29 May 2011 “Dependents” John 14:15-21

We gathered, as scheduled, here at the church at our usual place in the kitchen and then the library a few Sundays ago. We come together this way on the third Sunday of the month for fellowship and the session to meet.
We gathered, as planned, in the kitchen a few Saturdays ago. We held our usual gathering of the faithful men of the church for a breakfast and spirited conversation on a variety of topics. I’ve met former members and friends of the church at those third Saturday breakfasts and while we haven’t solved any of the world’s problems, it’s never been for lack of trying.
We gather in our church, we gather because we can and because we love being together doing the Lord’s work.

To his small country church in the mountains of north Georgia, Fred Craddock once preached a sermon called “It doesn’t get any better than this.” That’s true about us too. When we gather together, it’s never better.
That Georgia congregation’s new sanctuary was, like the road in the Wilshire Wood neighborhood, under construction and far behind schedule. Their planned opening and dedication had to be postponed and everyone was disappointed and Fred wanted to cheer them up a bit.
In his sermon he proposed they plan a trip to the Holy Land. He knew many of them had talked about it in the past and his thinking was to create a diversion and a little excitement and see such a trip as more grand than even a new sanctuary.

Along the way they could stop in Switzerland for that is the mother land for Presbyterians. They could stop in Greece to visit some of the places were Paul preached. Then on they would go into Israel itself, visiting all the places the Gospel speaks of where Jesus lived and taught and died.
As he talked things out he realized not everyone could get off from work or away from other commitments, that some would be worried about who would take care of the dog, who would take care of the yard, who would take care of the business, pick up the mail, and on and on. So, he offered a plan B.

Plan B was to go to a different sort of Holy Land. His plan was for everyone to get on a bus together and visit all the churches where everyone in the congregation had been brought up.
Many of you have spoken to me in the past about the churches where you grew up. Some were small churches and some were large ones. Some churches were just a few blocks from here, some in different parts of the state, some even in less exotic places than Texas.

But, as he thought about it, Fred was worried even this plan may be a bit much. There may be too many churches to try and visit.
So Pastor Craddock suggested Plan C. Plan C wouldn’t require elaborate foreign travel planning. It wouldn’t be necessary to charter a bus and get off and on at church after church after church which would have been a true labor for some and a bore for others.

No, plan C would not require unusual or uncomfortable travel at all. Plan C was for all to gather at the church, not for a regular worship service, but just for an evening of conversation and fellowship. He told them it would be a trip to their Holy Land, just to come and share and enjoy one another’s company.

Fred reminded them they were truly a remarkable group of faithful folk. He reminded them, and he reminds us, we all come from different backgrounds, but it is a blessing to see how, despite our differences, we worship and fellowship together. Often we forget how blessed we are and Fred’s story should help us remind ourselves to celebrate what we do well in this church.

Two obvious things get us started on our long list of things we do well. We do music well and we eat well. Both are true! Our choir is tops, whether they sing in the choir loft here in the chancel or out there in the pews their leadership in singing is remarkably spirit filled and downright fun to be a part of. Those of us with voices that challenge the very idea of singing stand next to our best choir voices and we become one blessed and joyful voice of praise and worship to our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our dinners together are legendary. Be it an informal fellowship with snacks and sandwiches, or our formal potlucks with casseroles, meats, side dishes and desserts, we excel. I have been asked by guests when we eat next. They don’t want to miss our full and sumptuous table. Folk often comment they want to come back because they have never tasted food so good or felt so warmly welcomed by any other congregation.
There is passion in what we do. With our Sunday school class, our many loyal friends who share our campus, our Presbyterian Women, our various mission interests, we express our love for God and our desire to welcome and serve all people which celebrates our feeling as a family, as a church family.
Fred Craddock need not plan a special trip with his church and we need not schedule one with ours. The point to be made in celebrating the life of the church is to create special times just to be together and experience life together as Christians. Like this morning. Genesis Presbyterian Church has come together, as scheduled, as planned, this morning to be with one another and to be with God.
To this end we gather around this scripture reading, this gospel from John. I invite you to take your Bible and later today, or this evening, find someplace where you can be alone, sit quietly, without distraction, preferably outside, and read today’s text, John 14:15-21.
In this passage, Jesus was talking about leaving his disciples, and this text is a part of his farewell speech. Earlier Jesus told them, “Trust in God, trust in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you.” His disciples knew he was leaving them and they were desperate. What would they do with Jesus gone? Who could they turn to for peace and comfort and the honest truth about life and, yes, even death?
Jesus knew these would be their questions and he knows they are ours too. Where will we go to find our savior? Who will be our comfort in times of trial and sadness? Where will we find true joy and blessings in this life of certain uncertainty?
Jesus knows us well. So he gives us words of comfort: wherever we are, no matter how far from home, no matter how dark and foreboding, we will always be in the Holy Land. Jesus assures us he will ask his Father, and his Father will send us an advocate, another helper, an intercessor. Jesus may be gone, but God will send another comforter, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, who will never leave us. “The Holy Spirit will be to you as I have been to my disciples,” is Jesus’ promise. There will be no loss of Jesus’ power or presence in our lives, for wherever we are, the Holy Spirit will be with us. Always.
We struggle sometimes with this possibility, that God is always with us, involved in our lives. We particularly notice it when we pray to God with a very specific prayer, a prayer for help with a personal issue, or we pray for someone we love who we sense needs God’s intervention in their lives, or when we pray for a moments peace, free from worry or pain or loss or confusion or loneliness.

We pray God will tell us what we are to do only to know silence and feel time, day after day, mute with no answer. Perhaps we are the reason for the days of silence. Perhaps we are not ready yet for the answer to our prayers. Perhaps we have forgotten we are to pray and to then let God be God with God’s answers for us. Answers which we may not expect or which we may reject. Answers which may require that we change the ways we consider our faithfulness to God, relying on God alone for our salvation.
Instead of waiting for answers we might take the ultimate leap of faith and say, “Take me Lord, use me Lord to bring about the peace and joy and grace you have in mind for this place, this church, this Holy Kingdom on earth.” Take me Lord, for I trust you with my life.

God’s desires that we be formed and transformed over and over again to become who God has created us to be. We know this is the case. The scripture is clear about God’s intention. It is ours that is often in question. We may honestly desire to be united within Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, one with the other and in holy communion. It’s just we may not remember which meeting it is we go to for such a transformation. Third Sunday. Third Saturday. A Wednesday night perhaps?

Truly, we all have some work to do. But finding God’s desire for us and our desire for God isn’t about meetings or successful church life. No, being changed to become God’s children is about faithfully living the truth. That truth is Jesus Christ. Being changed to be children of God is about service to someone else, someone or some group or some stranger we would rather not serve. Being faithful to the truth of Jesus Christ is about making their life better, fresher, and more abundant through our love.
The first step we take is to show up, to gather. Isn’t that often the hardest part? To show up, reach out, walk over to the stranger, the unforgiven, the one who brought so much pain, and then offer ourselves, offer our presence. To then listen and let them tell us what they need us to do, who they need us to be, how they need us to love them. These things are so easy and yet, so difficult.

If we love Jesus, we will keep his commandments…serve others and one another, here in this church, during scheduled times and not, serving faithfully, speaking and living truthfully, praying every day, simplifying our lives, and leaving everything else to God, prayers will be answered.
We don’t have to catch a plane, we don’t have to rent a bus, we don’t even have to get into our cars and come to church. What we have to do is to listen to Jesus’ promise. He has sent another helper to us. He has promised us, my Father and I will come and take up a room in your lives.
What has been made abundantly clear to us this morning is that we, we here in this humble temple, we are the Holy Land. We are the kingdom of God. God lives in each of us. God is in
our love, our love for God and our love for one another and this church.
It is for this love we gather as we do as Christians and as a church family.
For then truly, all else can be left up to God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Additional sources:
“Lectionary Homiletics,” Volume XIX, Number 3, pgs.25-31.
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22 May 2010 Knowing the Way John 14:1-14

 It was the funeral for President Gerald Ford where I first realized the importance of what this passage from John’s gospel was saying. There were former Presidents and other world leaders at the service and there were these words being spoken more powerful than the most powerful man in the world. Those words of promise, spoken in that atmosphere of power and influence, held greater value because of their simplicity and the intimately personal meaning they held for the one to whom they were directed. In this case, the President of the United States of America.

 The truthful meaning of  that promise drew the air of worldly influence right out of that gathering, Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us in heaven. Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us where we will be with him forever.

 The extremely good news of these words and Jesus’ promise is that he has extended his power to include all of us, the highest and the lowest, Presidents and paupers alike. We all have a place with God in heaven. God’s power gives eternal life, and gives it abundantly.

 John gets directly to this point in this morning’s gospel. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Getting directly to the point in this case is comforting. Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” Do not let your hearts be troubled, no matter what happens, we have a place with God.

 Growing up, all of us grandkids spent time living with my grandparents. It was the place God had prepared for us by the one who was looking out for us. It was such a safe place to be. When troubling waters began to swell at home our parents struggled with the gut wrenching feeling of separation, but they knew we would be safe with my grandparents. God had prepared that way for us.

 There in Dickinson we always had a good and wholesome place to go, we always had a safe room where we slept, we always had food, clothing and a place to be where we knew we were unconditionally loved. We all needed that, unconditional love, because sometimes we could be little toots, as my grandmother would say. Despite being kids as kids will be, with my grandparents, we were free from all the hurtful drama life can bring.  God had prepared our way and that is a very good thing for children, to be in a place safe and secure.

 Not only was it a safe place to be, it was a safe place to grow. We all made it through our teenage years relatively intact. We learned quickly that with our grandparents everybody in their house had to work, everybody had to follow the rules, everybody had to carry their weight. We learned to live the right way. Did I tell you we were loved and safely cared for.

 In her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the author, Annie Dillard shares her childhood memory:

 When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. It was a curious compulsion; sadly, I’ve never been seized by it since. For some reason I always “hid” the penny along the same stretch of sidewalk up the street. I would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore, say, or in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. Then I would take a piece of chalk, and starting at either end of the block, draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions. After I learned to write I labeled the arrows: SURPRISE AHEAD or MONEY THIS WAY. I was greatly excited, during all this arrow-drawing, at the thought of the first lucky passerby who would receive in this way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe.”

 It seems God has been drawing us arrows from the time of creation. Come here, live with your grandparents. Follow this way, find a penny. Follow this way and discover your savior, discover the unmerited gift of God’s grace.

 There are many stories in scripture to remind us of God’s unyielding attempts to direct us toward God’s grace, toward God’s providence, toward God’s unconditional love.

  For Abraham and the nation of Israel God attempted to direct them to the promised land. As the Old Testament reminds us, Israel had difficulty following God’s directions.

 God even sent Moses to lead his people out of slavery, through the wilderness and toward the promised land. Yet, the people had difficulty following God’s direction.

 God also sent Moses to give his people his law, yet Israel continued to stray, and found themselves exiled in Babylon.

 God sent prophets to speak of a Messiah who would bring new direction to God’s grace. That messiah, Jesus Christ, came with completed directions to God’s grace and even paved our way to it. Yet we still have difficulty following Jesus’ way.

  We often forget that Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah was a radical claim in the midst of first century Jewish life. The gospel of John is written by Jewish Christians in a Jewish Christian community. That author wants to leave no doubt, however, that Jesus is the one, chosen by God to invite us and then guide us to God’s grace.

 Our text this morning comes with questions from two of Jesus’ disciples. They are fearful and Jesus attempts to calm them and give them piece of mind. Jesus wants them to be at peace about his imminent death, assuring them that he will prepare a place for them also. But Thomas responds, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  Jesus promises he is the arrow on the sidewalk that will lead us to God. Jesus promises us he is not only the arrow pointing that way, he is the grace to which the arrow points. He and God are one.

 John is making here a radical claim for Jesus’ divinity. When we know Jesus, we know God, though we are frail and sin filled humans, we can experience God. Such good news comes for us from no other place.

  Our life is to be ultimately centered in God’s grace. Jesus first points us in that direction, toward God and then Jesus offers us “the way” to God’s grace. Come and follow me, he invites. Leave everything you have, come and follow me.

 This truth in John’s gospel was under attack and John felt it necessary to defend Jesus’ Messiahship.  For our part, we need not take up that defense, we need not worry ourselves about defending Jesus, our job is to stay the course, to remain on Jesus’ way. When Thomas says he does not know the way to that place God has for him Jesus offers assurance and reassurance to Thomas and to us, Jesus alone is the way.

 Just as Israel discovered the impossible task of following God’s directions, we too will struggle along the way. We too will

 rebel and strike out on our own, and just like the Israelites, we too will become lost. Lost in the wilderness and seemingly lost from our God.

  But we are never lost from our God. We are never lost from Jesus’ love for us and Jesus shows us his love again this morning as he invites us to redirect our lives to him and to realize his life for us. Jesus invites us to be strengthened in our wilderness of limited time and space and opportunity by being in a relationship with him. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” he says, “Believe in God, believe also in me.”

 God doesn’t give up on us. Even when we make choices that should separate us permanently from God, God forgives. God forgives because God loves us, through thick and thin, in richer or poor, in sickness and in health. God love us.

 John’s gospel offers another bold promise. “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

 The Reverend Dan L. Flanagan tells the story of a traveler from Italy who came to the French town of Chartres to see the great church that was being built. He encountered a workman, covered with dust and asked what he did. The man replied that he was a stonemason. He had spent his days carving rocks. A second man responded that he was a glass-blower, and spent his days making colored glass. Still another replied that he was a blacksmith who hammered iron for a living. Finally, the traveler came upon an older woman with a broom in her hand. She was sweeping us stone chips, wood shavings and glass. He asked what she was doing and she responded. “Me? I’m building a cathedral for the Glory of Almighty God.”

 In his sacrifice, Jesus prepared “the way” to eternal life, and in his ministry, Jesus showed us how to live more fully. He has given us the ability to do

even greater works than he.

 What are we doing, therefore, here at Genesis Presbyterian Church? Jesus would tell us we are building a cathedral for the glory of God. Jesus would tell us we are drawing arrows on the sidewalk to God’s kingdom. It’s time for us to bring out our brooms and our mops and our hammers and saws and perhaps even our sidewalk chalk and begin our work. For we are called by God to hide pennies in sycamore trees and in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk and write with bold letters on every sidewalk we see, SURPRISE AHEAD, JESUS THIS WAY.

 Come one, come all, to receive in this Jesus and his way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe. The unearned gift of God’s grace, the unconditional gift of God’s love and a heavenly place God has prepared solely for you.

 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen                           051511.gpc

Additional sources:

“Lectionary Homiletics,” Volume XIX, Number 3, 2008, pgs. 22-24.

15 May 2010 “Liberated by the Gate” John 10:1-10

 My difficulty with our scripture from John this morning began with this notion of Jesus being like a gate. I understand about the gate as metaphor.

 Yet, as I was reading this week the many possible ways to compare Jesus to a gate, I became confused. I just could not keep up with the examples, or perhaps I didn’t really try. And I missed their point. I know there is so much more about Jesus than his being reduced to a gate.  So, I set it aside to give the scripture a chance to find its voice.

  In the meantime, I thought about gates. Gates, I must confess, are really interesting. Especially in Austin where, true enough, not everything is weird, but we do find different kinds of gates and some are really pretty strange, adorned like an art car with dolls and rocks and spiked things. I particularly love the solid wood gate that would hang between two massive rock walls. The yard they hide from our view just may be a hint of what paradise would look like. Or, like one of my neighbors, where to hide the old rusty cars and piles of junk.

 Clearly, gates speak their own unique language, they tell us different things. An open gate means, come in. A closed gate means, stay out. A closed gate also means, if you ignore the warning and open it anyway, at least close it behind you. Or, open it anyway and be ready to run when you see the porch dogs coming after you!

 Some gates are plain and functional, they open and close easily. Other gates are decorative and just for looks so please, don’t open them, they may fall apart and you may never get them closed again!

 My personal favorite is the ‘gap’ gate. You know, it’s the one that is made of strands of barbed wire like the rest of the barbed wire fence that you can let down and it always gets tangled into itself and you can never get it closed again as you pull at the top to try and get that loop of wire over it. Now, to compare these examples of gates to Jesus, even as a metaphor, seems wrong on so many levels.

 First, Jesus is not plain or simple and he is not decorative. But then Jesus does refer to himself in our gospel story as a functional and necessary gate. He does describe the reason for the gate and himself clearly. He says he is our way to safety from ‘this world’ living. He is like the gate or way that speaks in its openness; “You can come in to my safe place,” he says, “in here, in my pasture, with strong fences all around.  Anywhere I am it is safe in the long run.” With this truth before us, Jesus becomes the gate way who separates life from death.

   Now I’ve caught myself speaking of Jesus as a gate, finding the voice of the scripture with Jesus as this metaphor. But I don’t think this reduces Jesus in any way. On the contrary Jesus’ explanation of himself in this way may broaden and enrich our understanding of him.

 We should feel better now, it is clearly obvious when we look closer at this John passage, Jesus is indeed more than a gate, he may be seen as a threshold, a passageway, marking and calling us to a new life.

  But, when he calls, we must listen and then act. When we listen we have the safe pasture, the safe place we need. Our task in life is to faithfully listen to the Christ who guards our going out and our coming in and follow him where he calls.

 This truth about our going out and our coming in from the world of terror to the world of safety is clearly about how we are being saved.  Saved from our world of sin and desperation by first accepting Jesus’ openness and his invitation to be with him in this life. Being with Jesus, where he is, is how we are saved. Now I’m beginning to love this gate metaphor.

 Yet life, life, can be so unyielding. We certainly do venture out on our own, away from the safety of Jesus’ presence outside his gate, his place of rest. We do venture out into the world, moving on to new jobs, new towns and to a different rhythm for our life, a life without boundaries, and it is so natural to be drawn away from Jesus. Often we are so busy or distracted we don’t even notice it. We are so hanging out in a harsh world without any protection; we don’t realize it until it’s too late.

 But Jesus is not distracted; he sees us and marks the boundary for us between a place

to venture out, to graze unprotected, and a place of protected rest.

  Our faith filled life is like this. We gather with Jesus there inside his gate, we gather there at the end of the day, we rest in the peace and safety of his place free from the wild outside world, we rise in the morning having rested well, free from our fears, because the good shepherd, Jesus our messiah, watches over us. And in the morning we praise him, “good day good and faithful shepherd”, we pray, as we move on to green pastures and still waters.

 This way of life is necessary and good, because the places to graze and grow are actually outside Jesus’ protective gate, out here in our world. This movement into the world of our time and place is also necessary as a part of our faithful life of service as Jesus marks for us what we are to do, who we are to become, his apostles.

 That movement, that going out into the world and then coming in, coming home, to Jesus is where the saving life is. Here’s the thing though, it is a matter of life and death that we know when it is time to go out and when it is time to come back in. it is a matter of life and death to know when we have ventured too deeply into ourselves and closed our gate to Jesus.

  Being honest with ourselves about ourselves will tell us when we are ready and safely equipped to venture out and when we are not. Knowing we have Jesus as our guardian, trusting in him, staying faithful to him, obeying him, we can venture out. But, without the truth of Jesus Christ as our Savior, we dare not tread outside. Behind the gate we create for ourselves we are desperately alone. Alone, we will suffer and die.

 It becomes clear to us that we are ready to follow Jesus’ call when we have successfully learned the way of the good shepherd, when we learn Jesus’ truth and when we hear him call, when we open our hearts and minds to his voice alone and cannot live without him.

 Only then may we venture out, for then we will be obeying him. It is clear; we are becoming his disciple when we allow his love for us to become who we are, no longer able to follow just ourselves and we desire more than anything else to obey him. Step into my life, come and follow me, he says.

 This call to follow Jesus is our personal call to salvation and safety and everlasting life. It is our call to hear and to follow his command to “Go out into the world,” Jesus will tell us. “You are ready. The temptations of life to false safety and security and short lived joy and satisfaction will not consume your life. For now you are ready.”

  To live otherwise is to live a life that may never hear Jesus again, one in which we may never hear him when he calls us home. To not hear Jesus’ call is to live a deadly life. Equally dangerous is to hear his call but ignore it or turn against it, to miss being inside, where sheep gather to be with their shepherd. It is to turn our backs on that place where disciples gather to be with their Christ, our Messiah, Jesus. Living in any other place is folly.

 Truthfully, seeing Jesus and his relationship with us as this threshold where he calls us in or out may not be so comforting when we are honest with ourselves.

 We have at different times in our lives been taught that for those of us who believe, Jesus is like a turnstile. And a turnstile only requires a token or a pass or some ‘thing’ we have or some ‘thing’ we have done that says we can come in, we can go through, we can pass from outside to inside, we have the right thing now or we can pass the right test. And if we pass the right test we can go from mindlessly wandering around to the place of sure destination. We can go home, where it is to be safe, forever.

 But if Jesus is different than a place to be tested then everything changes.

 The way home is no longer some test we pass, or some material possession, or some place of importance. The way home is no longer open to us when we say the right passwords.

 No, the way through the threshold of Jesus Christ sets the will of God at a defining place for our lives. It is the will of God that teaches us we are to live our lives as faith filled disciples of Jesus Christ and it is the will of God that Jesus Christ be our threshold, our way to that new life. Not for our gain, but for God’s.

 Our passing through this place that Jesus has marked out for us is critical to our future with God. The right place is like a line drawn in the sand, it is the place where the will of God tells us what we are to do next in our lives!

 It is not our job to decide when we are to be on one side of the line or the other. It is Jesus’. And in case we miss his point, it is not our job to say who else can cross over to be saved with Christ, that too is Jesus’. It is our job to listen for his call, to listen for his voice, telling us when it is time to move. It is then our job to faithfully follow.

 A well known preacher named David Buttrick has a wonderful phrase he uses about the church and I believe it applies to each of us. He thinks of the church as the being–saved community. Not saved yet, but we are working on it!

  If we are being-saved (rather than simply “saved”) then perhaps, as the author Anna Florence says, we are more active in our faith life than static. We move in and out, back and forth with our ministries. We move according to the rhythms of our call. When it is time to worship, we gather at the sheepfold. When it is time to graze and seek and do the work of being a sheep, we spread out over the hills.

 But we must always listen for the voice that calls us to the next task. We must live with the possibility that being-lost is a risk each of us takes.  Anna Florence reminds us, Jesus cannot protect us from wandering away, but he can call us back before it is too late.

 And when he does, we may well be reminded of his call from verse 10 in this morning’s gospel, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   

   This is no metaphor. Jesus Christ is the way, the way to the truth and the light, the way to eternal salvation. And that way is through his freely given love, and through our freely given love right back to him and then on and on to one another.

 He came, dear ones, that we may have life, and have it abundantly.

 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen                           051511.gpc

Additional sources:

“Lectionary Homiletics,” Volume XVIII, Number 3, 2008, pgs. 15-17.

“Pulpit Resource,” Volume 37, No. 2, 2008, pgs. 9-12.

08 May 2011 “The Journeys” Luke 24:13-35

 We are traveling people. Living where we do, we spend a fair amount of time on the road. If you doubt me, look at the mileage on any car or truck in our parking lot. Unless it’s new, you will find clear evidence, we are traveling people.

 Janet and I love to take a day trip to eat at our son Kevin’s restaurant in Rosenberg. It’s only 3 hours - one way. Chuck, our other son is in Boerne. That’s only about 2 hours. Janet’s sister, Sue, is in Brenham, another 2 hours, all one way. I’ve heard many of you tell similar day trip stories. Two hours here, three hours there. The hours add up, the mileage adds up, and the fuel costs, they add up too.

This morning, in Luke’s gospel, we have the road story to end all road stories. The road is to Emmaus, an easy day trip of roughly seven miles from Jerusalem, it is a road we too will take sooner or later. The Emmaus story is for us Christians the story of the walk of our life, the walk where we just may encounter Jesus.

 The two men in Luke’s gospel were on that road from Jerusalem when the experience of a lifetime began. They were innocently on their way, talking about the things they had heard about Jesus, how he had been raised from the grave.  One day, there he was hanging on the cross, then three days later people they know said he had actually appeared to them alive.

 Unknown to our two men, Jesus himself came near to them and walked with them, but, according to Luke, their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  They were on that road, traveling, and Jesus was there too. They were telling their story, unloading what was on their heart. Yet, they were blind to Jesus’ presence, walking right beside them, right there along that same way they were taking. Their way, as it turned out, was also Jesus’ way.

 Of course, this is the way Jesus falls in with all of us. This journey called life is just the place where Jesus wants to be. He wants to be in our hearts, our minds, our souls, traveling along with us. Jesus, we discover, is a traveling man too. He never shies away from the road, from the difficulties encountered there along the way our life follows, in the midst of its straight and narrow and its twists and turns. Jesus goes with us as we unload what’s on our minds and what’s in our heart.  He comes near and goes with us along our way listening as only one who loves us listens.  And just as honestly, so often, like those same two on the way to Emmaus, we don’t see him either.

 Yet, from the gospel we know there is hope for us. Though these two men did not recognize Jesus at first, they ultimately did. It happened when Jesus was with them at table. They did not recognize him until he breaks bread with them, then God’s most amazing grace, God’s most thankful miracle, give us this day our daily bread, their eyes were no longer keeping them from recognizing him, they could see and they knew exactly who he was. Jesus, it is our Jesus who is breaking this bread with us! He was here with us all along. Oh, how blind we can be!

  It may not be so comforting putting ourselves on that road with the disciples. We don’t need to be reminded of our blindness, our sin, our seeing the world the way we do with our eyes not recognizing Jesus. We’ve been there.

 Knowing Jesus’ traveling habits, I wonder how often we’ve missed him. I wonder how often we’ve felt separated from him and felt desperate for his company and he’s been there with us all along. Making the ride in to work with us or stopping at the store with us. Getting home to the chores and jobs that steal our time and attention from him, longing for that day trip to reconnect and finding ourselves even more alone. Missing the bread Jesus has broken and offered to us daily, praying our longings for him and he’s been with us all along.

How would we have known it was Jesus? That’s a fair question isn’t it?

 In Luke’s gospel, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him with bread in his hand being offered to them, and thankfully, to us. That is how they knew it was Jesus, but we don’t see our world like that, do we? We seldom see nutrition and sustenance in the dull and mundane. We’re actually left feeling starved time and time again.

But, we do seek after him, don’t we? The scriptures are clear, Jesus is with us always, we’re just not so sure where sometimes. We do know if we will pray and have our attention and our eyes focused on him we open ourselves to at least feel his presence. We’ve all felt the miracle of God’s presence in our lives or what we thought at the time was God’s presence.

 It’s just that we don’t wake up in the morning, make it through the first cup of coffee, turn to right our list of things to do and script “See Jesus Today”. Even when we pray for his help and his guidance we finish our prayer and the day takes over and we seldom give Jesus another thought. Where then do we expect Jesus to be while we are so busy with our day? Will he be as others have said, in a sermon, a theology lesson or a book? How about a painting, a piece of music, a drift down our favorite river or a sunset out where there are no city lights to interfere? Or is it when we are held by someone we love?  How do we know it is Jesus? 

 If we accept the possibility that Jesus is with us always, walking along the road we might call our life, here on the road to our Emmaus, here in Austin or where ever we have come from, where ever we are going, we give ourselves a chance to see with opened eyes. Our faith can do that.

 It is rightly said, becoming aware of Jesus’ presence changes according to whom we are and where we are. When we are struggling with life, Jesus may bethe friend who walks hand in hand with us and prays with us. When we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus may be the woman at the bank who helps us through the red tape of wills, insurance or safe deposit boxes. When we are anxious about a new home, a new job, Jesus may be the one who walks with us to show us where our new store is, where our new work space is. Dear ones, we do not walk alone!

 Life will naturally unfold for us in ways unexpected and we will find ourselves thinking, what has happened to me. Like those men on their road, we try and understand about life and our hopes and dreams, especially when something goes wrong. We dissect and re-hash and are in disbelief. How have things become so out of control? What did I do?

 These are the times we have a long walk and a long talk with ourselves. These are the times Jesus will have things to say to us. The times Jesus feels what is deep in our hearts and knows what we do not know about ourselves or what we won’t admit to ourselves.

 These are the times Jesus shows up in our lives as a friend, a parent, a relative, a sibling, a co-worker, a teacher, a pastor or even a stranger. We will know in our hearts it is Jesus who is with us. It is Jesus speaking through the other, living through the one we least expect, loving through the one loving us back. With Jesus, we never walk alone!

 Jesus shows up to be with us in these simple yet powerfully important people, but it is a gesture at this table: bread, broken and offered to us, that is how our eyes are opened to see Jesus in our lives! This bread is the miracle of God’s grace in our lives! This table sacrament fills us for each moment of our lives. Give us this day our daily bread, we pray. Jesus freely gives it.

 The road to Emmaus is the road we will walk, sooner or later. We will walk that way more than once. When we aren’t walking it ourselves, we fall in with someone else who is taking their turn. Look around us this morning. See who is here and who is not. We know, without thinking twice, who has had to walk the road of despair, yesterday or today, and we know for some it will be a day trip and for others it will take longer. We know too who needs us to fall in with them so they will not walk alone. Because we love one another, we don’t want anyone to walk alone. So we fall in with one another; you and me, and Jesus.

 Some of you may remember seeing the movie Schlinder’s List. It is a powerful and extremely difficult movie about the Holocaust. It is a movie about Oskar Schindler, who was a wartime profiteer, yet for reasons even he apparently didn’t understand Schindler became obsessed with the idea of saving as many Jews as he could by commandeering them to work in one of his factories and he ended up saving some eleven hundred of them.

 The movie is filmed almost entirely in black and white like a documentary or an old newsreel, but every once in a while, usually in some crowd scene of children playing or people running or being herded into freight cars, you see, flickering like a candle flame in the seething grayness, one single touch of color in the form of a little girl dressed in red. It might have been better to never have noticed her. We first see her hiding herself, and then again, here, than there, until finally we see her for the last time.

  Frederick Buechner tells us he believes “that although the two disciples did not recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus recognized them, that he saw them as if they were the only two people in the world. He believes Jesus also sees each of us like that. In this dark world where you and I see so little because of our unrecognizing eyes, Jesus, whose eye is always on the sparrow, sees each one of us as the child in red. And because Jesus sees us, not even in the darkness of death are we lost to him or lost to each other. Through people obvious or not, Jesus offers us, the way he did at Emmaus, the bread of life, he offers us a new hope, a new vision of light that not even the dark world can overcome.”

 As Buechner says, hope “is the word that on Easter Sunday is sounded forth on silver trumpets. And when Easter is past and the silver trumpets have faded”, and we have sung Joy to the World, hope “is the word that flickers among us like a red dress in a grey world.”

 This is how we know it is Jesus. Our eyes are opened to the hope he brings, our hearts are filled with his love, our lives are filled with his grace.

 He lives in us so we may be the one who walks the road to Emmaus with our sister or brother.  He lives in you and me so others will see Jesus as we become the face of Christ for them, so that they can recognize Christ for themselves, there beside them.

 When will our eyes be opened? Jesus breaking the bread: that is what did it. Jesus breaking the bread: the ultimate sign of love given, Jesus’ body broken for ours. Breaking the daily bread, feeding our fractured souls: now we see clearly.  He is risen, He is risen indeed!

 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Additional sources:

     Buecher, Frederick, “The Secret in the Dark”, pgs. 256-257.

050811.gpc

01 May 2011 “Seeing is Believing” John 20:19-31

I invite you to join with me and sing the first verse of “Joy to the World.” We can sing it without the organ or piano, I’m sure we can.

I really haven’t lost my mind, at least not in an obvious way. While it’s true we just sang a Christmas hymn and while it also true we’ve just finished Easter, shouldn’t we sing Joy to the World? Jesus has risen from the grave and shouldn’t we continue our Easter celebration, shouldn’t there continue to be joy in our world? Surely the kids or grandkids aren’t completely out of Easter candy are they? I would imagine their parents are ready for them to come down off the walls. So, perhaps some folks are ready for Easter to be finished more than others.

Yet, Easter brings the hope that stays with us, the hope we have prayed for, the hope that once again Jesus will save us. And he has, with Easter we became resurrection people. But in some ways, the resurrection has been spoken of so often we’ve become immune to the serious theological and practical implications its truth has for our lives.

We are, by nature, curious people. It is not long after we begin to talk that we start to question everything. That desire to know stays with us all our lives. Topics and interests come and go, but by and large we are curious folks who want to know first hand what our world is about. Knowing about resurrection, on the other hand, may have slipped away from our curiosity.

In today’s Gospel story, Thomas was being faithful to his human nature, he was faithful to his personal desire to know the truth about his life, his world, and ultimately, the experiences he was having as a follower of Jesus. Given the recent turn of events, Thomas was not about to stop being Thomas.

Jesus had died, of that he was certain. Now, his friends were telling him, Jesus was no longer dead but was alive and had actually appeared to them and had actually spoken to them. It is not that Thomas disbelieved them, Thomas simply wanted to know for himself, first hand, if these wild accusations were true or not.

When I taught at Blinn College it was always a struggle to help my students understand about life and what was indeed true and real about what goes on in our lives and what might be suspect. Often, I found, we confuse our own view of what we think is true for what everyone else actually knows to be otherwise. Very often, our personal view is just that, our personal view. And just as often, that personal view is not what anyone else would agree to be true. Finally realizing this difference is a humbling experience.

Thomas shows us the right way to understand about life, by asking questions, “Where is your proof?” he wants to know. “Show me”, he says.
Being true to himself, this is exactly what Thomas asked when the other disciples told him they had seen Jesus alive, that information just did not compute with Thomas. He had seen them nail Jesus to the cross. He had seen them pierce his side with a sharp lance. He would have to see the evidence for himself that Jesus was risen from the grave. Otherwise, he was skeptical and in many ways, so are we.

At some point in our lives we may have asked for more proof about God. At some point in our lives we may have realized that just because people we know, people we respect, or even people we love believe certain things about Jesus, they may be wrong. Their faith claims are just that, theirs and they may not be sufficient proof for ours.

So we do what Thomas did, we ask questions, we strike out on our own, we study, we read, we pray, we engage in discussion, we expose ourselves to new and different ideas. Slowly, we begin to define limits for ourselves. We discover what we absolutely do not accept as the truth, and with the same certainty we discover bits of possibilities, truths we do accept in our belief system.

In sort of a routine way we discover one such truth, then another, and before we realize it, a miracle occurs and a faith develops that we hold to be absolute and foundational and solid as a rock with no compromise or wiggle room. These solid truths become strongly held faith and belief certainties that define our Christian way of living.

When it was evening on that day, the disciples were huddled in the upper room – afraid of the religious authorities, afraid of the religious folk who resist the message of the Gospel and its light – preferring instead to hide in the old ways of holy habit.

We Christians may be like this in a sense – it is easier to hide in our old ways, our comfortable clothing of holy habit. In a way, this story may actually be a picture of some churches. We’ve heard the good news of the resurrection, yet we prefer to huddle in safety, where outsiders cannot reach us.

Yet Jesus will not let us huddle safely from the world. When he first appeared to Mary she did not recognize him, so he called her name. Mary. When we first do not recognize him the church, speaking for Christ, calls our name for Jesus.

Like Mary and the other disciples and everyone for whom Jesus died we cannot avoid the relationship Jesus desires to have with us. He has done too much for us to take him lightly. He has come back into the life of the living. He returned from the grave to be with his disciples again and he has returned from the grave to be with us, each of us.

Why would Jesus do this? We aren’t like Mary. Or, are we? In Jesus’ mind we are. In Jesus’ heart we are not different from those he appeared to after his death, after his resurrection. Like them, Jesus loves us so much he comes to find us, to call our name and to send us out into the world. We too have been breathed upon, we too received the Holy Spirit at our baptism, we too have therefore become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Thomas was not there when Jesus came, neither were we. He doesn’t believe until he sees the marks, neither may we – not because we lack faith, we are curious by nature remember. It’s just that our skepticism has kept us safe in the past from making foolish decisions.

Thomas was like us, he wasn’t so different from the others, he wants to see the same thing they saw, he wants to see the same things we want to see, “show me the marks” he says. “Show me the marks,” we may say.
In the same room with the same group, in church, Jesus comes to Thomas and shows him the marks. Then, like John who had entered the tomb and believed, Thomas believes, he says, “My Lord and my God”.

This story does not end with Thomas, it takes on life here in our church and it goes with us every where. We too proclaim to Jesus, “My Lord. My God”! This is clear from Jesus’ blessing on each of us who, though we have not seen, yet we believe. It is from this belief that Jesus embraces us and raises us to be his church.

Our society has many who doubting likeThomas and they want evidence before they believe. They cannot see the marks of the body of Jesus, but they can see the marks on the body of Christ, namely us, God’s church.

Sometime what they see, well, it isn’t so Christian. Society and non-believers and those from non-Christian faiths are quick to point this out. We see you church people! We see what you are doing! Sadly, the marks of today’s Christians do not always convince the many like Thomas in our world who want evidence before they believe.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. You Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Voltaire, the 18th century skeptic said, “If Christians want us to believe in a Redeemer, let them act redeemed.”

Unless I see the marks, I will not believe.

In the history of Christianity there are marks that would help those who doubt like Thomas to believe. The marks we have to show them are many. They include the stories we tell of our Christian witness. There are many we can tell, stories of people like John Calvin or John Knox or others responsible for the Presbyterian tradition finding its way to America.
Voltaire might say, yes, these are heroes; every movement has its hero’s, what about ordinary people?

We need look no further than this church to find ordinary people who are heroes in the faith. We need look no further than the marks left by the real life stories of people in our own church. Founding congregations, founding ministers, chartering families, pastors and families from the past, and even each of you in this place this Sunday. We, in our lives of faith, create the marks those who doubt long to see. Once they see how we are, then they will believe.

People come into this church on a regular basis, they come to our campus often. We are a busy place. When they come, we show them a great deal, and what we show is good. Before they can believe, they want to see what it is that marks us as the body of Christ, they want to see what marks us as Christians who are like Christ, they want to see that we not only believe in a redeemer but that we act redeemed.

People come into this church on a regular basis and they call our name. They tell us, “Unless I see his mark on you, I will not believe!” They come to worship, we greet them during the passing of the peace, during fellowship times before and after worship, we invite them to our table to take communion with us, we invite them to break bread with us in fellowship at our congregational luncheons, we let them see Jesus’ mark on us when we open God’s church to them to give them a place of comfort and love for their school, for their thespian group, for their place to worship, to pray, to study scripture, or to grieve the loss of a loved one.

These are a few of our marks, there are others, you know about them, you know about the wonderful ministry network we have for taking care of one another, for keeping up with one another, for visiting with one another, for loving one another. You know about our Christian marks.

Can we feel good enough about these marks that we will bring others, like us or not, to this church, to see our marks, so they may believe? I believe we can. I believe we can because those who ask to be shown the marks of Jesus on us want to see the marks in a church, in a familiar place, this church. And the greatest truth we can show them would be the boldly lived claim, “See how they love one another”. “See how they love one another.”
Is it any wonder that we sing - Joy to the World!


In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.