People of the Way

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A)
May 7, 2023

Text: John 14:1-14

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This past Friday, I discovered some devastating news. Some time around 2:00 am, on Thursday, May 4th—just a few days ago—someone broke into St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Amarillo, Texas, and vandalized their sacred space.

When I saw the name and location of the church, my heart sank, not only because I once served as a priest in that part of the country but also because a friend of mine now serves as the rector of St. Andrew’s.

As soon as I heard the news, I reached out to him to offer my support and prayers.

The details of what happened were heart-breaking.

Whoever was responsible entered through the front door of the church and proceeded to cause as much damage as they could, intentionally targeting holy objects for desecration.

They destroyed the beautiful tapestry on the altar and carved holes into the altar table.

They broke the processional cross in half and left the top half laying on the altar.

They shattered the glass vases behind the altar and left all the flowers scattered on the floor.

They knocked the door off the tabernacle—one of the most sacred parts of any Episcopal church, where consecrated bread and wine are kept for administering Holy Communion to those who are sick or homebound.

And even worse, they dumped all of the consecrated hosts onto the floor.

The most damaged part of the church was the baptismal font—the place where we welcome new Christians into the Body of Christ and mark them as Christ’s own forever—a beautiful sign of God’s love for us.

The perpetrators poured all the blessed water out of the font and shattered pieces of the stone structure, intentionally targeting the carvings of saints.

Sadly, these kinds of attacks on places of worship happen far too often. St. Andrew’s in Amarillo is just one example of the kind of hate being directed toward worshiping communities all the time and in places all across the country.

The shooting at St. Stephen’s in Birmingham last June is another good example.

And, it’s not just Christian communities being attacked. It’s communities of all faiths who are being targeted.

I don’t know why, other than the fact that we live in a broken world full of broken people who sometimes do terrible things in order to hurt others.

As I read the news of what happened at St. Andrew’s, I thought to myself, “As a priest, how would I respond if something like that happened here at St. Mary’s?” “What words of comfort would I have to give, and how would I encourage you to keep going?”

Well, I hope I would have the wisdom and grace to respond the way my friend did.

On Thursday evening—the same day as the attack—my friend, the rector of St. Andrew’s, stood up and addressed the congregation during a prayer service that was held at the church.

And as he was speaking, he reminded the people of who they were as followers of Jesus—as people of the Way.

“We are a people who gather,” he told them. “We are a people who pray together. We are a people who love each other and the world. No exceptions. No matter the person, no matter the situation, the day or the difficulty, we choose love. Always. We choose love. Hard day. It’s a weird world, but love always wins. Not because we are so great or because we are so lovable, but because God is love. That’s why love wins.”

I wanted to share this with you today, not to make you feel scared or angry or hopeless about the world, but to remind you that, no matter what happens to us in our lives—as individuals and as a community of faith—God is always with us.

And the reason why God is always with us—why God has promised to never leave us—is because God loves us more than we can possibly imagine.

It’s true.

No matter where we go or what we do, through the good times and the bad, God is always near.

And we know this is true because of Jesus—the one who came to live as one of us and to show us the path to abundant life with God. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we know who God is, and we know how God calls us to live our lives as people of the Way.

Our Gospel lesson this morning takes place on the night before Jesus died. It’s from a section of John’s Gospel commonly referred to as the Farewell Discourse.

Jesus is with his disciples in the Upper Room. He’s shared with them a final meal. He’s washed their feet. He’s given them a new commandment to live by.

And, he’s told them that he’ll only be with them a little while longer and that where he’s going, they cannot come.

The disciples are deeply grieved in spirit because they desperately want to stay with Jesus.

So he says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 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? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

These are words of hope and comfort for a group of disciples who’ve already started to mourn the loss of their friend and teacher. In his compassion, Jesus reassures them and promises that he will always be with them.

This passage from John is one that’s often used during funerals and memorial services in the Episcopal Church, and rightfully so. They are comfortable words, and they offer grieving families and friends the reassurance that, no matter where we go—whether we live or die—there’s nothing in heaven or on earth that can separate us from God.

But, this passage offers us more than just words of comfort and reassurance. It also reminds us of who we are and how we’re called to live. We are people of the Way, and Jesus has set for us an example to live by.

When Jesus says to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he’s not talking about the way to get to heaven or what happens to us when we die. He’s saying, “If you want to know how to follow God, follow my way. If you want to know the truth of who God is, listen to my voice. If you want to know the path to abundant life with God, look at my life and my example and do likewise.”

Many of you already know this, but this passage from John—especially the part when Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me”—is often used as a way to exclude non-Christians or to use fear as a means of getting people to follow Jesus.

But, if we read this passage in the larger context and think about what’s going on at the time with Jesus and his disciples, it really has nothing to do with who’s in and who’s out, and it has nothing to do with who’s going to heaven and who’s not.

At the heart of this passage is a promise.

And the promise is this. No matter where we go or what do, God is already there.

When people hurt us or when unexpected things happen and it feels like our lives are falling apart, God is already there, ready to pick up the pieces and bring us healing and wholeness.

When it feels like we’ve lost our way and we don’t know where to turn, God is already there, ready to forgive us and lead us back home again.

When it feels like the world is against us and all hope is lost, God is already there, ready to bring us strength and courage to carry on and to remind us of who we are.

We aren’t people of the world because we know there’s nothing in this world that can bring us the abundant life that God wants to share with us. We are people of the Way.

And the way is Jesus. Amen.