The Fifth Sunday in Lent

“I shall put my Spirit within you, and you shall live!” says God to Israel.
“I am the Resurrection and the Life,” says Jesus.
And the Apostle Paul writes, “You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

God offers reconciliation, and a Spirit-filled life, that in turn leads to reconciliation with others.

I chose this date to preach without looking at the Lectionary, and was taken aback to find Ezekiel! Known to contain strange things, including rattling bones and zombie armies, Ezekiel is one of those biblical texts that should be approached with the Holy Spirit on the one hand and a glass of spirits in the other. (I assure you I didn’t resort to the latter!)

Ezekiel’s vision is of dead bones and their creepy reanimation. These are a vision of God’s people lamenting in despair:

“Our bones are dried up;”
“Our hope is lost.” 
“We are cut off completely.”

We know that same despair. When our lives are like dry bones. We are lost. We feel cut off from God.

God’s response to the Israelites, and us?

“I will put my Spirit within you, and you Shall Live.”

Dry bones coming alive. Life. Hope.

Ezekiel later also has a vision of the unification of two tribes, a uniting of God’s people. Both these visions promise God’s Spirit that leads to new life – a reconciliation with God and each other.

The Israelites are not so different to us. We fall away from God. Forget God’s ways. And reconciliation is almost always initiated by God. He calls us to, or back to, himself, to His life. Reconciliation is the heart of God, as the Apostle Paul tells us: “God was, in Christ, reconciling the World to himself.”

During Lent, we look towards the Cross – that greatest symbol of Reconciliation. One of our Eucharistic prayers tells us, “Christ opened wide his arms upon the cross.” A gesture of loving welcome to us and death for Him. In today’s Eucharist prayer, we affirm God’s heart of reconciliation: “When we were still far off, you met us in your Son and brought us home.” A father welcoming his prodigal child to a new Life.

LIFE is at the heart of Jesus’ declaration in the story of Lazarus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

This story is a cascade of emotions – hope, disappointment, pain, anxiety, worry anguish, grief. Even Jesus weeps. But it is into these whirling emotions that Jesus speaks these timeless words of Christian hope. The words of hope at the start of every Anglican funeral service.

But this Life, that Jesus describes, is not just for the hereafter.
Jesus continues, saying, “He who lives and believes in me, will never die.”
This is not life after death.
This is Life amidst life.
Before and after death.
Here and now. And hereafter.
Jesus repeatedly affirms this Life in John’s Gospel: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE;” “I have come that you may have life, and life abundant.”

The life Christ offers is one filled with His Spirit – what Paul in our epistle today calls the “Life in the Spirit, not the flesh.”

Consider the enormity of this:
The life we are living now, the Spirit filled life is Eternal life.
Here and now.
Eternity lived within temporal space and time.
Inhabitants of Earth, Citizens of Heaven!

What does this life in the Spirit look like? That Eternal Life, here and now? It is impossible to answer that question fully in a short Anglican sermon. But Jesus and the New Testament tell us what life in the Spirit looks like.

Today, I will just pick up one aspect of this life. 
Reconciliation.
The Lenten theme of these Sundays.

We live our Spirit-filled life by being reconciled to God – and to others! You cannot have one without the other! Jesus affirms this in the two greatest commandments: love God and love your neighbour, which includes loving your enemy. In Matthew’s gospel, he tells us “Leave your gifts to God at the altar… and be reconciled to the person who has something against you.”

We discover one aspect of the Spirit filled life of reconciliation in the NT church. The Apostle Paul tells us that “There is neither Jew nor Greek… slave nor free… male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Centuries of racism, sexism, social prejudices and divisions… ended. Through reconciliation in Christ. So today, we who live Spirit-filled lives are called to reconciliation across the barriers that divide our society.

I experienced this reconciliation back in Sri Lanka as an undergraduate in the university Christian fellowship. We met as strangers from the different hostile ethnic groups in Sri Lanka’s deeply divided society. We spoke different languages, belonged to different faculties, and different church denominations. Most of us had experienced no friendships with people outside our own narrow cultural groups. But we were challenged to pursue our calling to be reconciled within the body of Christ.

So we tried. We did bible studies in three languages, translating for each other. We transliterated songs into our different alphabets, so we could sing together. There were misunderstandings, hurts, conflicts – but we slowly discovered that God had knitted us into a family. We shared meals, laughter and clothes. An occasional romance. Our university colleagues, keeping strictly to their ethnic groups, were astonished and intrigued.

Without today’s technology, back then we lost contact when we left university. But during Covid, zoom reunited us. We saw each other after decades of separation. Some wept. Now, on a Whatsapp group, this is once more the “go to” family of God. We chat regularly. We share things with the each other we wouldn’t elsewhere. We zoom monthly to chat, and pray for each other (in different languages). There are still tears and laughter. I have never known another group like this. And I am still so grateful that we were challenged to take seriously a journey of reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Society today is still deeply riven. Sectarianism, Racism, Sexism, Class.
When did we last chat – genuinely – to someone of a different ethnicity or social background?

I often wonder what would happen in Northern Ireland if politicians and leaders – who claim to be Christian – took Christ, and his call to reconciliation, seriously. Watching Martin McGuiness’s funeral, I was moved to hear a Presbyterian minister describe him as a close friend with whom he read scripture and prayed.

Our cynicism often prevents us from seeing the miracles of Reconciliation in front of us.

Four years ago, in Belfast, our car was stolen. I had a major operation due in two weeks, followed by treatment. My mother went into hospital for several weeks. We had no car for five months. We raged. We heard phrases such as “scum of the earth,” and “they should be locked up and the key thrown away!” 

Then, suddenly, in the midst of our anger, we were asked to consider a Restorative justice process with two of lads. God’s Spirit made our angry selves say yes! 

So we met one of lads before Covid. I can only say that God’s Spirit surprised us.
We were moved with compassion when we met this nervous lad. About 16 years, he was on the autistic spectrum. He had lost his uncle, who had been a father to him, to cancer, so was visibly shaken by our story and struggle. Our bitterness drained away. He told us he was sorry and we told him we forgave him. It was healing for us. We prayed it would be so for him as he agreed to go for counselling. His mother, who was constantly raging at him, asked us why we were being kind to him!

If we let God’s Spirit within us lead us down paths of reconciliation – He will do things beyond our expectations. I can guarantee you that. It will bless and transform us. (Having said that – reconciling with my husband after a fight is strangely difficult – he is so much better at it although I wear a collar!)

Let me close with a thought from Rowan Williams’ Holy Living:

“Human life is lived in the flesh, in an assortment of dysfunctional relationships… manipulative, self-serving, self-aggrandising. The life of the Spirit is always about life-giving relationships. When our flesh is so inhabited by the life of God, it becomes transfigured and transfiguring.

Life in his Spirit leads us to unexpected places and unexpected people in Reconciliation. It always has and always will.

My closing prayer is:

“May we who share Christ’s body live his risen life;
we who drink his cup, bring life to others;
we whom the Spirit lights, give light to the World.”