“To follow Jesus is to live, no matter how many deaths we face in life.”

Joan Chittister

Collect: Fifth Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners:  Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Isaiah 43:16-21 . . . The same Lord who brought the people through the Red Sea waters and crushed the army of the Egyptians will do a new thing in this day when God will bring the people home through the wilderness.

Psalm 126 . . . A song of hope and jy sung to the Lord, who restores the fortunes of Go’s people

Philippians 3:4b-14 . . . The apostle Paul can boast of his religious background yet nothing matters in comparison with knowing Christ as his Lord.

John 12: 1-8 . . . Jesus, but a few days before his passion, is at supper with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary when Mary anoints his feet with costly ointment

“There was a place called Bethany…the house of the afflicted,” begins Rachel May, pastor of Boulevard United Methodist Church in Richmond, Virginia. In John 12:1-8, Jesus is at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus…