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(Ez.37:12-14;\xa0\xa0 Ps.130:1-8;\xa0\xa0 Rom.8:8-11;\xa0\xa0 Jn.11:1-45) \xa0 \u201cI am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.\u201d \xa0 \u201cYou shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!\u201d says the Lord God through the prophet Ezekial.\xa0 \u201cThe one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through His Spirit dwelling in you,\u201d says St. Paul.\xa0 And our psalm sings of the Lord\u2019s \u201cplenteous redemption,\u201d that \u201cHe will redeem Israel from all their iniquities\u201d; and so, \u201cmore than sentinels wait for the dawn, let [us] wait for the Lord,\u201d who dispels all darkness, all death, by His Word, by His presence among us.\xa0 Let us but believe in Him, and we shall live. The dawn comes to Bethany, to Martha and Mary, and to Lazarus.\xa0 It comes to us all in this powerful sign of the Lord\u2019s conquering of all darkness and death, \u201cthat [we] may believe.\u201d\xa0 Wrapped in burial cloth is Lazarus, laying in the sealed tomb four days.\xa0 The tears of a people are shed for the loved one who has died, and Jesus joins their weeping.\xa0 Deeply human is the Lord, and so, \u201cperturbed and deeply troubled\u201d He becomes at the sorrow we all know when death is near.\xa0 He longs ever to cry out to us not to mourn, but believe, and now we hear His voice call upon the Father\u2019s name; and now as He \u201ccrie[s] out in a loud voice, \u2018Lazarus, come out!\u2019\u201d we see that what He says is true: He is the resurrection and the life.\xa0 And so, believing in Him, no longer does the Christian fear death. Death is of the flesh, but we are \u201cin the spirit.\u201d\xa0 \u201cThe body is dead because of sin,\u201d but \u201cthe spirit is alive because of righteousness.\u201d\xa0 And so, as we rise from the graves opened by the powerful word of the Lord, as we rise from our iniquities unto eternal life, we know His Spirit at work within us, the Spirit of Christ that is only life.\xa0 In Him let us take refuge; in Him let us believe. He is here with us to keep us from death, to release us from all darkness \u2013 to free us all from sin.\xa0 Let us remain with Him and so have eternal life. \xa0 Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by James Kurt. \xa0 Music: "Be Well" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. \xa0 ******* O LORD, let us live in your Son and so in you that we might do your works in this world and praise you forever in Heaven.\xa0 YHWH, let us be built into and grow as the Body of your Son.\xa0 Make us a royal priesthood, a holy nation \u2013 your Church.\xa0 Into your House let us come and dwell, eternally praising your Name. Jesus is in you and you are in Jesus, and those who believe in Him and so in you become one with Him, and so with you, dearest LORD and God.\xa0 O Father in Heaven, to Heaven let us come, to oneness with you.\xa0 Let us do your works on earth and so find our way to your kingdom. Why should we be troubled when we have the promise from Jesus that He prepares a place for us?\xa0 Why should we fear when He is near in the power of the Holy Spirit?\xa0 Let us follow closely the way He leads, that indeed we might exult in your presence forever.