle. Thus, when we encounter the readings for today, which seem so poignant for these present moments, it leaves one only relishing in the scripture’s normality. Who would ever believe we would, at any time, yearn for the things we have often overlooked or condemned as boring?

With the increasing restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of the Covid-19 virus, we yearn for the mundane activities of working, walking, going to church and even buying toilet paper. The lectionary in its normality reminds us time, as all other things do, lies in the Hands of God. The readings are filled with the theme of life after death and dried bones being reconstituted into living bodies. St. Paul challenges the Church in Rome to look beyond any prevailing scenario of death to envision new life, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

Faith is knowing that Jesus has the power to reach beyond the limits of human limitations and our deepest fears to proclaim the presence and power of God.  “Lazarus come forth!” is not a request or a magical potion, but a bold proclamation of the ultimate power of God, which Christian faith declares Jesus was its very embodiment.

At the death of Lazarus, the lives of Martha and Mary and many of his friends were changed forever. They could not envisage life beyond their prevailing grief.  Many of us are presently wrapped in a similar pall as we face the wrath of an illness that fails to respect our artificial barriers of race, color, creed, wealth or  power.  For many, the world has stopped and for us in the Church, we are in deep spiritual crisis.

In the Lazarus story, Jesus, in many ways, is declaring many things are now dead; a culture, which sidelined faith, family and friends for temporal material gain, is dead! A church, which was more fascinated by its power, buildings and schisms than its service to God and humanity, is now dead! Family structures built on past loves and broken dreams while immunizing itself with alcohol, drugs, and indifference is now dead!

This is now our moment in which we can stands still and hear the words of Jesus’ clarion call, “Lazarus come forth!” These are echoes of God’s act of creation when He declared, “Let there be light!”, or the same power which moved over the Red Sea and made a gateway from slavery to freedom; from death to life.

The question before us today, as Jesus invites us to approach what was declared dead.  Are, we going to stand still and weep over the past or run away in fear? Or, are we bold enough to encounter, to reach out, to grasp the new life being offered and unwrap it? To be continued….

Samuel 16: 1-2
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul?  I have rejected him from being king over Israel.  Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go?  If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'
 
Last Sunday was the first in which we experienced a total shutdown of church worship due to the Corona-virus.  So, Natalie, kids and I gathered together for family worship and Sunday School. There I faced one of the most challenging sessions since my early struggles with New Testament Greek. The focus was on the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.  The questions were “Why did Jesus ask her for water if He had His own water? (John 4:7) Why would He ask for dirty well water if He had living water?  Oh, did I miss the safety of the pulpit.  Jesus is constantly seeking to meet us where we are in order to move us into His realm. Faith is about the possibilities which may lie beyond both the known and the feared.

This lies at the heart of the dialogue between God and Samuel. Samuel was overcome by grief of the despotic reign of Saul and struggled with guilt of making the decision to choose someone who clearly was not prepared for leadership.  He was crippled by the fear of Saul who he knew was incapable of leadership and vicious against any threat to his reign.  Samuel was also overcome by the fear of making another mistake; much like our Congress paralyzed in the face of impending danger!  In other words, the fate of a nation laid upon Samuel’s shoulders.  Saul’s reign paralyzed a whole nation, and Samuel was immobilized by grief-stricken fear.

We are now living in a world where fear is rampant.  Our President is ill-informed and is a habitual liar.  The information coming from the Oval Office is inconsistent and often wrong.  Fear grows out of this lack of consistent messaging.   My friends, fear is a powerful tool.  It can corral us into heards separating us from the ones we love and depend on.  It keeps us off balance, and often times, it forces us to make specific decisions for good or for ill.  Fear can keep us from danger, and it can keep us from doing things that may be good for us as individuals or good for our families.  Fear needs to be identified quickly and needs to be approached carefully and thoughtfully.  If we don’t, we are consumed by it. Brown and black people know the power of fear and have an intimate relationship with it; as do the poor. Fear now drives us to hoard not only food and necessities, also but guns and ammunitions.

It is into this malaise of fear God breaks and declares a strong message of hope and faith. Faith does not drive away fear, but over-rides it and allows us to push forward and beyond fear’s boundaries.  In our readings, God challenges Samuel to break his shackles of fear and doubt.  In Ephesians, God wants us to leave the darkness of fear and begin to understand that He is the light.  In John, Jesus tells us to forget the fears and to live fully believing in His light (John 9:5) “I am the light of the world."  Now, we need that Jesus who is able to transform our lives by an application of a new spirit; a new spirit that blinds fear and opens the eyes of those who are willing to follow Him in all things.
  
In all of our lives there is a place for cautions, but these fears, trepidations and anxieties should not and cannot stop Christians, us, from walking in Jesus’ steps.  We follow the rules of the CDC not out of fear, but because we love and do not wish to harm others. We self-quarantine not out of fear but out of love. We share goods with others in crisis, because our love of God overcomes our fears.  We share the gospel of Jesus in new and exciting ways not to end hysterical fears, but to implement the recreation of our church and society fully aware of the important values we bring to the regeneration of our world.  The time will come when we will again hug, shake hands and greet each other with the human touch. We will get through this learning period as we live out the songs of Christmas, Emmanuel God is with us! My Friends, there is doubt, stumbling blocks, failures, grievances, disagreements, anger, hate and fear all around us.  Yet, like Samuel and St. Paul, we are called to walk in faith.  Ephesians 5:8-9   For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.  Live as children of light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true

Our nation is at a crossroads very much like in the time of Samuel. Do we allow this epidemic to stop us from using new approaches to worship God?  Do we allow our fears of the incompetency of a despotic leader cripple us? No! Because our spirit and our faith are the same no matter where we are or how we worship.  Should we fear technology or fear new surroundings?  Should we succumb to our fears of new places, new ideas and new people and just stand still? No!  Because we are children of the light.
 
God bless you and keep you safe and healthy.         





​

​March 16, 2020

Dear St Elizabeth’s Church Family,

We are about to embark on a brand-new spiritual adventure. The Corona-virus fallout effect is changing and transforming our society in ways and at a speed no one could have previously imagined. Yet, I believe this time is what we have been preparing for as we have been seeking, in many ways, to loosen our ties to the traditional understanding of worshiping God. Over the years, I have introduced these ideas of change in St. Elizabeth’s culture by using the term Faith Community synonymously with worship, our building and our missions in the community; all the ways St. Elizabeth’s does church. 

We have been building our social media network by enhancing our website to provide you with sermon/blogs and space for information sharing and for financial giving.  Recently, we began to explore the route many other churches and businesses are discovering; moving from ‘big box’ stores and large church buildings to smaller physical footprints to reduce both energy and maintenance costs.  A faith community must have the ability to be fleet-footed and agile, be able to provide information in a number of ways, be self-sufficient and frugal while still providing the needed spiritual guidance and support only a loving church family can provide.  With the onset of Corona, a glimpse of the future has been forced upon us.  Change is uncomfortable but always inevitable.
       
Please know that these challenges and changes are new, and we all are in new and somewhat uncharted territory.  I, along with the vestry and staff, will do our best to guide all of you on this spiritual journey. One of things I have learned in my life is that sometimes we learn best from our mistakes.  So please forgive me if I make any as we get used to this new way of doing church. 

During this period, we are called to pray for each other even as much as we miss seeing each other deeply. Please call each other to check in and provide support. Kindly use social media not only to spread bad news but reach out to cheer and support our church family.  Stay alert for regular updates, and if you can, share information with friends and family.
Through our love for God, we will get through this time and arrive on the other side of this time of transformation bolder and stronger in faith.

Stay Well and God Bless You All. 
Rev. Canon Andy Moore

I speak to you in the name of God the Father – our SOURCE of all comfort, God the Son –our SUPPLIER and God the Holy Spirit our SUSTAINER. Amen.

The second and third Sundays in Lent compare two characters unique to the Gospel of John.

Last week, we were introduced to Nicodemus who comes to Jesus by night and lasts all of nine verses in his conversation with Jesus before fading into the night from where he came. This week narrates another character's encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman at the well. The contrast between Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman is striking. Given the fact that they appear one right after the other in the Gospel, we are meant to notice this contrast in all of its detail. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, an insider, a leader of the Jews. He is a man, he has a name, but he comes to Jesus by night. The character to whom we are introduced in this week's text is a Samaritan woman. She has two things going against her. One, she is a woman who has no name and two she is a religious and political outsider. She meets Jesus at noon, in full daylight. This was a brave or radical move on her part because women were not allowed to just talk to a man unless they had a chaperon. And the contrast between their conversations with Jesus is even more extraordinary. Whereas Nicodemus is unable to move beyond the confines of his religious system, the Samaritan moves outside of her comfort zone and religious expectations and engages Jesus in theological debate. Whereas Nicodemus cannot hear that Jesus is sent by God, the woman at the well hears the actual name of God, "I AM". While Nicodemus's last questioning words to Jesus expose his disbelief, "How can this be?" the last words of the woman at the well, also posed as a question, "He cannot be the Christ, can he?" lead her to witness to her whole town.

The more noticeable difference between Nicodemus and the woman at the well frequently directs our preaching of John and in particular this gospel text toward reducing Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman to that which exemplifies Jesus for the outsiders. "See, Jesus did not come for the important people of the world, like Nicodemus, but for the no-names, the down-trodden," and, as some older commentaries misinterpreted the Samaritan woman, "the five-time losers."
But then we have to wonder, could this meeting at the well really be about us, for us? If we are honest, do we truly think of ourselves as outsiders?

Are we really the downgraded of society, those who are easily cast aside, those about whom others might say, "Why is he talking to her?" Perhaps the extraordinary aspect of this text is not simply that Jesus is for her, but that she becomes a witness for him.
​
The Samaritan woman at the well is not a passive recipient of Jesus' offer. She immediately recognizes the societal barriers and boundaries that keep her in her place but at the same time challenges Jesus' authority over and against the ancestors of the faith. Like Nicodemus, she first interprets Jesus' words on a literal level, but she is able to ask for what Jesus has to offer rather than question the possibility. She is not certain that Jesus is the Christ, but she does not let that stop her from leaving behind her water jar, going into the city, and inviting the people to their own encounter with Jesus. She demonstrates what can happen when we actually engage in conversation and questions about our faith. The woman at the well shows us that faith is about negotiation, about growth and change. It is not about having all the answers.
 
If we think we have all the answers, if we are content with our doctrinal ideas, if we believe more in our own convictions that the possibility of revelation, we will be left to ponder whether or not God will choose to be made known. We will have to wonder when and if we will finally feel confident enough, secure enough, and knowledgeable enough, to invite others to "come and see." We will be forced to admit how many times we have overlooked opportunities for giving testimony about the Savior of the world, satisfied that "Jesus is for me." The Samaritan woman at the well is an example for us, not as one who claims "Jesus is for me, too," but as one whose work helps bring in the harvest.
She responds to Jesus in such a way that leads Jesus to reveal his true identity to her, and in doing so, her own identity changes. We learn from the Samaritan woman that in our own encounter with Jesus, not only are we changed, but that which God will reveal to us will change as well.  Amen.
​Sermon:  David Gooding