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2330 South Jefferson Street
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2330 South Jefferson Street
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FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT MARCH 13, 2005
As Christ cares, we care…
We care about
all people.
ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00
A.M. + Indicates the people standing ENTRANCE
Words of Welcome, Registration of
Attendance and Announcements
Bill Davidson
GS: I will do my
best to be friendly and helpful.
GS: I will do my
best to be considerate and caring.
GS: I will do my
best to be a sister to every Girl Scout.
GS: I will do my
best to respect authority.
GS: I will do my
best to use resources wisely.
GS: I will do my
best to be courageous and strong and to make the world a better
GS: I will do my
best to respect myself and others. PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Scouting Report and
Recognition of Troops and Leaders
+Hymn
463
Lord, Speak to Me
Canonbury
THOSE SERVING TODAY:
The Altar Flowers are
Given *CHILDREN (AGES 3 through 1st GRADE), may meet the acolyte to recess to Children’s Church. Please ask your child to line up behind the acolyte who will lead all children out together. After the worship service, parents must pick up their child in the Children’s Department; children will not be allowed to leave the room until their parents arrive. WELCOME! We're glad to have all who have joined us for this time of worship. Especially to our guests and visitors, we welcome you to South Roanoke and to our fellowship. We invite those who have no church home to make South Roanoke your church and add your witness to ours. NEXT WEEK’S SERMON, He Comes To Win, will be based on Matthew 27:11-66. Please read and study this text this week. THE LENTEN WREATH OF THORNS: Each Sunday during Lent one candle is extinguished as the day of Jesus’ crucifixion and death draws near. The Christ Candle is extinguished on Holy Thursday during Holy Week. The wreath’s growing darkness signifies the sacrifice our Lord made for each of us and focuses our personal and spiritual preparation during this Season of Lent. PASTOR’S INQUIRY CLASS continues through April 10 9:45-10:30 a.m. each Sunday in the library. All who are curious about the United Methodist Church or want to learn more about the Christian faith are invited! THE ADULT FELLOWSHIP GROUP will meet for a catered lunch on Thursday, March 17 at 12:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Michaux Chopski, a gemologist, will present a program on how gemstones have played a roll in various historical events. Please sign up on the board by the church office if you would like to attend. Cost of lunch is $7.00 per person. THE CONGREGATION expresses sympathy and concern to Kathryn Metcalf Snead in the recent death of her brother, Earl Hoy of Callaway, VA. HOLY THURSDAY COMMUNION SERVICE will be held on March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary. There will be a Prayer Vigil on Friday, March 25 from 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. The United Methodist Men will see that someone is in the church the entire time so that no one will be alone in the church. Please sign up on the sheet in the narthex for prayer times. You may pray at the church or at home. More than one can sign up for each time.
THE DEADLINE FOR ARTICLES for the
April issue of the Tower Times is
March 15. Send articles to Joe Kennedy, or email to joesrumc@aol.com.
Articles can be sent at any time prior to the deadline. SERMON March 13, 2005
5th Sunday in Lent What Do
You Say to Dead Bones? Dry, desperate, and in despair. That’s the condition the people of God found themselves when the prophet Ezekiel is called to speak to them a Word from God. Ezekiel’s vision of the condition of the people of God is almost reminiscent of Death Valley, the hottest, driest, and lowest place you can find. Death Valley is one of the hottest places on Earth with an average summer temperature well over 100 degrees. It is the driest spot in North America with average annual rainfall of less than 2 inches. It is located 282 feet below sea level, the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere. If you have ever been to Death Valley then you can imagine something of the experience of Ezekiel when the hand of the Lord brought him to that valley in his vision—a valley full of very dry bones. These are the bones, says God, of the whole people of God; the people of God who cry out “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” This scene represents the pain brought on the whole people of God who through the years had been forcibly removed from the Promised Land. First the nation of Israel in 721 BC by the Assyrians, then the nation of Judah in 598 BC by the Babylonians—the whole people of God exiled in a foreign place away from their homes, their city, their temple, all of which had been destroyed. This life in exile, this life so far away from the Promised Land, this life that feels so far away from God, has left them hopeless and in such despair. It was a national pain, the pain of the people of God who suffer the consequences of their disobedience, the pain of a people who by their own wrong choices set in motion the working out of human sin that, once begun, must always run its course. It is the pain of a people who feel they don’t know God anymore. It was a pain, a hopelessness, a despair they felt right down to their bones. A valley of dry bones, bones everywhere. A dramatic stark image that illustrates the pain of the whole people of God. It will also become an illustration of the intention and power of God to deliver them from that pain. Have you ever felt that pain, you know, deep down in your bones: cut off, hopeless, despair, like you just don’t know God anymore? Well, when you go your own way and when you make wrong choices, the sin that results runs it own inevitable course, you can’t avoid the pain. When you cut yourself off from God it should be no surprise at all that that is exactly what it feels like—cut off, hopeless, despair right down to your bones. If you have ever made a wrong choice in your life that set in motion consequences that affected so many others you never intended, you know that pain. If you have ever turned your back on God to go your own way and have suffered the consequences of that choice ever since, you’ve been there. If you have ever enjoyed a bit too much the wealth and luxury afforded you in this culture without much thought about the poor and those who are denied the basics of live in most of the rest of the world, well, get ready, because that pain will come—that’s exactly what happened to the whole people of God. They enjoyed too much the wealth that moment in history had afforded them—they settling in to that lifestyle so well, right down to their bones, they neglected the needs of the poor, the orphan, and the stranger. In their luxury they became weak and complacent, prime targets for takeover by a hostile neighbor. And great indeed was their fall. When they were carried away to a foreign place their inner resources of spiritual strength were too much filled with the things of the culture—they had already forgotten God right down to their bones. Just when they needed all the inner strength and courage God could give them they felt abandoned, betrayed, desolate, and dry. It was painful, so very painful that they cried, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” They just didn’t know God anymore. Ezekiel looks over that vast valley of dry bones and wonders at the Lord’s question, “Can these bones live?” In Ezekiel’s vision God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones—to speak God’s word to that wasteland. Ezekiel must have wondered what in the world to say to dead bones. Now can you imagine what it must have felt to Ezekiel to stand in the middle of all those bones and say, “O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, ‘I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.’” Ezekiel proclaimed to them the Word of the Lord that affirms God’s love for them. God still loves them; God had not utterly forgotten and abandoned them. At this Word of God Ezekiel heard something, perhaps not unlike this (all snap fingers) “a noise, a rattling and the bones came together, bone to its bone…there were sinews on them and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.” (finger snapping stops) He looked around there they were, human forms lying all around where once there were nothing but dry bones. But there was something missing. That’s when God told Ezekiel to proclaim before the inanimate beings prostrate before him, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” And the very breath of God came into them. They lived and they all stood on their feet all around him—the whole people of God. They live and they know God again. This is a sign that the people of God will return to the Promised Land. But more than that, they will no longer be a rebellious people—they will again be the people who are incapable of doing anything else but the will of God. As God first breathed into Adam and Eve so God breathed into those inanimate beings—a great gift of God’s grace. So God said, “I will put my spirit within you and you shall live. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act…I will put my breath in you that you shall know that I am the Lord.” Have you seen any news reports lately about Death Valley? It seems that all that rain in the west has had quite an effect on the landscape of Death Valley. If you go to Death Valley today or call up a picture from the internet, you will discover that that vast wasteland has been dramatically transformed. Flowers, yellow flowers as far as the eye can see. That refreshingly plentiful water was all that was needed to transform that dry and barren place to a beautiful paradise. That’s all it needed. At my last appointment in Poquoson (near Newport News) a family in our congregation experienced the premature birth of a child. Born 3 months early and weighing barely a pound little Maddie spent almost three months in the special care nursery at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk. When she was finally released to her mother’s arms her parents were given very specific instructions for her care, as you can imagine, since her finer muscle control needed to mature just a bit more. Soon after coming home to her family she began to have difficulty—so much so Mom said she turned blue for what felt like an eternity. In that moment do you know what Dad did? Just as he had been instructed Maddie’s Dad put his mouth to hers and breathed into her one breath. That one breath was all she needed. That one act of love is exactly what she needed. So what on earth to you say to dead bones? When despair is so deep and anxiety so high that you feel you don’t know God anymore, what do you need more than anything else? You need the Word of God. You need to hear again that God still loves you. That’s what you need to hear. That’s what you need to say to others. As refreshing rain dramatically transforms barren land, as a father gives his child exactly what she needs just when she needs it, so God longs to breath the breath of life into you and this community. You see, there is hope; there is an answer to despair for dry bones in the valley, even for flowers in Death Valley, even you. Listen for the Word of God and take it into your heart. Encourage another with that same Word every chance you get. God does still love you. God does still breathe life into God’s people—such life that you feel it right down to your bones. William G. Davidson
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