Unburdening: Giving Up Our Lives Fifth Sunday of Lent Ezekiel 37:1-6 & John 11:17-27 March 13, 2016 ~ Rev. Jo Ramsey

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1 Unburdening: Giving Up Our Lives Fifth Sunday of Lent Ezekiel 37:1-6 & John 11:17-27 March 13, 2016 ~ Rev. Jo Ramsey I don t know about your basement, but ours is pretty crowded. (This is actual footage from our basement. Notice the bird cage, spinning wheel, costumes.) Some of this stuff is actually our stuff. But, most of what fills our basement isn t even ours! Now that we ve lost all of our parents and grandparents, we have accrued a large pile of possessions---boxes and bins of documents, yearbooks, old photos, diaries, dresses, linens and even dilapidated antiques that occupy nearly every nook and cranny of our cellar. Some of this stuff is a burden to us---left over things that no one threw away---you know--fuzzy photographs, broken Christmas ornaments, torn bed sheets. Some of this stuff is truly treasure to us---things to be saved and cherished--- mementos we want to hold on to because they capture the essence of someone we have loved or an event we remember fondly. This carnival glass was my great-grandmother Josie s, for whom I am named. The problem is---all this stuff keeps us from enjoying our wonderful basement. Ok, it s not so wonderful, but it could be! So, periodically, James and I head downstairs and spend some time sorting, saving, discarding and donating. In fact, in January we shredded 60 years worth of my in-laws tax returns starting with How about you? How is your basement looking these days, or your garage, attic, spare bedroom or storage unit? Do you have clutter that is crowding or burdening you? What do you need to get rid of?

2 This is precisely what we ve been asking ourselves this lent here at East Union. But, we ve been spring cleaning our spiritual basements and our emotional attics. We are unburdening ourselves of the jumble of old junk which burdens yesterday, the clutter which crowds today, and the stuff we store just in case we need it tomorrow. Funny thing is, we ve figured out that our real basement corresponds pretty closely to our soul basements---that is, we ve inherited as many spiritual hand-me-downs as we have tangible hand me downs! The bottom line is---spiritual decluttering is about letting go, unburdening, paring down to make room for something new. What has God asked us to give up this lent? Control, that we might be free to respond to God s leading. Expectations, that we might be free to enjoy life as it really is. Superiority, that we might be free to hear God s call. Enemies, that we might be free to forgive. Giving it up that we might be FREE!... Today, we are considering what it means to give up our lives. In all four Gospels, Jesus tells us that whoever tries to save his life, will lose it, and whoever loses his life for Jesus sake, will find it. He explains to his disciples, If you want to become my followers, deny yourselves and take up your cross and follow me. But what does that really mean?! Honestly, it s hard to know We are so far removed from those early days of Christianity. Back then, the threat was very real. Within months, Jesus would face his own death, and by the end of the first century, every one of his disciples would be martyred. Now days, here in the United States, it s unlikely that we will be asked to lay down our lives for our faith, unless we somehow meet up with Isis. Perhaps we must only be willing to do so if the time ever comes. Jesus wants us to understand that true discipleship requires great risk, commitment and sacrifice. Faith is a matter of life and death. On the other hand, my friend Bob, who sat next to me Latin class, felt the life of faith was no life at all. The Christians he knew were rigid and repressed, joyless and judgmental because they denied themselves the things they loved and enjoyed. They were only half alive, or mostly dead depending on how you look at it---christian zombies stumbling through life until they got to heaven, like a bad episode of The Walking Dead.

3 That s a terrible thought, isn t it?! Terrible and wrong. Jesus doesn t want us to wander around half dead---burying ourselves under the burden of shame and guilt, living in black and white, suffering through until death, like poor Hester Prynne and Rev. Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Walking with Jesus is about living, not dying. Jesus wants to give us life, not death New life, eternal life, life that is authentic and real! Filled with joy and hope! Jesus wants us to live in color, to live life abundantly, to take hold of the life that is truly life! This journey starts with Jesus, not us. He reaches out to us with grace. He invites us into a deeper and wider place...god s infinite, compassionate, loving embrace. Like the song says, when we run into God s arms, unashamed because of mercy, we will be overwhelmed by God s beauty. It s like waking up from hibernation, surfacing after a long dive. Grace is the air we breathe. Mercy is our daily bread. There is no turning back now to live without this love is not living. We have a decision to make. Will we give up our lives to God? Will we make Jesus the Lord of our lives? The task at hand is hard work. We must confess the sins and sorrows that separate us from God. We must let go of trying to be better, richer, smarter than other people. We give up our attachment to the poor substitutes we use to make us feel alive--- the distractions, possessions, addictions. Everything is washed away by God s grace. As we clear out the debris from our hearts, we make room for the Holy Spirit to move in and dwell within us. This is the beginning of eternal life. Jesus says whoever believes in him has eternal life. The verb is in the present tense. It s not just something for one day far in the future. When we give up our lives to God, we become part of something eternal God s story. We are part of something bigger than ourselves, bigger than time itself.

4 Ezekiel and Lazarus understand this. Ezekiel stands in a valley of dry bones. Lazarus lies in a stone cold tomb. Death has won. All is lost.. But no! You see God has the power to bring new life where there is only death. New life is always possible with God no matter what time it is! The Spirit can sweep over dry bones, and bring them to life, just like God did at the beginning of time, just like he is always doing in our lives. It may seem too late, like God didn t show up in time. But, nothing is impossible with God! God can use the debris from our past to craft our future. He is endlessly creative, making beauty from ashes, hope from despair. That s the thing with God He is always doing a new thing, always bringing new life, always inviting us to leave our tombs. Many years ago a man name Millard Fuller walked out of his tomb. At 29, Fuller had it all---the fancy job, the big car, the pretty wife. But it felt empty and threatened to consume his soul. His relationship with his wife was crumbling. Then one day, Fuller walked away from his life as a successful businessman to devote himself to the poor. Together, he and his wife Linda developed a system of using donated money and materials, volunteer labor and sweat equity to build interest-free homes for low-income people. Anybody know what that organization is called? Habitat for Humanity! Fuller literally gave up his life to God. By the time he died in 2009, Habitat had built more than 300,000 homes in more than 100 countries. Pastor James started the Thousands Island Area Habitat for Humanity in 1993 when we lived in Watertown, NY. Fuller often shared his favorite response from a mother who received a Habitat house: Being in this house is like we was dead and buried, and then we got dug up! the woman said. Her resurrection wasn t so different from Fuller s own. What grave does God want you to leave behind? What new life is ready to burst forth in you? How will you give up your life into God s hands that you might truly live? How you can claim eternal life here and now

5 One day, far in the future, all of our endings and beginnings will meld into eternity. Even now, we have a taste of it. On that day, we shall truly live. For God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither will there be pain or sorrow, anguish or mourning anymore, for the former things will pass away. Our God is making all things new. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.