Sermon, Easter VI, Year A, John 14:15-21, 21 May 2017

Memory and belonging: Jesus reminds the disciples that the Spirit will continue to give them what he gave them when he was with them: memory and belonging. He stresses the disciples will continue to remember him and belong to him if they live out his commandments, the things he did and said while he was with them.

This part of John’s Gospel takes place at the Last Supper, the night before Jesus died. Jesus tells the disciples he is leaving them but that they will have something else in their defense. The word Jesus uses for both himself and for the Spirit is “advocate.” In this case, it is a legal term, a term that means someone who argues on behalf of his or her client. An advocate defends his or her client. An advocate supports his or her client. Jesus reminds the disciples and reminds us, that he is with us as our advocate though the agency, the working, of the Holy Spirit.

Several years ago, about a week prior to Memorial Day, I was in the grocery store. I heard a story that made me think of memory and belonging. The woman in line ahead of me said she was having a big dinner for family and friends. She told the grocery clerk, and others of us waiting in line, that her Memorial Day tradition was about remembrance and belonging. She explained everyone invited brings a dish that reminds him or her of a person they love who has died. As each dish is served the person who brought it tells a story about why the dish reminds them of the person they love. The group who gathers is not all related to one another, and some of them meet for the first time at the dinner. But the gathering is something to which they all belong, even if it just for that day. And the stories they tell remind them of the people whose love they shared.

As we think about this story and these things Jesus spoke to the disciples about, I wonder,

How do we know we belong to Jesus?

What is belonging to Jesus like?

Now that we know how we belong to Jesus and what belonging to Jesus is like:

How will we be advocates to help someone else know they belong to Jesus? AMEN. 

Sermon, Easter V, Year A, John 14:1-14, 14 May 2017

         “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”[1] Today’s gospel is one of those gospel passages we can use as an “all purpose” paint job. You know what I’m talking about, one of those “let’s give the wall a quick coat of paint to make it look better before the relatives arrive.” The plan is always that later, some time in an unspecified future, we will go back and strip off that coat of paint and see what the wall really needs. How often does that happen? Most of the time, we leave that coat of paint up there – because it looks pretty good, after all – and then we don’t worry about it until the next crisis comes along. And we slap on another coat of paint.

         For some people, this gospel passage is an all-purpose “coat of paint.” It’s what helps us deal with periodic crises in our life, especially crises that involve people who do not believe or believe differently from the way we believe.

         Unfortunately, this kind of “coat of paint” gospel does not work well for us over a lifetime. Because what about someone who dies and does not profess the Christian faith? What about those who seem to find their “way, truth and life” in another way, by another truth, and with a different life?

In some circles, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,”[2] justifies excluding everyone but Christians, or more often a certain brand of Christianity, from experiencing what Jesus offers us. This gospel has been used as the gospel of exclusion, rather than the gospel of inclusion and expansion that we hear from Jesus himself.

         Suppose instead we try to integrate today’s reading with other readings from John’s gospel. “And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”[3] This is one of our unique claims of the Christian faith. It is a claim of the “way,” that you and I walk together. That ultimately, God offers all of us a place in God’s sheepfold.

Is it possible then, that, “I am the way, the truth and the life,”[4] offers something other than an exclusionary “one way” that denies that God is found anywhere else? That instead what Jesus offers us is the ability to recognize God in words and actions, even in those places where Jesus is not known? That Jesus offers us the comfort of knowing that in some way we don’t quite get, God is at work for everyone’s salvation, rather than just ours?

Could today’s gospel offer more comfort than the “coat of paint” gospel that people interpret as, if you’re a Christian you go to heaven, but if not, you’re on your own? We might instead look at the sum of scripture and find not only comfort but also constant joy in the idea that we are never the ones who make decisions about the flock. We don’t get to decide who’s in and who’s out. Instead, we find our way of looking at God through the person of Jesus Christ, giving us eyes to see God in the world. For us, then, Jesus is indeed, “the way, and the truth, and the life,” and we find our way to God through him.

This does not free us to do as we wish with our lives. The confusion the disciples exhibit to Jesus is the same confusion we continue to have over what “the way, and the truth, and the life” means for us. And one of the primary things it means is to go out and do. Yet, if we take comfort in the idea that salvation is God’s business, then how can it be ours to do something about?

Simply this: disciples, and we are disciples, are equipped by the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel to the world. Our faith calls us to share what we have in whatever ways we can. Just like Jesus’ first disciples we are sent into the world to spread the word of “the way, and the truth, and the life.”

We, too, are disciples. We are living “the way, the truth, and the life”. We are equipped and sent. We are equipped by the knowledge and life in the Spirit that ultimately, there is a place for us in God’s house of many dwelling places. Even if we are unsure of everything else, there is a place for us. And we are sent. We are sent to share this compassionate Good News with the rest of the world. There is one flock, one shepherd. There is a dwelling place. There is a way, a truth, and a life that we are called to share. AMEN.

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2017

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[1] John 14:6 (NRSV)

[2] Ibid

[3] John 10:15b-16 (NRSV)

[4] John 14:6 (NRSV)

Sermon, Easter III, Year A, Luke 24:13-35, 30 April 2017

         If I were going make today’s Gospel into a film, the title would be, “On the Road with Jesus.” And if I were going to write a synopsis for the movie, it would read like this. “Two scared dudes flee when their leader is killed. They meet him on the road but don’t recognize him. He lets them moan about their loss and invites them to dinner. They have a “Duh!” moment and recognize him at the table. The dudes hustle back to Jerusalem and tell their friends. Then they all go do a bunch of really great stuff.         

         Here’s the thing. What Jesus did with those two dudes on the road is what we’re called to do to follow him.

         Jesus met them where they are. We’re called to meet people where they are. If we think we can wait in here and people will find us, we are sorely mistaken. A few will, but that’s it. Movies and advertising trailers and banners might make a few people notice us, but that’s about it. If doing it that way worked, we’d look like we did on Easter morning every Sunday.

         We’re called to listen to people’s stories and help them find themselves in scripture. To open this book up, (I’ve always wanted to wave a bible from the pulpit!), learn it ourselves, and then help people see themselves and God in this book and in the world. The bible is about all of us. Those stories are human stories about people like us. And, we can help others find themselves in those stories so they know they are connected through meaning and experience to the stories they hear.

         Then, Jesus gathers the two guys together for a meal. He feeds them. He takes bread, blesses it and breaks the bread. And it is in that moment that he is revealed to them as the risen Christ. That’s the other thing we have to invite people to here. Come and meet Jesus in the breaking of the bread. If that sounds too “in your face,” find some other way to say it that’s just as inviting. What is it you find when you know Jesus in the breaking of the bread? Invite someone to come and see what he or she will experience. Your invitation opens the opportunity for them to have the experience.

         The story doesn’t end there though. The rest of the story is being sent out to do God’s work in the world. Those two dudes hustle back to Jerusalem, even though it’s late at night and dangerous. They hustle back to tell the others they have seen the risen Lord and how he made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.

         Jesus met those two dudes where they were. He listened to their story of sorrow, disappointment, and loss of hope. Jesus warmed their hearts by taking their story and showing them how their story was reflected in the grand sweep of scripture. Jesus fed them and revealed himself in the breaking of the bread. And then Jesus left and they hurried off to tell others they had seen him.

         So here’s my dream. Well, okay, I have two dreams actually. The first one some of you have heard before. I want to be arrested some Sunday for a maximum occupancy violation. I know they don’t haul you off for that, but I would copy and frame the citation!

         My other dream is this one. I deeply appreciate it when someone says to me after church, “Loved your sermon.” Or perhaps, “That was an A+ this time.” But you know what I’d really like to hear?

What I’d really like to hear on Sunday after church, or during the following week in an email or phone call or text, is something like this. “Remember when you reminded us we were called to go and do something about Jesus’ resurrection?’ Well, here’s what I did.” Or I’d get an email or a text telling me about how you’ve gathered some people together to talk about intentionally inviting people to join us in the breaking of the bread and then you went out and invited some people to come.

Church musicians dream about a church service that’s all music and no talking. Church pastors dream about people being inspired to do something because of a sermon.

         So just to remind you:

·      Meet people where they are.

·      Listen to their sorrow and their disappointment and their lost hopes.

·      Warm their hearts by opening scripture to them so they can find their story in Jesus’ story.

·      Then hurry off and invite people to meet Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

·      Oh, and by the way, offer to bring the person or people with you so they feel comfortable about coming here for the first time.

Risen Lord, you are known to us in the breaking of the bread. Now what are we going to do about it? AMEN.

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2017

Sermon, Easter II, Year A, John 20:19-31, 23 April 2017

         Thomas has a bad rap. Poor Thomas. He even has his own nickname: Doubting Thomas. Perhaps, though, Thomas deserves some thanks for being brave enough to express his doubt.

I suspect the reason he wasn’t with the other disciples was because he needed time to process what happened. Some people process big events by talking about it with other people. Others of us have to go off alone. And then of course, maybe Thomas just went out for a walk, or had a look through the market stalls, or sat on a bench in the wine shop and knocked one back.

         Once he’d done whatever he’d needed to do, he came back. And when he came back he heard the other disciples telling him they had seen Jesus. I winder if we’d be be the same way. I wonder if we, too, would want more proof than the word of those rag tag people we hang out with. I wonder if we’d want to see Jesus ourselves. I wonder if we’d want to know the Jesus the other disciples saw was the same Jesus that died on the cross. And l wonder if like Thomas, we would want the proof of seeing and touching Jesus’ wounds.

         Thomas got his chance. Jesus came back to that same room, to the rest of the hunkered down and fearful disciples. He offered to show his wounds to Thomas, to prove he, the Risen Christ, was the same Jesus who died on the cross.

         We don’t really know if Thomas put his finger in Jesus’ wounds, or his hand in Jesus’ side. What we do know is Thomas believed in the God who died and rose again, as both his Lord and God. And that act of belief is one of the things that transformed the hunkered down, frightened rag tag group of disciples into a loving and nurturing community that spread throughout the world.

They were afraid of being found out as disciples of Jesus, of being tortured, of being put to death as disciples of Jesus. So they hunkered down and hid. It is, after all, a natural reaction.

         I often think that’s why the Sunday after Easter is usually the Sunday when the fewest people come to church. All that joy Easter Sunday makes some folks nervous about coming back. What if it the joy isn’t there any more? What if it we imagined it all? What if we come and it’s flat and uninspiring? What if Jesus isn’t really here?

         Each of us wants to experience Jesus for ourselves, whether we admit it or not. And, each of us wants to believe with our hearts as well as our heads. Someone once said the longest distance for humans is between the head and heart. That is something I simply don’t believe. In reality, it’s only about a foot away. How long a journey can that be? Maybe our journey has something to do with our willingness to accept our doubt and to thank our friend Thomas for showing us doubt is some times where Jesus can be found.

         So just for a moment, imagine yourself thanking Thomas for sharing his doubt. (Pause.) And, imagine yourself thanking God for giving you doubt. (Pause.)

         Now imagine thanking God for creating doubt in you that makes you creative and curious enough to want to find Jesus. (Pause.) Now imagine thanking God for creating this community of sometime believers and sometime doubters, where it’s safe to explore and admit to doubt. (Pause.)

         So yes, the joy is still here. Because this is a place where Jesus is with us every week. Jesus is with us wherever and whenever two or three are gathered in his name. And Jesus is with us in the word, the wine, and the bread. AMEN.

The Rev Nicolette Papanek

©2017