May 10, 2020

Fifth Sunday in Easter
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14

Easter 5
5/10/20
 
Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen indeed, alleluia.
 
This week our psalm really caught me,
the image of the psalmist
who has taken refuge in God
seemed to speak to our time
when “shelter in place” and “stay at home”
 have become everyday phrases,
 
the psalmists’ crying out to God
“deliver me” in one breath
and “my times are in your hand” in the next
capturing the multiple emotions that envelope us.
 
As I mulled over the images,
 I wondered what images we might use today
and so as an exercise I paraphrased our psalm for today,
 seeking to use the images and emotions of 2020,
and here is what I came up with:
 
In you God I take refuge
Keep me from acting out of selfishness.
 
Listen to me!
Come quickly!
 
Be my home
That I may shelter in place in you.
For you are where I retreat to safety.
You hold me like the cushions of my couch.
 
Take me out of the net of fear
That has been woven around us,
For you are my truth.
 
Into your care I comment by body and spirit
That you created, called good, and redeemed.
 
 Time is in your hands
Save me from fear, anxiety,
Inadequacy, lethargy, numbness
And from the ones who want me to feel this way.
 
Shine on me like the springtime sun
That each year 
Coaxes bare branches back to life. 
 
Part of the power of the psalms
 and why we turn to them for comfort
is that they hold so true to life,
 
contained within many psalms
are both cries of lament
 where the psalmist feels abandoned by God,
 and in the next breath
 proclamations of trust in that same God,
 
in these seemingly contradictory emotions
 we see our own experience reflected,
the times in our lives
where many things are true
 even things that seem to be in opposition,
 
 and we see this in psalm 31 today,
the first part a cry of the heart
 and the second part reliance on God
 in the midst of the unknown,
 and both are true at the same time,
 
And that’s one thing that I think
will help us get through this time of laments and unknowns
 the realization that we don’t have to be on one end of the spectrum
 or the other,
we can both and, 
 
We can both want to see the whole way before us
and trust that God will guide us,
 
we can be concerned about the health of our community
and concerned about the health of the economy,
 
 we can both understand why it is important
that large gatherings not take place
 and grieve the loss of connection and communal observations,
 
high school seniors can be both excited to be graduating
 and sad that it won’t take place in the traditional way.
 
In times of turmoil,
we so desperately want to know what’s coming next
 that we often grab onto one image of the future
and that is all that we can see,
even though there may be many different options.
 
That’s the place that the disciples are in
in our gospel for today,
Jesus is on the way to the cross
 and is trying to prepare his disciples,
he has told them what is going to happen,
that he will be crucified, die and on the third day rise again
 
but they are holding on to their own image
 of what the messiah will do,
come in as a military leader and wipe out the Romans,
 
 Jesus knows that they will be sorely disappointed
and tries to give them another idea of what is to come..
 
 “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” he tells them
“believe in God, believe also in me”
 belief in God is the antidote to the troubled heart,
 
and he knows that their hearts are troubled
and they are wondering where do we go from here?
 And so he paints a picture for them,
of his father’s house,
a place with many rooms,
enough rooms for everyone,
 
and Jesus is going to prepare a place for all of them,
 he’ll go and come back
and go again
 but where ever he is,
the disciples know that there is a place for them.
And Thomas,
ever the practical one
says this all sounds great Jesus
but we don’t know the way,
 how will we get there?
 
 and Jesus responds,
“I am the way and the truth and the life”
which is not really what Thomas was looking for,
he wanted something along the lines of
 go north for five miles until you reach a tree, then turn left,
that kind of thing.
 
 But Jesus doesn’t give directions like that,
his answers to questions are not easy
but they are backed up by the promise of abundant life.
 
 In his I Am statements,
Jesus is proclaiming that he is one with the father,
 when the disciples see Jesus, they see God.
 
So where do we go from here?
 In this time where many things are true
and many things are unknown
 we cling to Jesus, the way,
who promises us abundant life
 
 and since, unlike the disciples,
we are hearing this teaching after the resurrection,
we know that Jesus keeps his promises,
 that he has been through our ultimate fear, death,
and come out the other side
and promises that we will do the same,
 guided by him, the way. 
 
This is not an easy answer,
it doesn’t lay out every single step that we will take,
 like we might wish,
but it does give us something to hold on to,
 Jesus the way, the truth and the life,
 
who promises to be with us
and guide us all along the way,
who holds us when we are afraid
and comforts us in the face of the unknown,
who brings us to life everlasting. Amen