“Unbind the Church’” by The Rev. Kaji Douša

In the Gospel of John, we learn about the story of Lazarus, who had died, and was bound up with bandages and placed in a tomb, lovingly. But then Jesus came to him and woke him up from the sleep of death, and as Lazarus came out of the tomb, he had to be unbound before he could walk again. And I think about how so many of us experience stories of resurrection, where we, too, need to be unbound from the sleep of death, into a new form of life. And I wonder, is that true, perhaps, in any of our churches that need to be unbound from the ways of death and prepared for life everlasting? Which might mean that death is OK, of course, death is alright for a Christian – but next is new life. And what does that mean for your community? I love the opportunity and the hope knowing that God will always carry us through death, that our resurrection is a promise, from Jesus Christ. But if we have resurrection around us, are we willing to take off the bandages, or do we want to stay in the tomb? Amen.