“O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.” -Psalm 130
“’I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live ... Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” -John 11
Sometimes the things we think offer love actually seek to bind us, preventing us from being full and whole and offering our best love to the world. The story of Lazarus, whose funeral shrouds trail him out of the tomb, offer us a metaphor of new life as we recognize that true love is that which unbinds us, that wants for us more, not less, freedom and life. Jesus says to us, “Come out!” Walk! Live! Love! Shed your funeral clothes and offer your deepest self, your deepest love, for the world. Of course, this kind of love can be dangerous, as we will see as the events of Holy Week loom closer. But the price of continuing to look for love in the wrong places is higher than the blessing of a life lived boldly.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing
Wonderful Merciful Savior
Worlds Apart
The Father's House