GREETINGS BELOVED
FAMILY OF GOD,
Last Sunday morning, I walked into the church and smelled the strong scent of grains and protein. Yes, the Take Away Hunger Food Packing Event was ready to go and people whose lives have been torn apart in the wake of tornados will be fed with the meals we helped to pack and sent off with thanksgiving. Thank you all for your help in making this event possible.
Smells of grains and proteins are a pleasant fragrance because of how it helps our neighbors who are in need. What scents do you associate with powerful positive or negative experiences?
When Mary floods the room with the scent of pure nard powerful positive and negative experiences come with it. This family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus have just been through Lazarus’ sickness that led to death with the stench of 4 days dead and all the emotional energy that accompanies sickness and death. They heard Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb and they helped to unwrap Lazarus from his grave clothes and welcomed him back to life.
Time has passed, they are 6 days out from Passover and the family gives a dinner for Jesus. Lazarus reclines at the table with Jesus and Mary anoints Jesus’ feet propelled by the powerful experiences they have lived through. Their lives are changed and these powerful smells link these two stories together with the next story of Jesus’ own death and resurrection ready to unfold.
A fragrance that reminds them of their intimate dance with life and death and how their lives are changed, forever transformed because of Jesus. Now this powerful scent is linked to the future event of Jesus’ death and God’s calling him to resurrected life.
We are invited into the powerful smells and the experiences they call forth as we remember our own journeys with sickness, death and God’s call to new life for all of us. Recline with Lazarus enjoying new life. Serve and anoint with Martha and Mary, living through all the experiences of life with Jesus. Hold this story with the parables of lost sheep, coin and family. Is this one of the lost and found parties?
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
