Sermon: Rev. Dr. Sharon Barley, July 10.

2011 Jarrettown United Methodist

When You Dont Know the Way..

John 14: 1-7; 15-17 1 Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father's house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to Jesus, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. So how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father, too. But now you do know him, and you have seen him." 15 "If you love me, you will obey my commands. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you. John 16:7-15 7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come . 8 When the Helper comes, he will prove to the people of the world the truth about sin, about being right with God, and about judgment. 9 He will prove to them that sin is not believing in me. 10 He will prove to them that being right with God comes from my going to the Father and not being seen anymore. 11 And the Helper will prove to them that judgment happened when the ruler of this world was judged. 12 "I have many more things to say to you, but they are too much for you now. 13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come.14 The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me, because he will take what I have to say and tell it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take what I have to say and tell it to you.

The Sermon: When You Dont Know the Way. How do you find your way when you feel youve lost your way? How can you get back home? Perhaps youve felt spiritually disconnected as so many other concerns take over your life. There are times we get off track. So, What keeps your spirit tuned up, tuned in, with assurance that you are following Gods will? Sometimes when we are driving down the road we suddenly get lost? Anyone ever done that? I used to use maps, planning the best ways to go; or I had Triple AAA plan the way with a long trip tic. Not too long ago, we all used mapquest, a printout of the exact details of our route. But today, I prefer a GPS, something that guides me as I drive, a little voice speaks to me, in a hundred yards turn left and in 1 mile, bear right or turn around, recalculating. I hear that message most often! Whether a map or a GPS, the reality is that we all need direction or guidance along the way of life. At some point, we come to cross roads in life and we need direction, we need to know which way to go. There are moments, perhaps weeks or even seasons in our lives, when we feel that we have lost our way. We lose trust in relationships, we are told that our job is ending, we need to move, what we expected in retirement did not come to fruition, the college we dreamed of attending, wasnt all it was cracked up to be. And some, live with nagging guilt because of a decision made a long time ago, a guilt that has frozen a part of their heart for a long time. Perhaps youre here today, you feel that you missed God somehow, somewhere. You feel youve lost your way. So, What do you do when you dont know the way? How many of you have asked lately, God, please show me the way out of this? I need help.

The disciples had been with Jesus nearly his entire ministry, and they didnt understand what he meant when he spoke of his departure. Jesus told them that where he is going they could not follow him, right then and there (Jn 13:36). Where Jesus was going was hidden to them. Then he speaks of places prepared for them and a comforter who is left in his place to guide them. This idea that their communion with him might continue after he is gone baffles them. They fail to comprehend what dwelling places with God up there, have to do with their lives in the present. Christians today get so caught up in getting saved for heaven, they forget that, God has chosen to make known, the glorious riches of this mystery which is CHRIST IN YOU; right now.. An everyday living adventure. In a world of increasingly unknown tragedies like natural disasters (the psumanmi, the earthquake, floods and tornados), lack of clean drinking water, poverty, wars, unemployment and economic uncertainty; I can go on and on but the reality for most people is the feeling of little hope. Without hope, there is no vision and we can no longer see the way. Many today wonder, where we are going as a civilized nation. Bigger life questions are being asked by young and old. In a world of instant information access, we are more informed in modern civilization then in all of history. The knowledge we have raises questions of Gods goodness, Gods guidance, and even Gods presence in the world today. And the world is asking, Where am I going? Who am I in this chaos and uncertainty in the world? Or, How can I know the way through this? OR What I trusted in, has suddenly crumbled, and I feel so alone. No matter what you are going through, or how things look, or what you feel, GOD has provided an internal GPS just for you! The Apostle Paul in Ephesians Chapter 3, uses the greek work dunamis to describe the power of the

Spirit for us who believe. It is where we get the word dynamite. Ignited by prayer, the Spirit explodes in and through your life. God will remove every idol, every road-block, everything you depend on out of the way, so you trust in Christ alone. God wants to be so close to you that the power of your internal GPS, the power of Christ in you gives you assurance in the way you should go and power in this life in service to God. But we all have an inner Thomas. Thomas expresses uncertainty: Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus answers: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is if you follow my instructions. If you really knew me, you would know my Father, too. Verse 7. But obviously they didnt understand what Jesus was saying, because they asked again, How can we know the way? The disciples lived in troubling times. They were facing persecution and death squads hunting them down in the streets. Certainly they wanted to know the way out of there!!! Jesus declares himself the way, and the truth, and the life, but he is leaving! And for the disciples it not a direct escape route, a one-way ticket to heaven; but a way that keeps them on earth, yielding, however difficult, to the life God has planned for them. The goal is to open us to knowing with all assurance, that no matter what we face, Gods presence in us, leads, guides, and renews our lives. Can I get an Amen! When I was about 11 or 12, I used to love Sundays. I wish I could tell you that I loved Sundays because we went to church. No, I loved Sundays because we would come home to a big meal usually tender roast beef and buttery mash potatoes or a delicious pot roast. But even that wasnt my favorite part of Sundays. My favorite part of Sundays, were the Sunday rides. There is truth to the old statement, Hes just a Sunday driver. We were consummate Sunday driv-

ers. All four of us kids would pile into my Moms big heavy Buick and off we would go and usually we didnt have a destination, we just wanted to go for a ride, let the wind blow in our faces, enjoy each others company; and at some point along the way, we always found. ice cream. Gas = 32 Cents a gallon. I always sat in front with the map. I followed the route with my finger, every turn, every back road, measuring the miles, telling Mom what town we were in and heading toward. I had put little stars every place on map where we stopped each Sunday for triple-tiered ice cream cones. My favorite was chocolate chip mint. And I wanted to be sure that wherever Mom was driving that she was near one of those stars. Sunday was a carefree day. My brothers and sister thumb wrestled in the back seat, while I was tuned into my little map. None of us knew exactly where we were going, Mom was taking us to explore the country-side, not knowing the exact way or when we would get there. But, we trusted Mom, and she trusted my little map reading skills to not get us too far off course. Important: We were assured on one thing We were all going in the same direction and we were all together. It didnt seem to matter where we were going, we were together; and we knew at some point, we would get ice cream. Let me ask you, if you were in our car, who would you be? The driver, the navigator, my brother hanging his head out the window, naming animals in the clouds, or my sister asking incessantly, Are we there yet? Or my other brother, pinching and poking the others causing a rukus in the back seat. Look at the person next to you and tell them who you would be in the car- who are you? Where are my drivers? My navigators? Cloud watchers? Pokey-mans? Those who want to know now? Well, no matter who you were in our car, the fact is, none of us really knew where we were going. I had the map, but I never knew where we would end up that day, (especially with my Mom driving).

Today, there are many more roads in life, many more forks in the road ahead, a multitude of choices, and the truth is, that in our culture people arent much interested in enjoying the ride they just want to get there! As I pondered that time in my young life, in light of our text today, I realized how critically important the bible as a map is in our lives, and I realized how critically important for us as believers to yield our decisions to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like an internal GPS. The road map is the Word of God. Maps show us the bigger picture: the relationships things have to each other, that roads are not disconnected or isolated. When we study the Bible, we see the meta-narrative from the OT to the New T. leading to the Messiah, the Son of God. Gods plan is connected like dots revealing a big picture, planned and laid out for humanitys salvation. Maps allow us to make the decision of which route we take. The bible has a great cloud of witnesses in stories as signs to help us to know our way. But a map doesnt force us to take a certain route in our life, now. You see the map is as only as effective as its navigator. We have choices. God loves us so much to give us the freedom of choice. Many read this map, but many more dont follow it, or they cut up the Scriptures in proof-texts disregarding the whole counsel of God. The disciples needed more than a map. They needed Christ. They didnt want him to leave them. They were in deep distress, as Jesus prepared to go away. They were afraid. Up to this point, they were physically led by Jesus and now, Jesus is transitioning them from being physically led by him - to living in with one another, led by the Spirit. In the unity of the Spirit, it didnt matter where they were going, because they would kown they were in this together.

Jesus invites his disciples to turn in a new direction; of spirit-directed action and witness. When they yielded to the Comforter, the Spirit, they did the works of Jesus. When Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, spoke to outsiders, Jesus revealed not only his own loving, compassionate nature, but that of Gods, and Gods will for us, the church. Jesus is trying to tell them that when we incarnate (embody) Christ in the world, his love, we will know the way, the truth and the life. In other words, our GPS is turn on and tuned in. Embodying the love and compassion of Christ in the world is shown when we serve soup in the mens shelter, comfort women whove experienced abuse, give clothing to children who dont have enough, pack bundles for those overseas and without resources. We become the hands and feet of Jesus, when we live our lives in radical hospitality and generosity to others. We gather for worship to give our lives every Sabbath as a living sacrifice, which calls us to stand for justice and mercy, to weep with the oppressed, and welcome the stranger, and the result is that we become the road that leads the way - to God. This is Gods call to us: both individually as Christians and as Jarrettown church. Three things: We become the way for others when we live to embody the mercy and the love of Christ in the world. We then know, the truth and the life is Christ in us! The hope of salvation reveals the glory of God in the earth. And sometimes, as we travel on the way, we discover three-tiered ice cream cones, and more.