Unbound by Fear: Stories of Liberation and Letting Go 

As we turn toward Lent, we begin a new seasonal theme together: Unbound: Stories of Liberation and Letting Go. This year we will move through Lent as a season of release.  

Our first gospel reading in Lent is the raising of Lazarus. It is a story about fear. Fear that it is too late for anything to change. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been in the tomb four days. Martha names the practical truth: “Lord, already there is a stench.” Translation: this situation is too far gone. 

And yet, Jesus tells them to roll away the stone anyway. And when Lazarus emerges, still wrapped in burial cloths, Jesus turns to the community and says: “Unbind him, and let him go.” Liberation, here, is communal work. 

As we begin this Lenten journey, we will name honestly the fears that bind us, both personal and collective. We are living in a time where fear is weaponized in the scapegoating of vulnerable neighbors. Naming this reality is our responsibility as people of faith. Fear thrives in silence. The Gospel does not. But neither do we pit ourselves against one another. Jesus calls whole communities, not factions, to participate in liberation. 

I’m reminded of the many ways across cultures that people have practiced communal forms of unbinding. Our Jewish siblings retell the Exodus story at Passover to remember the journey from enslavement to freedom. In African diasporic communities, libation rituals involve pouring out water while ancestors’ names are spoken aloud, calling memory into the present. Or there’s the South African wisdom of Ubuntu which reminds us: I am because we are, meaning no one is liberated alone. These and many other practices echo what Jesus reveals at Lazarus’ tomb: freedom is communal and spoken into being together. 

This Lent, I will be inviting us to move with courage. To face what frightens us - spiritually, socially, collectively - and listen for Christ calling us out of the tombs we thought were permanent. 

Because resurrection rarely begins with triumph. It begins with a voice calling our name, and a community willing to unbind one another so that all may be free. 

And of course, here is my song of the week I’m commending to you all!  

The Porter’s Gate - We Will Make No Peace with Oppression 

Peace, 
Pastor Katie