How Do We Know the Way? - John 14: 1-14

For the past week two things have occupied my mind – graduations and the end of the world. For some the two seem to be intricately connected. For others, as far apart as you could possibly place two events. But in my mind they were linked by this passage in the 14^th chapter of John. Let me explain a little further.

I graduated last Saturday from Drew University with my Masters Degree while my brothers graduated yesterday with their bachelor of science degrees from Westminster College. Such large events tend to cause me to pause and reflect on similar events in the past. One graduation spurs me to think of others that my friends and family have experienced. I was brought back to my undergraduate college graduation from a very conservative Christian school, one that required a profession of faith in the application. I started to think back to the events surrounding graduation, but more specifically the bacholarette service, a traditional time of the celebration of God’s goodness and provision for the graduates and their families. At that particular service we were given a towel and told to go and tell people about Jesus.

Our most recent graduations stood in stark contrast. My brothers attended a school that is sponsored by a particular denomination, but does not require applicants to be Christians however almost all are. At this service, God was celebrated, but only a very particular Christian God. Drew is also associated with a particular denomination, it opens it doors wide to all who come to seek higher education. As such, all that come seeking God were welcomed at the baccholarete service. Muslims, Jews, and Christians gathered in one place to celebrate the God of Goodness in each of our traditions. With no one dimension or portrayal of God being held above another.

I started to ponder how each of these different services could be seen as a response to today’s scripture passage. Jesus gathers his disciples together for a time of teaching and tells them not to worry, that he would provide for all of their needs.

But of course, they did worry. And they became fixated on knowing both where Jesus was going and how they could get there to,. Jesus responded by saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without me, no one can go to the father… You know God because you see me.”

For my undergraduate institution this statement from Jesus was taken as a literal declaration. Jesus is the only way to have life. Therefore, people must be told about Jesus. While my evangelical school would not ascribe to the same belief system as those declaring that the world would end yesterday, in essence, weren’t they asserting the same idea? People need to be told the exact day the world would end so that they could get to know Jesus before hand – because if they didn’t they would never make it to the place Jesus was speaking of. Jesus is the only way to God.

My brother’s college took a slightly different view, but not too far off, when they declared that we give a very particular, albeit broader, picture of God praise. The God who was the parent of Christ Jesus, who is our holy example for living and eternal savior. We need to act in a way that helps other people see the Jesus in us and want to grab a hold of it. While not expressly stated, it can be assumed that we want people to see Christ in us for a purpose, that they will also come to know this one who is so important to us.

But Drew would respond to verse 6 in today’s scripture from a whole new perspective I believe. We cannot truly ever know all of Jesus, because Jesus was both human and divine. If we look at Jesus and see God, we must ask ourselves two very important questions: 1.) When we look at Jesus, who do we see God as? And 2.) Because we can never see all of Jesus, can we ever see all of God? As the Drew religious community came together they were stating with their actions and very presence that we can never truly see or know all of God and that God is big enough for all of our differences in opinion and diversity. For when we look to the actions and words of any who believe in God, they show us something profoundly new and exciting about the Divine. We need each other, in all of this diversity, in order to even catch a glimpse of this way and truth and life that Jesus was speaking about.

But who do we really see God as when we look at Jesus? Is it consistent for you each day? Or does God reach out to you, through the risen Christ, and reveal new pieces of the very nature of the divine when you need it the most or expecting it the least? Do you see God as the provider? The sustainer? The refresher? The rock? The gentle? The firm? The parent? The shepherd? The companion? Even when we have paradoxes within our own view of God, they all seem to fit together, because God’s truth transcends our limited capacity to understand. So can we ever really see all of God?

Perhaps the reason some rely so heavily on this verse for evangelistic purposes is because we have the desire to be right. We want to know the truth and own it. And if God is a little too big to be labeled and claimed for ownership, God may just be a little too radical and unpredictable. We would really like a God who is predictable and thinks like we do. I read a quote recently that said something to the effect of “If you find God hating the same people you do, its not God.” I would alter this quote but keep the same sentiment to say If you find God thinking like you do, its not God. This is not say that we should not authentically hope for people to come to know Christ, but we do not need to strive to convert those who already know their God, even if the Divine looks a bit different then we know it to be. We are called to speak life and truth to those who have lost their way, not to those who are on the same journey.

I also think we rely on this verse because some days, we really doubt that we know the way. We get so caught up in living in the business of life that we cannot even recognize the God piece in ourselves and others that is the reflection of Jesus’s goodness and direction.

When I was little my Uncle taught my cousins and I a game. He gave us each a heart sticker and as he placed it on our shirts he would say, “Jesus loves you.” Our task was to go up to someone whom we did not know and give them our sticker with the same kind words. For all people really need sometimes is a gentle reminder that they are cradled in the love of God.

Perhaps what we really need is the voice and courage to tell those around us how we see the light of God shining through them. And be open to hearing how God is working through us to bring life to others. We are each others reminders of the path that God has pointed us to. When we take time to affirm this, we have little need or desire to fight with others about what is the correct way to know God, because we see God’s very reflection in them.

So I ask you, are you willing to let people find there pathway to God through you? Are you willing to respond to what people see in you? And are you willing to look for your path to God through others? Amen.

Engagements

I've been thinking a lot about how I may not be called to be married. I feel at peace at this time with being single. But I am not going to predict what's gods plan is for me. However, in the meantime a lot of my friends are becoming engaged.
I had a really odd dream a few nights ago about a friend of mine who recently broke up with his long term girlfriend. In my dream he became engaged quickly to someone whom he did not really love or like. In my dream we tried to have a conversation about this dreamland engagement.
While my dream was fictional on most accounts it got me thinking about the time in our lives heading towards marriage that we call engagement. It is not simply a time to get us from point a to point b. It's a sesaon in your life, unlike and like any other in your life.
One of my firm teachings that I feel compelled to pass on to others is this: we need not rush from one phase of our life to another. The example I give is ironically, for this post, always about marriage. When you are in a romantic relationship with a person you rarely go from being single to married over night, at least not in American culture. You go through stages, each with a goal and should be respected. Sadly we are so focused on the goal to get to the next stage as quickly as possible that we do not relish the stages.
But especially with engagement. The goal in most people's minds is to plan the wedding. Right? Not so much. The stage exists to see if you fit together as you continue to work on towards s growing relationship. It is only a commitment to work towards this with an open mind. An open mind means excepting that you may not be the right person for one another. Contradictory to the way we do things.
We live in a day and age when 50 percent of couples become divorced. I wonder if this is because we don't honor that time of engagement. We don't learn how to fight well. We don't know how to live with a person who will change through time.
Another statistic: women who reach the age of 50 and have been single, that is to say never married, divorced, or widowed, are the most emotionally and mentally stable in comparison to their counterparts. Perhaps this is because single people learn how to accept stages of life in a different way.
Most of my friends who are married, have been married for less than 5 years. But they almost all say the same thing. It's not what they thought it would be. It's not just sex and living together. It's not simplistic happy love all the time. And I have friends who have already considered divorce because of this misnomer.
Can we learn to reframe the time of engagement? Can it be less about planning the wedding and premarital counseling and be more about getting to know each other and ask the had questions? More about learning how to fight well? More about thinking if we can really be with this person forever even if we don't do anything else forever in our generation? Can we learn to accept extending the time in this stage instead of rushing through? Can we learn to accept all of the stages in our lives. May it be so.

Graduation

Drew's graduation gave me a period to reflect upon my graduation from Houghton and their stark contrast. I made the comment to a friend who is also seeking an MDiv at a different institution after graduating from Houghton that perhaps they were different because I walked with my class at Drew (at Houghton I walked with the class before me as I graduated in December), perhaps I am less frustrated with Drew, and I was at Drew longer - for three years instead of my mere two at Houghton due to graduating early.

All of that being stated, the biggest difference for me in the actual graduation was we were allowed to celebrate! What a difference when you are allowed to clap and cheer and just shout. What a difference when one of the speakers is someone who you love and admire. What a difference when you love the people graduating with you across school lines. What a difference when the school president makes you laugh. What a difference when you are allowed to express your individuality through the regalia dress.

And all of those differences make me love Drew graduation, and be jealous of the undergrads who walked - I hope you realize that not every school is like Drew, friends. Your achievements were celebrated to the upmost degree in a unique way! Be blessed!

Glee Prom

Glee's Prom Episode was a bit too close to my own prom experience. Like to a T when the fight broke out. I think we tend to forget how dramatic and traumatizing large events in the lives of teens can be. Too often people brush off the emotional web of these heightened experiences by telling them to get over it or that things will get better with age. But perhaps they don't - especially if we cannot forget the scars of the past. Thoughts?

Food and Faith

I was blessed to celebrate my graduation with my supervisor from my ministry setting last year by visiting Blue Hills at Stone Barns. For more information about their philosophy around food, please visit their website at http://bluehillfarm.com/food/blue-hill-stone-barns/

Lise and I opted for the 8 course meal, a three and a half hour experience. And it truly was an experience. The courses change each month based off of the fresh produce at the farm. Our courses included: fresh veggies from the farm displayed on different size woods in order to have each person dining eat as if they are picking up own veggies to eat from the ground, fresh salad displayed on a large board with yoguart (which keeps the different veggies from wilting), a pan seered scallop with lemon zest, pea stew with fresh veggies and an egg, bread with local butter and carrot and asparagus salt, premature chicken egg pasta, hallobit, cheese with rubarb sorbee, coffee and tea, and a chocolate covered hazlenet, a milkshake, and a chocolate covered pralene. Please note that this is still forgetting a course!

While we were eating, my chief thought was how much the church has to learn from Blue Hills! The servers were wonderful and attentive. Shortly after we sat down one of the wait staff came over and talked with Lise about her past experience at the restaurant. While Lise is in fact, Lise, and found her way into the kitchen to work one night after her dining experience! Just the fact that they remembered her shocked us both. It also gave us a wonderful opportunity to speak with them about our ministries and passions for food.

In addition to the attentiveness, everyone was so kind. From the valet, to the greeter at the door, and the conceriage.

Of course all was not smooth - when the immature chicken egg was explained and displayed we both sort of lost it. Lise then made the comment to me that sometimes we need to be careful about our words and explanations, because what is so familiar to us, is new to someone else.

With all of this at hand, I started to think about what the church could learn from such an experience. First, we need to think about what we are saying and who we are saying it to. Are our words approachable? And is our experience overall one that is full of attentiveness to all those gathered, where grace is communicated in a gentle way? Our we kind to those in our midst? Do we remember people beyond their names? And does their experience with those gathered change them?

Food has a lot to teach us about of faith!

Who is the Church For? - Sister Act

Catherine and I went to see our last official show together as Drew students last night - Sister Act on Broadway. What a riot! And what a time for reflection for us as future religious leaders. The premise was similar to the movies but set in a different context as far as setting it within the decade of the 70s with all of the glitz and the glam. Which I thought made more sense. All of the songs were different, but fantastic.

It was also interesting to contemplate pastoral skills and the place of the gospel and the Kin(g)dom of God is secular society as well as the church, when the woman next to me literally snapped about me tweeting during one of the numbers. She was not very polite, demanding a behavior from me instead of requesting it, which stifled the rest of my time during the first act. It was also interesting in my mind to see how my personality was able to show again in the second act without her presence. Catherine and I even danced a bit near the end! Woohoo!

The chief questions that arose for me were 'what are you doing to spread the gospel?' and 'what does the Kin(g)dom of God look like? (in terms of being open or desiring rigid purity)' What fantastic questions to have near the end of my seminary career as I enter the world of full time ministry!

"Let me See!" - John 20: 19-31

When we left off with our Easter narrative, Mary had just had an encounter with the risen Christ. In fact, she was the first person to be greeted by Christ after his resurrection. After calling her tenderly by name and telling her not to cling to his risen form, he instructed her to go to the disciples, including Peter and the beloved disciple who came looking for his dead body and did not see his risen figure, and tell them “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Of course Mary started off her rendition of this announcement by proclaiming “I have seen the Lord!”

Dusk has now descended and the disciples were gathered together in a room behind a locked door. Even after hearing Mary’s announcement, they were plagued by their own fears surrounding Jesus’ death – worried that the same fate would fall on them. Notice what the disciples did not do after the grandeur of Mary’s announcement – they did not go out looking for Christ. Instead Christ had to come to them – which is exactly what he did. Even though they were standing guard behind locked doors, Jesus entered the room and said, “Peace be with you.”

What a strange greeting from Jesus! Of all the things he could tell them about his experience over the last few days, of all that he could say about them abandoning him at the foot of the cross and not coming to seek him out in spite of Mary’s announcement, he greets them with reassurance, “Peace be with you.”

And as strange as his greeting may have been even stranger was what he did next – he showed them his hands with wounds from the nails still engraved in them and his side where the sword had pierced his flesh and muscle.

The shock wore off and the disciples forgot about the fact that they were hiding for their very lives. They began to rejoice. But I wondering how long their rejoicing lasted, or if their joy blocked them from hearing what Jesus said next. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Here are men, crippled by fear to the point of locking themselves in the room, and Jesus expects them to leave and go on a mission. The threat to their lives is still very real – and perhaps more real then they even realize considering the fate that each of them meets. What exactly is Jesus sending them into? But Jesus continued on with his blessings, breathing on them and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit and forgive the sins of others.

But one disciple was missing during Jesus’ appearance – Thomas. We are not told where Thomas was, but it would be safe to say that perhaps he was the bravest of all of the disciples, considering he was the only one not locked in the room with the rest. But the other disciples were quick to tell them what they saw and experienced. And Thomas’s response was to tell them that he too wanted, no needed, to see the marks form the nails and the swords. He needed to put his hands in them in order to believe. Imagine the disciples dismay – they had experienced something beyond words that they wanted to share with Thomas, but he wouldn’t believe them … perhaps like they wouldn’t believe Mary when she came and told them what she had experienced and saw?

A week later the disciples were gathered and Thomas was with them. The door was shut this time, but not locked, and Jesus came and stood among them, blessing them with the same greeting, “Peace be with you.” Jesus then turned to Thomas and beckoned his to his side. “Come and see. Touch and believe.” Just a week earlier, Jesus was telling Mary not to cling to him, not to touch him, and now he is asking Thomas to come and put his fingers in the holes left by the cold nails and to stick his hand in the wound in his side. He is giving Thomas permission to come and do what he needed to do to believe.

Historically, Christianity has given Thomas a lot of grief. He has been labeled as Doubting Thomas, based on this piece of scripture alone. Which seems unfair when you consider the fact that Thomas is really a lot like us. In fact, we may even consider Thomas to be brave. In the face of hearing the news of the risen Lord twice, he still was able to state what he needed in order to believe in front of his friends, despite the reaction and ridicule that he may have faced. But, alas, he has not bore the name “Honest Thomas” throughout history.

Thomas was able to say what we cannot even bring ourselves to admit to our friends and Christian colleges sometimes – there are just simply some times when we don’t believe. Some times when we want to turn to Jesus and say, “Let me see!”. Let me experience something. Or maybe it’s a bit less dramatic for you then that. Maybe your unbelief comes in the form of making bargains with God – if God will do this then you will do that. If Jesus would appear to you in this form or do this particular thing, then you will commit your life to Christ. We all have doubts – we just need to be honest about them.

Maybe that’s why I struggle so much with Jesus’ response to Thomas, saying, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. You’ve probably heard the message of this passage preached as “walk by faith and not by sight” before, which is all well and good. But can anyone walk by faith all the time? Or does such a message just teach us to feel ashamed of ourselves those times when we do doubt, those times when we do struggle?

Let us not be ashamed when we need to see, need to experience something in order to believe. For God understands our unbelief, and is big enough to meet us in our moment of needs. Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he needed in order to believe – do we think that God will not reach out and do the same for us, as long as our request is honest and sincere? For the risen Christ was kind enough to come and meet Thomas in order for him to believe. What do you need to believe? And are you willing to be honest about your moments of disbelief surrounding the mysteries of the faith? Amen.