Members of the Philippine UPR Watch today joined a beautiful ecumenical mass at the Church of Saint-Germain de Genève in Switzerland, which was officiated by parish priest Rev. Jean Lanoy, Iglesia Filipina Independiente Bishop Antonio Ablon, Rev. Patricia Lisson of United Church of Canada, and Rev. Sadie Stone of the United Methodist Church in the US.
Here is Rev. Sadie Stone’s sermon during the mass:
March 26, 2023
Preached at St Germain Church
Geneva, Switzerland
John 11:1-45, Ezekiel 37:1-14
These two scripture passages are quite the pairing one from Ezekiel and one from John
In both cases we can ask the question that God ask Ezekiel
Can these bones live?
The answer is yes
It’s the question we ask at the end of our rope,
when the storm is raging,
when another is arrested on trumped up charges
When everything around us seems to be on fire.
It’s the question we ask when hope slips through like sand in a bottle,
when the mockingbirds stop singing,
when the news reporter leads with another mass shooting in my country.
Or of another extrajudicial killing, of another disappearance in the Philippines.
Can these bones live?
It’s the question we ask when the depression moves in,
making herself at home, making a mess of it all.
It’s the question we ask
when we’re not sure if Easter will come.
Will it be Lent forever?
Will the sun ever rise?
Will this hope lead to something?
Can these bones ever live?
Can these bones live, is a question that I’ve been asking a lot lately, as conditions around the globe worsen. With more death, arrests, and targeting of vulnerable communities.
As we struggle to get governments and institutions to take seriously the voices of the masses, and of the people crying out.
As workers strike across the globe for better conditions.
We know that these bones can live. We know the answer is yes.
But even as we live into this yes, our story of Lazarus reminds us that we can weep over the death, destruction and loss all the same. This story of Lazarus is an interesting one because people have been being shown the many things that Jesus can do; they know that Jesus can heal Lazarus because they’ve seen Jesus do it. In fact, in last week’s gospel story Jesus does just that, he heals a man who was once blind.
It is why they so desperately called Jesus for help. Jesus come quickly please, our brother Lazarus needs you
And Jesus doesn’t heed the call; at least not right away
He waits, and in his waiting, Lazarus not only gets sicker but he dies.
And when Jesus does finally show up two days later, people are angry and grieving and through their grief and their anger they turn to Jesus and proclaim, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.”
Can these bones live?
Rev. Danielle Shroyer shares this reflection:
If God personally came to my door and asked me if this world was going to make it, depending on the day and what had just happened I’d be inclined to lean towards no.
How will we not fracture under all of this pressure, all of this collective anxiety wreaking havoc on every institution and system we have? The good news for us is that God doesn’t seem as interested in that question of whether or not the world is going to make it.
That’s not the question god has for Ezekiel. God doesn’t ask Ezekiel is the world going to make? Instead, God asks something else entirely: God asks “Can these bones live?”
God doesn’t ask if it’s likely, or if the forecast looks promising.
And, perhaps best of all, God doesn’t say, “Do you know how you’re going to get out of this?” Because God knows, Ezekiel feels just as overwhelmed by that question as we would.
God asks: “Can these bones live?”
This is a question not of probability, but possibility.
What God wants to know is: “Can you see past the rubbish, the damage, the crisis, the violence, the signs of decay… and can you imagine that life still lingers there?” Can you look past all that has happened, all the hurt and pain, and imagine a different tomorrow. Imagine the world as it should be? Do you dare to believe—and even trust—that the power of life does not ever go underground in such a way that God cannot revive it in glory?” And that’s a powerful question that we are being asked in the face of the world that exists at our fingertips.
The face of the world that we are fighting to change and bring about a peace that is rooted in a justice for all people, especially those on the margins
I’m in Geneva, this week because of my work with the International Coalition of the Human rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
And over and over I marvel at the way this movement keeps us connected and working to revive this world for glory and goodness
I was reflecting on how I know my fellow Geneva guests this morning who are worshipping with us.
Mervin Toquero from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines was one of the first people I ever met in the Philippines due the California-Nevada United Methodist’s churches connection with NCCP.
I have now been in meetings with Cristina Palabay on three different continents.
I discovered this week, that I know Bishop Antonio Ablon’s brother, Father Chris, who was my guide in Mindanao in 2016, and who I have had the good fortune to connect with over the years.
I prayed for Dyan and her partner in January when they were kidnapped and disappeared, sharing her story with an international audience and now here we all are together in this space.
A reminder that our collective struggles, our collective grief, our collective witnesses are what binds us, across continents and languages and faith traditions.
Many years after God asked Ezekiel the question “Can these bones live?”
Mary and Martha were faced with answering this question in the face of two contradictory realities: their belief in Jesus, and a brother who was now dead. They understand enough to know that Jesus brings life. That’s why they were so angry with Jesus, that he didn’t come sooner to save, their brother from death. “If you had come sooner our brother would still be alive.”
But now this question of their faith asks more of them: “Do you have faith that life is possible, always?” Even in the midst of the human rights violations that surround us. Even when death, and suffering are far too great of a reality? Can these bones live even then?
Jesus resurrects Lazarus for many reasons. But I want to believe that a good part of his purpose was to answer that question for all of us who will exist on this side of Easter. Can we trust that life is always possible in God? Can we find hope, and even faith, when we are sitting in a valley of dry bones and literal death?
God doesn’t ask us to believe the situation will get better. God asks us to believe that life itself will not, in the end, cower under the pressure of human destruction. God asks all of us to be committed to attacking the systems of injustice that bring about human destruction
To dedicate our lives to serving the people. We must find the hope and faith and the courage to keep fighting for a better more just world even when we are sitting in the valley of dry bones
Even when it seems too large of a burden to bear
When Jesus arrives to Mary and Martha’s there is a remarkable thing we should note. They are not alone in their grief and in their mourning. They are surrounded by a community that holds them and loves them and supports them even when they think they cannot go on
And even Jesus joins in the weeping.
This is the way of the church, of international solidarity, of a network of support that breathes into a tired weary soul, life and breathe, when it seems they are too weary to continue on. Because to transform this world, to make these bones live it is going to take all of us
Ultimately abundant life persists.
Even when we have that trust, God asks for more.
God commands Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones.
Jesus told those gathered to unbind Lazarus and let him go.
This ridiculous, radical hope, is ours not only to hold, but to proclaim.
That we believe in a world where bones can live, where justice can prevail, where peace persists. And it is our collective work to bring about the kingdom of God as Jesus came to teach us about.
CAN THESE BONES LIVE? The answer is yes! The work is not easy but we must persist in our collective work together because the world depends on it.
Amen.