Today’s sermon is about First Presbyterian Church. It is about us, as a congregation, which is in transition. In this season of Lent, we are all getting ready for "the" resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we celebrate on Easter. And so, this is a fitting context for our sermon about this church during an interim period in between pastors. We, too, are getting ready for a "new thing," which God is doing in our midst.

The passages for today speak about new life in this age, not about life eternal.
Ezekiel is told by the Lord to prophesy to dry bones about the restoration of Israel to its homeland. This was an event within history, not an event for afterlife. Jesus raised Lazarus, believing all the time that his good friend would be raised by God "in the resurrection on the last day." However, he raised Lazarus to live again in history, not beyond history. Paul wrote that followers of Jesus can live, though their mortal bodies be dead with sin, when the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the grave lived in them. In all three passages God is about giving new life within history. The resurrection we celebrate on Easter is about life in another age, but these three passages are about a form of resurrection in this life.

Lazarus was really dead, and so was the whole people of ancient Israel.
Martha protested to Jesus that her brother’s body would have a terrible stench, when Jesus commanded that Lazarus’ tomb be opened up. The Lord tells Ezekiel that the dry bones represent a people, which has been "slain." We are definitely talking about dead people. In the case of the valley of dry bones, the Lord tells the prophet that Israel, held captive as exiles in Babylon, is like a valley of dried up bones, and their hope is lost. They are cut off completely. When people have been forcibly removed from their homeland and carried away as slaves by a conquering army, they face death "up close and personal.".

But, Jesus tells his disciples that he was glad that he was not present to help Lazarus in his illness because God would reveal divine power so great as even to raise a dead person.(4-6 and 14-15). Likewise, Ezekiel wanted to communicate to ancient Israel that her Babylonian captivity was the result of her sins. God intended it in order to punish Israel and prepare it for a new future. Paul wants the congregation in Rome to believe that its members can have new life, even though their mortal bodies are dying because of their sin. They can have this, when the Spirit of the one, who raised Jesus from the grave, lives within them.

All three passages teach us that the people being addressed are in need of salvation.
In John’s Gospel the call of God is to believe in God’s son, through whom God has chosen to save the world. Those who do not believe in him are condemned already. Ancient Israel has been judged by a righteous God, who will not be mocked when the people of God chase after other gods. Paul is telling his audience that their sin has brought death-like existence to them. Those addressed in these passages are people, who need to be saved from a death that separates them from the God, who loves them.

We have said that this sermon is about First Presbyterian Church during a transition between pastors.
This does not mean that our congregation is dying. This does not mean that we are being punished by God for our sinfulness. It does mean that we are "in between," and being "in between" is an uncomfortable place to reside. We do not want to stay in this place very long.

It is at that point that the texts may hold a word from the Lord for us in our time of transition. It was very uncomfortable for Jesus’ disciples, not to mention the sisters of Lazarus, when Jesus delayed in coming to heal his friend. Likewise, it was very uncomfortable for ancient Israel to have to endure a time of exile before God restored the people to the homeland. The congregation in Rome was made up of uneasy people, when Paul wrote about how their sins had brought death to their mortal bodies.

Times of transition are times of change, and for that reason alone we are left with feelings of discomfort, when we find ourselves in the midst of transition. One of the things the people in times of transition in today’s passages were asked to do was "to take a good look" at what was going on. Exiles had lots of time to remember how their worship of false gods had caused them to turn their back on the only sure source of their security. Jesus’ disciples and Mary and Martha were forced to come face to face with the reality of death in human life, when Jesus did not come in time to help. The members of the church in Rome were required to take stock of what their former lives of sin had done to destroy true life.

Time for discernment is a very valuable gift from God, even when it comes in a form that could suggest divine judgment. But, it takes a change of heart on our parts to perceive the gift in times of transition. We at First Presbyterian Church are passing through such a time. With God’s help we will be able to take this time as a gift, a gift in which we can pray, and meditate on what new thing God may have in mind for us in the future of our church.

When God called Ezekiel, God "led him" all around the valley that was full of dry bones. The Lord wanted the prophet "to see" what was going on. If the people were ever to be ready for a resurrection, they would have to come to terms with their reality. Also, and more importantly, they would have to come to terms with the one, who had the power to breathe new life into their dry bones.

The message in the passages for us is that we have to get ready for a resurrection.
The people of ancient Israel were being called upon by the prophet to come to terms with their past and their present, so that they might be prepared to go back home, when the Lord opened the door for them. There would be other false gods back in the homeland, when they returned. How ready were they to deal with those secondary gods, whose power had only recently caused their ancestors to turn their backs on the God of Israel? They needed a time of transition to study this, to come to know their own hearts, and to learn how to be attuned to the voice of God in each turn along the way.

We have been trying to listen for a word from the Lord during our interim. The Session recently completed a mission study, and it adopted a Mission Statement to guide us in our search for a pastor. Many of you participated in a small group, a Sunday school class, a division meeting, or a written survey to help us collectively discern the movement of God’s Spirit among us, as we look into the new thing God may be doing with us.

Very soon a committee of the congregation will notify us that they have a slate of nominees to serve as the Pastor Nominating Committee, which they want to present to you for your consideration in electing them. That committee, then, can begin the process of actually searching for a new pastor.

We area doing some very critical things to get ready for the resurrection that God has planned for our church, as we seek to look beyond the horizon of our interim period into a new future. These things are so important, and the time it has taken and will take to complete them is, Biblically speaking, a necessity.

In God’s infinite wisdom we are provided with such times of transition as a gift. The times may not seem like that, but resurrection in this life only comes after experiences that seem to us abrupt endings. We really are being called to get ready for a resurrection.

It is a wonderful thing to believe the message in today’s passages. They ask us to believe that God will renew life for us within history. Yes, we look forward to the celebration of Easter, when we sing praises to God for eternal life, such as given to our Lord that first day of the week after Good Friday. However, God has historically been about the business of restoring life to wholeness, when it has undergone shifts and detours.

Life in a congregation, when it loses its pastor, or even pastors, can seem like a detour, or certainly a shift in business as usual. The amazing gift within the time of transition, however, is that God is inviting us to use it for learning, for taking stock, for looking around to see what is going on, so that we may be prepared for a very new thing within our history, which God may be about to do. Let’s embrace this time with all its challenges, as such a gift.