Easter V

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter V

20 April 2008 

Text:  John 14: 1-14

Other Readings:  Acts 7: 55-60; I Peter 2: 2-10 & Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16 

      "I am the way, & the truth, & the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  A deceptively simple answer to Thomas's question.  A quote so familiar that we have all heard it dozens of times.  It's the inscription on the crosses on the grounds of Camp Allen, our diocesan church camp.  Of all the "I am" statements in John's gospel, perhaps it's the one most central to John's community's understanding of its own identity.

      "I am the way, & the truth, & the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  A statement of faith for a small, oft-persecuted Christian community in the first century after Christ's death & resurrection.  A statement which described succinctly the new relationship with God which John's community of faith came to understand because of their encounter with God incarnate—the human Jesus Christ. 

      Also, unfortunately, a statement which oft well-meaning Christians have used as a bludgeon in very unchristlike ways toward others throughout at least the last ½ of the 20^th Century.  Let's explore what these statements had to say in the community of John the evangelist in order to discover how they are good news to us & to those inside & outside our communities today.

      By the time John wrote the Fourth Gospel, the Jerusalem temple had been destroyed by the Romans, both the Jewish & Christian communities had been scattered throughout the known world, Christians had opened their self-understanding to include Gentiles as well as Jews, Christians had struggled with their relationship with the mother Jewish faith & had usually been ousted from synagogues, & Christians were facing persecution for their "dangerous" beliefs thought to be both contrary & insurrectionist to the Roman authorities.

      "I am the way, the truth, & the life" is, therefore, the joyful affirmation of a religious community who believes God is available to them most decisively in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  Since their Jewish beliefs had been that no one could see the face of God & live, for Philip even to be able to ask Jesus to "show us the Father, & we will be satisfied" is to recognize the magnitude of the corner around which the disciples had turned.  So radical was the concept Jesus reiterates here—"Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"—that it took regular reminders for the disciples to "get it":  Jesus as the embodiment of God in their very midst.

      Christianity's first name was "The Way" because of the guidelines for living which Jesus refined from his & his followers' Jewish background, insisting that his disciples go beyond the letter of the law to its intent.  Jesus had preached & exhibited an attitude of living in which the life-giving truth of the Gospel was summed up in 2 commandments: love God wholly & unreservedly, & love one's neighbor as fully as Jesus himself did. 

      And Jesus the Christ, whose life & ministry was one of such radical truth-telling that it threatened the status quo of both religious & political leaders enough that they executed him, this Jesus embodied in his enfleshed, incarnated life the image of God which the patriarchs & prophets had testified to before him.  Jesus was indeed the way for them best to see God as Father, as "Abba," the Aramaic word which we can best translate "Daddy," so each one of John's disciples was called to enter into the life of the community of faith through an intimacy with God which Jesus showed was as close as to a loving Father.

      So this small religious community learning how to be faithful & to withstand the onslaughts & persecutions of the outside world proclaimed bravely through its sacred story that Jesus was the way, the truth & the life for them.  This is not the triumphalist cry of victory by a major world religion as it has sometimes been proclaimed in the world since & even today.  This is not the arrogant threat of "be like us or be damned" with which modern-day Christians sometimes approach adherents of other world religions, resulting in violence & standoffs like we observe in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, & the whole of the traditional Holy Land today.  Actually, our own infighting within our Christian denominations, within our Anglican Communion & Episcopal Church, & indeed even here at Hope, is a sad commentary on the great                                                                                                                       dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions as the prayer for the unity of the church states in our own Book of Common Prayer.  John is speaking of his own community's experience, partially to encourage them to withstand whatever temptations & persecutions they may encounter.

      What may this affirmation of the way of life through Jesus Christ say to us today?  First, it may remind us that what we have to give in proclaiming the Gospel is to share the experience, strength, & hope of Christ's transforming power in our own lives.  Unfortunately, to Episcopalians, the word "evangelism" is a 4-letter word, so we are often reluctant to witness to others as to                                                                                                                    what Christ has done to transform our lives.  If we have a story which intersects with the Sacred Story in intimate relationship with God, then we are called to offer that story to all who are open to it.  None of us has a corner on a private relationship with God, individually or as a community, but we can judge the legitimacy of the relationship we DO have by how closely it resembles Jesus' companionship with his "Abba Father."

      In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus repeatedly describes his interrelationship with God. He speaks of life with God as a house with many rooms or dwelling places, so we don't have to be cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all to share space with God.  If our lives have been transformed as surely as these early Christians' lives apparently were, then we can't NOT share the story.  It becomes infectious.  And we share the story of transformation most effectively by telling the story not only with our lips but in                                                                                                         how we live our lives—are we true to our word?  To God's Word?

      Since Palm Sunday of 2005, we have been traveling on The Way as an intentionally multicultural congregation in this part of our Diocese.  During the first year, we went about forming a blended community & getting to know one another.  For two years we've shared joys & sorrows, celebrated marker times & established women's & men's groups, hired a youth minister who has done wondrous work with our middle school youth, & reinvigorated the day school.  Small groups have cropped up for prayer & study & needed tasks, & we've begun to learn how to love & care for one another.  Recently, two of our own have taken on the joyous task of inspiring our choir to lead us all in a wider range of music to God's glory.  Within the past few months, several of us have started training toward a deeper, more fully inclusive community, some of which we'll be sharing on a diocesan level in the next several months. 

      Some of our traveling The Way together has not borne fruit as immediately as we had hoped.  The condition of our half-century-old facilities has been a continual drain on our energy & budget, & has failed to draw the younger families we would love to see here, especially when we had air conditioning issues.  We have not grown as we would like numerically or in our financial ability to better provide for our own community or the larger one.  Although we have offered leadership training opportunities on a local & diocesan level, few have chosen to engage at a deeper level & long-time leaders have, quite frankly, grown tired. 

      We have turned to the diocese for guidance & support, & several efforts have begun.  In your April Hope Happenings, Michael Fahey's Senior Warden's report gives an overview of some of our efforts for renewal and resurrection which are so appropriate at this Easter season.  Our vestry is in process of establishing priorities, all of which you will be hearing more about in the near future & contributing to.  Remember that each step of "the way" which we are journeying together must be underpinned by prayer, a gift we all can give to each other.

      In Peter's first pastoral letter, he invites us to develop a united community with an identity in Jesus Christ.  St. Peter commands us to "Come to Jesus. . . & let ourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."  What kinds of sacrifices must we make in order to live into the promise which Peter offers?  In what ways can we accept the gift which Christ hands us to be "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people"?  The gift is already available to us; we don't have to earn this grace.  However, for us to embrace the life abundant which Christ offers us, we must truly believe & act on the gift God has given that "Once we were not a people, but now you are God's people;  once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy." 

      As Episcopalians, rebirth and resurrection is first & perhaps foremost seen in our worship.  We have exciting opportunities in the upcoming weeks to celebrate as Easter people, so please plan to be here every Sunday.  On the 4^th of May, the Rev. Eric Law who has authored most of the multicultural material we are introducing will be here for Adult Formation class & to preach for us.  The 11^th of May is the Feast of Pentecost so please wear red & come to hear the story of the Church's learning to listen more closely to one another.   Bishop Don Wimberly, our Diocesan bishop, will preach & celebrate on the 25^th of May as well as confirm several of our young people who have been diligently studying & growing in the faith.  Would you please offer a prayer daily for their deepening commitment to The Way?

      And speaking of listening, the 1^st of June at 9:00 am, we will be privileged to experience worship with the Trinity Jazz Ensemble with whom our own Dwight Ward sings on a regular basis.  Dwight has arranged the funding & commitment for them to bring us an exciting experience of worship on the same day that we will be celebrating Education Sunday, honoring all students & teachers including those in our own Day School. 

      God has wonderful plans for Hope Episcopal Church, & my prayer is that each of you will commit to reengage in the journey of The Way in the Hope community in the next few weeks & months & will invite others to join us in this exciting journey.