JOHN 11: 1-45

Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus to let him know that
their shared beloved, Lazarus, is ill to the point of death. Jesus
tells his disciples that this will all end in the glory of God, so even
though he loved them, he did not immediately go to the Bethany.
“Though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus…” is an
anchor point to the story plot. No matter what happens next, we
can come back to the knowledge that Jesus loves them. It was not
a lack of love that kept him away, nor was it a lack of love that led
to Lazarus dying. God’s glory does not cancel out God’s love.
What we see is that even though he knows the end from the
beginning, Jesus feels and expresses genuine love for his friends,
and joined them in their suffering.

Martha seems to be anchored in the knowledge of Jesus’s love for
them. When she meets him as he is headed to Bethany, she freely
laments and shares her heart with Jesus: “Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died.” She believes that Jesus is
powerful, and she trusts that power as well as the fact that Jesus
loves them. Martha’s next two statements show that her faith
continues to be strong, even though Jesus was not there when
they needed him: “But even now I know that God will give you
whatever you ask of him.” And “I know that [my brother] will rise
again…”

Even though Martha has walked through the valley of the shadow
of death, she does not doubt the goodness of the Lord, or the love
of Jesus Christ. When Jesus tells her that he himself is the
Resurrection and the Life and asks her about the kind of belief
she has, she appears to be just as honest as she was in her grief:
she is sure that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. By doing so,
her proclamation brings together our two previous lectionary
texts in John. (Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well.)
Martha goes to Mary privately to tell her that Jesus is waiting for
her. I love the gentleness of Jesus here. He allows Mary to come
to him, as she is ready, with her grief. Like Martha, Mary grieves
to Jesus, “If you had been here…” but she does so at his feet,
having knelt in reverence and acceptance of who Jesus is to her:
a posture of one anchored to the love of Christ.

This intimate moment has a significant audience: a whole crowd
of people follow Mary, assuming she is going to Lazarus’s tomb
to publicly mourn. And here in this moment, Jesus expresses his
own love for Mary and for those who are hurting by the death of
their friend. Seeing all these people weeping, Jesus is “greatly
disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” In other words, his
feelings are all stirred up inside him—even though he knows
what is to come and that this loss is only temporary, his heart
aches with those who are hurting. Out of his great love, Jesus
empathizes with those who mourns, and he joins them in their
suffering, offering his own tears.

As Jesus cries, some recognize that it is a sign Jesus’s love for
Lazarus, while others express the very human habit of judging
how someone else should love, arguing that since Jesus has such
miraculous power, if he really loved Lazarus, he should have
kept Lazarus from dying.

In fact, this is such a common human habit, John the gospel
writer’s earlier anchor to the bond of love between Jesus and this
family becomes even more important. Lazarus’s death has
nothing to do with how much (or little) Jesus loved him (or his
sisters). We were told as much when we started this story—even
if we would rather have had Jesus work his miracle before
Lazarus died. We have no idea if Jesus would have stopped
Lazarus from dying, or if we would still be here where we are
with the story, four days later, standing outside of Lazarus’s
tomb.

I think that’s the likely outcome though, because this story, along
with being anchored to God’s love, is anchored to death. At the
very beginning of the chapter, we are told that the Mary in this
story is the same Mary who will later anoint Jesus with costly
perfume, kneeling at his feet again, this time washing his feet
with her hair (John 12). When that happens, Jesus says that Mary
did it as part of preparing him to be buried. It is a pure act of
loving worship. Death is inevitable and unites these two
accounts.

As we all know, Jesus’s death was an act of immense, pure love. It
was the result of him choosing to join with humanity to the
utmost degree, entering and taking on all kinds of our suffering.
But death is only one prong to this anchor; the other is
resurrection. Jesus tells his disciples that they will see the glory
of God through what he does for Lazarus; he tells Martha that he
is the Resurrection and the Life. And now, as he stands outside
the tomb where Lazarus’s dead body has been lying for four days,
Jesus is overwhelmed by love, deeply moved yet again. Out of
that great love, Jesus Christ resurrects Lazarus from the dead,
calling him forth from the tomb. Jesus tells the witnesses to
unbind Lazarus and let him be free (the resurrected life in a
nutshell).

Jesus talked about his death and the cross, about how he would
be lifted for the sake of his beloved. But—and correct me if I’m
wrong—I can’t recall a time where Jesus calls himself “death” or
something like that. Suffering is included in some of his titles and
is assuredly a major component of the prophecies about him; but
when Jesus speaks, he reveals himself as the Resurrection and
Life—like he does here. The resurrection is as much an act of
love as Christ dying for us is. If we believe that, we will see the
glory of God. Amen.

One of the vital services performed by Shades is the purchase of birth certificates for anyone who needs it. These documents are necessary for housing, jobs and many other reasons. Many of those who come to us are homeless and alienated from any family connection. So they don’t have access to this information, Jimmy secures the document and keeps a duplicate on file.

On July 1, 2014, I was appointed by the United Methodist Bishop to serve the streets of Kingsport, Tennessee.

As we prepare to begin our 10th year of ministry, we offer thanks and praise to God for more miracles than we could ever imagine. We are equally grateful for all our partners and friends who helped the ministry be where we are today. I look forward to sharing many more stories with you and experiencing many more virtual worship services. God be with you all.

Shades of Grace: A United Methodist Congregation is living proof of our living God who loves each one unconditionally and gives us all a reason to keep pushing forward in faith.

Join us online Sunday and revisit this very unique and enlightening worship event. And invite a friend to tune in too! I believe you will be inspired.

Ministry at God’s Living Room is a most life changing and rewarding experience. It is at times the most difficult and heart wrenching experiences. Only the Lord knows the true impact on lives of the least of these. There aren’t enough words to describe this storefront house of worship.

The one thing that has never changed in our ever evolving congregation is the acceptance of ALL people. I have said many times if everyone is not welcome, then no one is welcome. It’s all or nothing. I firmly believe this commitment of caring for the least of these is the reason for our miraculous success and growth in the city. I’m thankful to represent Jesus in the United Methodist Church.

We formerly live-streamed at 4:00 p.m. Sundays in real time. We continue streaming at that same time by edit\redaction and upload of previous Saturday service. Through it all, no aspect of our outreach and ministry ceased. We remain strong and vibrant as we seek to live into the vision of making disciples of Jesus Christ for transformation of our world. We are a safe sanctuary that welcomes and embraces ALL persons in the name of Jesus!

People come to the doors of Shades of Grace at all hours. People come in every size, shape, color, condition, circumstance, and unimaginable lifestyles. They come unhappy, high, hungover, ill, angry, rejected, dissatisfied, lonely, confused, unloved and feeling unworthy.

When they come, we do not ask them to answer questions or try to determine whether or not they are worthy.They simply come because the word ‘Church’ is on our windows. And Jesus says “Come.” We feed them, clothe them, give hot showers, medicines, and pray with those who are open to it. But all is done in Jesus’ Name. They know we will meet them where they are and not necessarily where we want them to be. A song we sing simply says, “People need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, Christ is the open door.”

God loves all people. We are called to love all people. God is love. We’re simply scattering seeds and the Holy Spirit helps them grow. The end result belongs to God. We will continue to welcome, accept and embrace all people in the Name of Jesus Christ. We are the Church. We are the people of God. This is the Kingdom of God. It’s where I desire to be. Grateful for a storefront house of worship called Shades of Grace: A United Methodist Congregation. It is called God’s Living Room.

“Shades” began in October, 2014 as a new Church start of Holston Conference. Due to the nature of ministry with the least of these, there is no membership available. Anyone who claims a place here is accepted and given opportunities to be fully included in ministry. We offer sacrament of holy communion and baptism upon profession of faith. Worship is non traditional in many ways, but solidly grounded in Wesleyan Theology. We offer some of the very best music and worship to be found anywhere.

The ministry is active Monday through Saturdays every week, and closed on Sundays. We feed hundreds of meals to our community friends who are homeless and in need each week and provide hot showers for men and women. We furnish a clothing closet. We provide many funerals for homeless unclaimed in partnership with a local funeral home and Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Please share this ministry. It doesn’t matter where you live, who you love, car you drive (or not), live in a house or cardboard box, attire, piercings or tattoos. God loves ALL. As Oscar often says, “Pray for all who deal with addiction and depression. The world needs a lot more love. So, let it go; let it go.”

Challenging all to exercise and walk. Keeping up my steps. Staying healthy as possible to serve and witness for the Lord…Let’s get it done! Keep moving.

May eternal flames of the CHRIST candle continue to light our path as we “walk each other home”. My prayer is that not one of God’s little ones will ever be made to stumble because of my sincere efforts to fully follow the LORD. Thy will be done, LORD!

You can now listen to Shades of Grace on the Radio – FM 92.1