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Intercessions for Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A- 6 April 2014

The Raising of Lazarus by Davezelenka (commons wikimedia)

The Raising of Lazarus by Davezelenka (commons wikimedia)

The Collect

Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his  victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

¶ The Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Ezekiel 37.1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.’

 

Psalm 130

Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice; * let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
If you, Lord, were to mark what is done amiss, * O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, * so that you shall be feared.
I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord, more than the night watch for the morning, * more than the night watch for the morning.
O Israel, wait for the Lord, * for with the Lord there is mercy;
With him is plenteous redemption * and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

Second Reading: Romans 8.6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law – indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

 

Gospel Reading: John 11.1-45

A certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.’ After saying this, he told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ 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.’ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

The RSCM’s Sunday by Sunday had this comment in March 2008:

‘These are indeed Lazarus days and the world is half-asleep in confusion, tossing and turning restlessly, drugged by distractions and dazed by idiotic priorities. Jesus must shout, must cry out in a loud voice to waken us. He weeps. But these are not wasted tears; these tears and his loud cries will not go unanswered. And his words for Lazarus are meant for us all: ‘Unbind them, let them go free’

 

Prayers of Intercession

Let us pray to God, the giver of life in this world and in his eternal Kingdom.

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, you sent your Son to dwell amongst us so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. We ask you now to send your Spirit abroad throughout your Church, so that, filled with your life-giving Spirit, we might bear witness  to your saving words, not just in words of our own, but in deeds. Grant us to awake out of sleep, out of death, into faith and thus to pass from darkness to light, from lethargy to power, from blindness to sight, and from allegiance to love.

Breathe on us, breath of God, and fill us with life anew: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority

Lord, time and again you give us the opportunity for newness of life. At this time of the annual miracle of spring, inspire our human institutions with the possibility of new beginnings  as we see the vivid metaphor of green shoots sprouting everywhere from twigs which we had thought dead. Lord of life,  bring the young green corn. Lord of the dance, bring  the young green corn divinely springing, the young green corn for ever singing.

Breathe on us, breath of God, and fill us with life anew: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The local community

Lord, breathe new life into our communities. Where they have settled into gentle decline and decay, rouse them to new efforts to go a little beyond the frontier of sensible appearances to see the divine welling up and showing through. Where our surroundings seem mundane and tired through over-familiarity, help us to see the people and places around us with new eyes, full of the creative energy and desire for renewal of your spring. For when we see ourselves in a way that’s right, we will live in a valley of love and delight.

Breathe on us, breath of God, and fill us with life anew: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶Those who suffer

Lord, give the Spirit of life to those whose hearts are broken by sorrow. Give new heart to those who find themselves in the vale of tears or the slough of despond, that they may find renewed strength for the journey towards the celestial city. And comfort those who mourn, that they may know that death is not the end.

Breathe on us, breath of God, and fill us with life anew: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The communion of saints

Lord, we thank you for the lives of all those who have awakened to your glory in heaven. May we be inspired by their lives and seek to live to your praise and glory.

Breathe on us, breath of God, and fill us with life anew: in your mercy, hear our prayer

 


Copyright acknowledgement: Collect (5th of Lent) © 1980 CBFCE; Archbishops’ Council 1999 / Church of the Province of Southern Africa Invitation to Confession (5th Sun Lent until Weds of Holy Week) © 1988 Continuum (Mowbray) (Adapted) Some material included in this service is copyright: © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA.Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops’ Council 2000. Gospel Acclamation (5th Sun. of Lent until Weds of Holy Week) © The Archbishops’ Council 2002.

Additional  prayer suggested by Visual Liturgy for this week.

Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.
Christ humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and given him the name that is above every name.
All: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.

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