WORSHIP AT HOME for week commencing Sunday 22 March 2026 by Ron Mapplebeck

(with thanks to The Vine at Home )

Opening Prayer:

Come and meet me here, O Lord, Help me to notice your presence in this space, no matter how ordinary, In this holy time and place, and in every moment of my life. Come, Lord Jesus, by your Spirit I pray.

Amen

Hymn: STF  364/H&P  744 – 

O for a thousand tongues to sing

Prayers and Lord’s Prayer:Let us pray. God of love and forgiveness, I come before you today bringing all of who I am, and have been and all of who I will be. I bring my joys, my fears, my pains and my heartbreaks. I also bring all that I have done that I perhaps wish I had not done. In prayer, I bring all this to you, Lord, for I know your healing love washes me clean and refreshes me whole. In you, I am – and have always been – enough. Amen. The Lord’s Prayer:Our Father, …..

Reading: John 11:1-45

Hymn: STF no. 361/H&P no. 228 – Man of Sorrows! What a name

Reflections on the reading:

This story begins not with triumph, but with heartbreak. Mary and Martha send word to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is ill.” And then… silence. Delay. Grief. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has died. The mourning is real. The air is thick with disappointment. “If you had been here,” both sisters say, “my brother would not have died.”

This is not just a story about resurrection. It’s a story about waiting, about anger, about being honest with God in the face of deep pain. And Jesus does not scold them. He weeps. The one who holds the power of life and death does not rush past the sorrow. He stands in it, with them. He mourns. And then, he moves. Standing before the tomb, Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come out!” And a man wrapped in burial cloths stumbles into the light, not because he believed hard enough or did all the right things, but because Jesus called him.

This is discipleship, too. It’s not just following Jesus when life is easy or answers are clear.  It’s listening for the voice that calls us out: out of grief, fear, shame, despair, out of whatever has kept us wrapped up and buried. This story reminds us that God’s love doesn’t always protect us from hard things, but it never abandons us in them. That faith doesn’t mean pretending we’re fine. It means trusting that new life is possible, even when we cannot imagine it. It also invites us to ask:

What tombs are we still living in? What grave clothes are still clinging to us? What parts of our world, our community, or our own lives are longing for resurrection? And maybe just as importantly: Who are we being called to unbind? Because Jesus raises Lazarus, but he tells the community, “Unbind him, and let him go.”  Liberation is a shared act. Resurrection is personal, yes, but it’s also political, communal, and practical.

So today, consider: - What is Jesus calling you out of?

- Where do you need to speak honestly, like Mary and Martha did, about disappointment or grief?

- And who around you might need help being unbound?

- It is often said that death is the great taboo of our society. Does it help to reflect on the interwovenness of death and life? What does the death of Jesus say about the place of death as part of life?

Resurrection is not a theory. It’s a movement. A call. A moment when the impossible begins to stir. May we have the courage to come out, and the compassion to help others do the same.

Hymn: STF no.  287/H&P no. 180 – When I survey the wondrous cross

Blessing:

Until that moment, Until we cast our crowns before God, Lost in wonder, love and praise, Until then, there is much work for us to do, in service of the Kingdom of grace, Go from this moment of worship, and may you live a life of worship

Amen