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It's an honor to stand before you and with you on this day. I thank you. President for bringing me, inviting me, and sending me a request to come. And did I hesitate?

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No, I did not. I signed it. Then I prayed, Lord, now what exactly will we do? Excitement about being here and seeing faces of individuals I have met in various other places.

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I have already taken my shoes off, so I feel at home. I hope you all are all right with that. Under normal circumstances, you would hear a preacher, and most folks try to treat preachers like lecturers, and they just listen. No, that's not what I need you to do.

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You have your lectures, this is Midwood Minor's lectures, you have lectures tomorrow. You can sit and listen all day tomorrow. Today, talk back to me, make sure you're saying, I hear you, you hear me, we hear each other, and we're having a conversation, is that all right? All right, good.

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That makes me feel better. Excited about being with you. It's been an honor to serve in the position of co-moderator of the 226th and now the 227th General Assemblies for the Presbyterian Church USA with the Reverend Tony Larson, who is my other partner in this. We will conclude our role together on July 2nd around 1:36 p.m., but who's counting?

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It's going to be around that time, though. I'm almost certain of that. One thing is for sure is that we will maintain a friendship and a camaraderie. We started this thing on a journey to stand, and our concentration was on a car, and the car stood for, the C was for communication.

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The A was for alignment with God's will, and the R is for relationships, for building relationships. And so on the day that we prevailed, because we took a journey to stand, our work turned into a journey to serve. And so I'm grateful to God to serve with Pastor Tony as we have now become trauma chaplains for our denomination. And I say trauma only because we've been walking with congregations and presbyteries and synods and other entities of organized ministry through celebrations of new births and the grief of unexpected deaths.

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And this is how our journey to stand turned into a journey to serve. But friendships is what registers in my mind the most. I'm always aware of how powerful friendships are, and so coming to be with you today, was even an honor because it gave me a chance to see or at least connect with a few friends.

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The Reverend Dr. Margaret Amory, your dean here, is one that I am proud to call friend and colleague. She was my Greek professor while I was at seminary, and I survived. And you can do this, if there's any of you who are in

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in any of her courses, you can do it, okay? You learn to pray now, but you can do it. What I love about the fact of calling her friend now is that once I was ordained, she was the very first one to remind me that we are colleagues in ministry. And what a welcoming, ordaining moment that is for any student and their professor.

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So over the years, I do get to call her friend and I don't take that lightly. The other thing, the excitement about getting here and all the ways that I got here caused me to totally forget that my best friend from childhood lives here. Totally forgot. And so last night when I realized that I had totally forgot, I called her and she says, I'm coming to get you in the morning.

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So I had this morning with her, my godchildren, I got a chance to spend time with them. And again, that's friendship. Friendships are important.

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Friendships are valuable. Friendships are long-lasting. And so I can only imagine the friendship that Jesus had with Lazarus of Bethany. I'm sure that Jesus and this family of believers were very close and had gotten even closer over a short period of time.

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Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and Jesus were probably really great friends. They probably had meals together. They probably had a few inside jokes that don't nobody really know. They probably did ministry together, and others would smile at their friendship, while some others misunderstood their friendship.

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But regardless of whatever others thought, or regardless of what others thought, they were friends and they did the work that God had called for them to do together. Their friendship meant something. The great thing about ministry is that they did it together, that they did together specifically, was that they didn't have to be in the same space at the same time to do ministry together. So if you have friends that you can pray with and pray for, if you can just send them a text and say, Hey, I'm going through prayer, that's some real good friendship because you do ministry together even when you're apart.

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So thankful for those who are seeing us online, that's ministry together because you showed up. Do you know how many people sent me messages on Facebook? Hey, you're going to be in Austin, I'll be online. They did do that.

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They did tell me. And I started to say, how can we take attendance? Because they should have-- I should give them credit for showing up if they're here. But I guess they'll let me know.

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Jesus stayed a few days later after getting the summons, indicated that Lazarus was asleep. And then he more specifically said he was dead. And the fact that Jesus and the disciples would have to return to a place where folks wanted to stone Jesus, Thomas was the only one who might have been from Detroit, I don't know. Thomas was the one who said, if we all go back to Judea, we might as well all die too.

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This is ministry together. Jesus had already told them that going would be beneficial so that they may believe. Jesus had initial response to the message of Lazarus' illness. He said, This illness does not lead to death.

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Rather, it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified. And there is a particular purpose for this journey. So now Martha, we're going to look at all of them if you don't mind for just a moment. Martha took the first journey to stand.

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When she heard Jesus was coming, she went and she met him and she, C, communicated. Communicated that she thought Jesus had come too late and had taken too long to arrive. And Jesus reminded her that he is the resurrection and the life. Like, you know, dude, I got this.

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Aligning her with the will of God. She then relied on their long-lasting relationship because she agreed with Jesus's claim, but was still disappointed with the timing of it all. Now, how often do we think God's timing does not align with the timing we set aside? How many times have we neglected to see the glory of God because we had intended for a situation to be the way we wanted it to be?

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How many times have we neglected to see God at work in a situation because we were too upset that it didn't work the way we had planned it? Sometimes in our lives, y'all, God will let some stuff die so we can be on a journey to serve. You might have to cut off some friends and cut off some folks and cut off them people that don't like what you do. You may have to cut off some family folks that still have the different ideologies that, you know, cause them to think sideways and look differently at all the things that are going on in society, as if folks who put their hands up are still guilty of something.

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You may have to sever those ties. So Mary, Mary took the second journey to Stan. Now, there was clear communication between she and her sister. Martha told her privately that Jesus was calling for her.

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Mary got up quickly, was followed by those who were there consoling her, found Jesus, and knelt at Jesus's feet. And so Mary communicated in the same manner, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. The alignment to God's will was shown in Jesus's reaction. God is compassionate and loving, and so Jesus cries.

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This moment in the story reveals the hearts of those nearby. This moment displays relationships. Those who were watching nearby even noted the fact that Jesus could perform miracles like giving sight to the blood. Then surely Jesus could have kept this man from dying.

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But isn't it strange that people outside of the situation always seemed to have a solution to your problem? The folks that weren't even there know exactly what happened. Isn't it interesting that people who see you going through something can always talk about how the situation could have been different? These same folks with questions and concerns failed to note how they could be a part of the journey to serve.

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And so Lazarus, Lazarus takes the third journey to Stan. Jesus gets to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus communicates by asking that the stone be removed.

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Martha speaks up about the fact that there might be a strong odor or a stench, she said. Martha says it's going to stink. Jesus was not concerned about the stinky smell that would take place. Jesus had to remind her, smell or no smell, that she would see the glory of God.

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Now there are going to be some situations in your life that will be a stinking mess. But the way your faith should be set up is that you ought to know that eventually you will see the glory of God. We may have to uncover some harsh truths about ourselves or about others, but the fact remains that we should see the glory of God. Jesus communicates that the stink doesn't matter, God will be glorified.

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Jesus aligns all who hear with the will of God by praying, Jesus prayed, y'all. And in Jesus's prayer, it was not a plea asking God to perform a miracle. It was not a prayer that mourned the loss of Jesus's friend. It was not a woe is me prayer saying, oh Lord, why me?

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Why us? Why does this have to happen to us? No, Jesus's prayer was a prayer of understanding that the glory of God would be revealed Jesus's prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving since those who were standing right there would see the glory of God.

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Jesus can offer this prayer because of the relationship. In the prayer, Jesus says, I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here so that they may believe that you sent me. So finally, y'all, let's go on a journey to stand and watch how it morphs into a journey to serve. The communication is found when Jesus calls for Lazarus to come out.

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The communication was quite clear. Jesus did not ask Lazarus, Um, would you like to come out now? Jesus didn't imply, I think he might rise from the dead and come to us. Nope, that's not what happened.

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Jesus spoke with conviction and power and communicated well. The alignment with God's will is that Lazarus does indeed actually come out of the grave still fully bound with strips of cloth. We see the power of God raise the dead.

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Relationships are encouraged by Jesus because after Lazarus comes out with both his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, Jesus gives instructions to those who are standing nearby and watching and Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Jesus wasn't talking to Lazarus anymore. Jesus wasn't talking to the situation anymore.

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Jesus was talking to all the folks that was nosy, standing by watching, trying to see what was going on, trying to look and see, oh, I wonder what's about to go down. If they had cell phones, I'm sure they were probably recording because at that time, that's what we're talking about. Folks keep watching from the outside and Jesus is talking to them. And friends?

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I don't know. know if anybody told you, but I'm gonna let you know you are the them Jesus was talking to. Yeah, we know how the story ends, but Jesus is talking to all of us. We are the them in this text.

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Lazarus will be ready for his journey to serve as soon as he is unbound. Now think about it. Could Lazarus take his own strips of cloth off? With his hands bound, with his feet bound, with his head and face covered, could he have done anything for himself?

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It is the requirement of the beloved community. If you are a Christian, if you are one who loves God, if you are one who realized that God created every last one of us and in the beginning said everything is good, then it is our responsibility to take grave clothes off. It's our responsibility to tend to the ones who are tied up and bound. It is our job.

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Cuz we're the beloved community. We're the them Jesus keeps talking to. We're the them. If anybody walks around, you ought to say, you know you are them, right?

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Yeah. We are on a journey to serve because we want to be obedient to Jesus's command. We must be willing to help take the grave clothes off. Now, some may see the power in Jesus's command.

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Some may even see the power in the miracle of Lazarus appearing. But let me tell you where I see the power. The power is in the fact that Jesus spoke to those around the one who was once dead to take the grave clothes off and let them live. We get so caught up.

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and spellbound by the miracle of a dead man coming to life, but we forget to hear the command of Christ for us to take the grave clothes off. And since we are on this journey to serve, we need to be mindful that some folks will come into our lives because God has called them to come here. And yet we are so busy being shocked that God called them that we missed the opportunity to hear Christ tell us to help them take the grave clothes off. So many folks get turned away from the church because we don't help them take the grave clothes off.

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We're so busy being upset that it didn't go our way. That we don't help the one who's bound by grave clothes to take them off. Lazarus couldn't take his own grave clothes off, for his hands and feet were bowed. We, the community, the body of Christ, the ones who know God, to partners of our sins, we are responsible for taking the grave clothes off.

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We must be willing to be on this journey to serve. But that means you can't just see something and not say something. That means you can't just stand by and wait and see and then get your phone out and record. I honestly don't believe that's what Alex did.

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I honestly don't believe he was just going to stand by. Y'all, let's be mindful of this with our current climate of ice and ice. Neither the ice from the weather nor the ice from the government should prevent us from taking the grave clothes off. We are the community of believers will need to help take the grave clothes off of those who have no power because the lines are down.

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The weather is bad, and there are some who are buried in the snow and the ice. And Jesus is expecting us to care for ourselves, but to also be mindful to help others when we can. Now would be a really good time to revisit that Matthew 25 text and do the very thing we need to do to take the grave clothes off for those who are the least of these. Helping those who are in need is being obedient to God and upholds your responsibility

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as the beloved community. And, not or, and, we as a community of believers will need to help take the grave clothes off of those who have clothed themselves with power. This administration is bad. And there are some who are buried in the notion that their power supersedes humanity.

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Jesus is expecting us to care for those who are being unfairly treated by those who have no compassion or conscious that their behavior is inhumane. Now would be a good time to revisit Matthew 22 when the Lord encourages us to love our neighbors as ourselves, which would lead me to ask, wouldn't you want help taking your grave clothes off? Then why wouldn't you help someone else who needs that too? Let me just remind you that power isn't worth anything until it's distributed.

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Have you ever walked in a room and there's a light switch on the wall? It holds a lot of power. It does nothing until it's passed on to all the light bulbs in that room. So when people want to do all the things,

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to make themselves seem so powerful, it means absolutely nothing because power held in one place has no value until it is a shared responsibility of the beloved community. So on your journey to serve, this is what I want you to do. Decide to take the journey to stand, because that's your first choice. Because some folks, they don't want to take that journey.

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They don't want to be caught up in all of that. They want to hide in their house and stay behind closed doors thinking that's going to save them. And I think a bunch of people then found out that don't work. Once you get your footing for standing, then take the journey to serve.

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Everybody won't have the same gifts and offer the same thing, but find yours and do it well. Do what the Lord commands of you and this community. Take the grave clothes off, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. all while loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

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In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.