May 14, 2017Acts 7:55-60; Ps. 31:1-5. 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14 To wonder what is reliable and trustworthy is not to ask a new question. It is a question as old as faith. Jesus' answer is John is a part of our readings for this Sunday: "I am the way and the truth and the life." Of course, this could use a little unpacking. What does this actually mean for us? Is it a story of inclusion or exclusion, or is it about something else? In these "interesting times" we might find ourselves wondering whether the values that Jesus' way modeled for his church of self-giving and love, of "laying down one's life" have any merit to them. We might find ourselves squinting and straining to see any link between the truth that Jesus proclaims and what passes for truth in our day-to-day lives. We might wonder whether what really makes for anything like a "good" life that seems increasingly available to only a privileged few. Anything seems to work better that what this downward way of Jesus suggests. If anyone is stumbling over this cornerstone, it is us. So what do we believe? What should we? What hope do these texts and this story have for us? Join us Sunday after worship as we spend some time in reflection!
For Further Reflection: Alice Walker, 20th century "Wake up and smell the possibility." Willa Cather, 20th century "That is happiness; to be dissolved into something completely great." Fred Rodgers, 20th century "You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are." Dorothy Day, 20th century "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community." Jean Vanier, Community And Growth, 20th century "One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals. When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing." William Shakespeare, 16th century "We know what we are, but not what we may be." Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind, 21st century "It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story." Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, 20th century "When I discover who I am, I’ll be free." Brennan Manning, Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, 20th century "Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion." Søren Kierkegaard, The Journals of Kierkegaard. 19th century "The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins." Ivy Baker Priest, 20th century "The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning." Gilda Radner, 20th century "I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next." J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, 20th century "Your time may come. Do not be too sad, Sam. You cannot be always torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do."
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