March 22, 2026 – The Fifth Sunday in Lent
The Rev. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God, the God of truth and love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Here, in the depths of Lent, 5 of 6 Sundays deep in Lent, we begin to get whispers of what is to come. We get whispers of resurrection. Whispers of new life from what is dead.
We hear of “dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,” in Ezekiel’s valley of the bones. Now Ezekiel’s vision is not a vision of heavenly life, of resurrection to another place, a heavenly place, but here in this earthly place, God is breathing life into something that has died, and restoring it to life. All this is about hope. God quotes the Israelites as saying: “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost.” So God tells Ezekiel to prophesy: “I will bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.” “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil.” A return to life in the promised land. That is hope.
In the reading from Romans, Paul is talking about flesh and spirit. Getting dangerously close to the Greek philosophy outlook that anything material is bad and spirit is good. Paul knows that position doesn’t jive with God’s proclamation over and over in Genesis 1, that as God creates, God calls each part of creation good. Paul tells us that if the Spirit of God dwells in you, God will give life to your mortal bodies through that Spirit that dwells in you. Here, in this life, in this body, we possess God’s Spirit. That should give us hope.
We have another near record long gospel from John this morning: the raising of Lazarus. New life for that which has died. Lazarus is raised, returned to this life. Jesus tells us that this event is to show God’s glory. Which is to say, this wasn’t for Lazarus, or for Martha or Mary, or even Jesus, who loved Lazarus, this event is to show God’s glory. In the midst of death, there is life. There is hope.
So here near the end of Lent, we have these whispers of resurrection. All these messages of hope, that even at life’s worst, new life can come from our darkest moments. We can often look back at the mini-resurrections in our lives, the new life that has come since we faced dark moments, difficult events.
That, to me, is the hope I need to share today. I have hope in a life after this one. I can only imagine what that might be like. But the reason I say my prayers, the reason I look forward to helping others, the reason I gather in community to worship God, and do holy things, good things, the reason I do the things that draws me closer to God, those things, those practices, my life and commitment to God is not to be, as Jack Dance liked to call me, a fire insurance salesman, all those things make my life better now. All those things give me hope for today and tomorrow. Yes, I have hope in a life after this one. But my journey and commitment to following Jesus makes my life better today.
I pray it may it be so for each of you. Amen.
Year A – The Fifth Sunday in Lent – March 22, 2026 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
