{"id":1043,"date":"2020-05-10T12:34:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T16:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2020-05-10T12:34:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-10T16:34:27","slug":"where-are-you-staying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2020\/05\/10\/where-are-you-staying\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Are You Staying?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where Are You Staying?<\/h1>\n

A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY<\/h2>\n

by Rev. James Eaton, Pastor<\/h2>\n

Fifth Sunday in Easter\/A \u2022 May 10, 2020<\/h2>\n

Acts 7:55-60<\/a> \u2022 Psalm 31:1-5,15-16<\/a> \u2022 John 14:1-10<\/a><\/h3>\n

I suspect one of the little noticed casualties of the pause is the name tag. You know these: they say, \u201cHello\u201d in big letters and you print your name on it so people will know who you are. At church meetings, they always make me wonder: should I put the \u2018Reverend\u2019 in front? James or Jim? What about the church name? These are bits of information that help say who I am. We all assemble a picture of a person from different aspects.<\/p>\n

Sometimes something new surprises us. One day one of our members dropped in at the church office. I was wearing jeans and it threw her; she was used to seeing me in a robe on Sunday. \u201cI never knew you wore jeans,\u201d she said. Like a picture puzzle, we know someone from the things we learn about them. Now today, in the lesson from the Gospel of John, Jesus is giving his followers\u2014the ones right there and us as well\u2014the pictures we need to understand who he is.<\/p>\n

The lesson is set during the last supper. Jesus has washed his followers\u2019 feet and given them the signature command for his followers: \u201clove one another.\u201d The shadows are gathering; it\u2019s Maundy Thursday. We\u2019ve been told his spirit is troubled and perhaps his friends are as well because he begins, \u201cLet not your heart be troubled\u201d But they are troubled. Their journey with Jesus always potted toward Jerusalem.. Now they\u2019ve arrived but darkness is closing in and they must have wondered, \u201cWhat now?\u201d They\u2019re about to face the great problem all Christians face: how do we stay with Jesus no matter what the world dishes out?<\/p>\n

He begins by telling them that in his Father\u2019s house there are many dwellings. I know many of us grew up hearing, \u201cIn my father\u2019s house are many mansions.\u201d But that Seventeenh Century phrase doesn\u2019t accurately represent what John says because today \u2018mansion\u2019 means a big, palatial house for one family. \u2018Mansion\u2019 originally meant any dwelling, a house or a hotel along a road, not an especially ornate, expensive place. What Jesus wants us to imagine is something like a condominium, a home with many places arranged around a courtyard. I know that may give you a sense of loss. The first time Jacquelyn heard me explain this, she said, \u201cHey, I thought I was getting a mansion and now you tell me it\u2019s just a condo?\u201d<\/p>\n

But I want you to understand what Jesus is really saying here. The dwelling places he\u2019s talking about aren\u2019t separate; it\u2019s not a spiritual subdivision. This is a community and the very togetherness is part of what he means to say. Jesus begins from an intimate togetherness with the Father and now he\u2019s telling his friends he intends to include them in the community, give them a place in the community, with him and with the Father. He goes on to say: \u201c\u2026if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am, there you will be also.\u201d [John 14:3] Jesus is giving his friends\u2014Jesus is giving us\u2014instructions on how to stay with him and it begins with believing he\u2019s going to make a home for us.<\/p>\n

This home is crucial to our faith life because it\u2019s how we stay with Jesus and it\u2019s how we hold fast to our journey with him. As we heard, Psalm 31 says,<\/p>\n

\n

In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.
Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me, take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t we all need a refuge sometimes? Remember building a fort when you were a kid?\u2014piling up pillow or chairs or boxes to make a castle and hiding inside? We build refuges as adults out of bits and pieces the same way. Sometimes it\u2019s our possessions, sometimes it\u2019s a house or job or sometimes it\u2019s simply working to make sure we are in control.<\/p>\n

But all those refuges eventually fail, just like our pillow forts came tumbling down. One of the reasons people are so stressed today is that our home built, self-built refuges are falling apart. When our refuge falls apart, it\u2019s scary. But Jesus is offering a permanent refuge, a permanent place with him. As he said, his mission now is to prepare a place for us. The two questions in the text are questions we ask as well. \u201cHow do we get there?\u201d and, \u201cWhat\u2019s the Father like?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas is blunt. Jesus says, \u201cYou know the place where I am going\u201d; Thomas says, \u201cLord we don\u2019t know where you are going.\u201d How do we get to this dwelling with Jesus and the Father? How do we find the refuge? Have you ever stopped for directions and gotten something that didn\u2019t help? Jesus is going and Thomas wants to come along\u2014he wants directions. And what Jesus says is simply: \u201cI am the way.\u201d Last week we heard him say, \u201cI am the gate\u2014the way in\u201d, and \u201cI am the good shepherd\u201d. Just like assembling the pieces of a picture puzzle I mentioned earlier, these \u201cI am\u201d statements show us Jesus\u2019 identity. They are the clues staying with Jesus.<\/p>\n

By saying, \u201cI am the way,\u201d Jesus is saying that living like him is the way to dwelling with the Father and him. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to read the gospels. They tell us the story of his life, they give us the pieces to help us understand who he is. When we do that, what we find at the center is a man with an unstoppable love that always embraces, always heals, always helps. He tells us directly how to know if we\u2019re on the right track. Just before this reading, he\u2019s said, \u201cBy this all people will know you are my disciples, if you love one another\u2026\u201d So walking the way of Jesus is determining to make love the persistent, every day energy of your life.<\/p>\n

Now when someone says, \u201cI love you,\u201d a good question to ask is, \u201cAs evidenced by what?\u201d When we talk about loving someone, many of the details cluster around what some call appreciation. That means, making a conscious, dedicated effort to consider each other person as a gift from God and to praise God for that person. It can begin with a simple prayer of thanks for someone. \u201cThank you, God, for Jacquelyn,\u201d is something I pray every day. I like to name the people here in our congregation consciously in my prayers with the same prayer; I thank God for each of you.<\/p>\n

It measures me and it will measure you. It\u2019s hard to thank God for someone if you\u2019re angry with them; at the same time, it can help you remember why you\u2019re friends or partners in the first place. It can connect us. Try it out in the prayer time in a few minutes. When we\u2019re silent, think of someone in the congregation or someone you know and simply consciously in your mind picture them and thank God for them.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t going to solve all problems. But it\u2019s a step and it\u2019s a step along the way with Jesus. It\u2019s a step that helps keep us connected with him by connecting with each other. If you keep up with this prayer, if you keep up walking along the way toward Jesus, he will walk with you. And you\u2019ll know what he teaches Philip.<\/p>\n

Remember Philip?\u2014Philip asks Jesus to show him the Father. It\u2019s like saying, \u201cHey, this is all fine but just give me the GPS coordinates for God.\u201d Jesus simply says that if he doesn\u2019t know the Father is in Jesus, he doesn\u2019t know Jesus. This is what it means to say that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. It was the great celebration of an early community that yes, they had discovered how to stay with Jesus, yes, they had discovered how to find the Father, yes, they had found the refuge of faith, the truth . Professor Gail O\u2019Day said about this passage,<\/p>\n

\n

Jesus doesn\u2019t say\u00a0\u201cno one comes to God except through me\u201d but no one comes to the Father\u00a0except through me.\u201d God is not a generic deity but the Father recognized in the life of Jesus. [John] is not\u00a0concerned with the fate\u2026 of Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists, nor with the superiority or inferiority of Judaism and Christianity\u2026 These verses are a confession a celebration of a particular faith community, convinced of the truth and life it has received in the incarnation. [New Interpreters Bible, p. 745]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We can have that same joy when we make our refuge a dwelling place in the Father\u2019s house with Jesus.<\/p>\n

So the question for us is, \u201cWhere are you staying?\u201d Are you staying in a fort you\u2019ve built that will never survive the winds of the world?\u2014or are you staying with Jesus in the place prepared for you, walking the way of Jesus and seeing the Father in him? That\u2019s our hope; that\u2019s our reason for being together.<\/p>\n

Our church\u2019s purpose statement says that our purpose<\/p>\n

\n

\u2026is to celebrate God\u2019s love and to build a vibrant and vital church through worship, fellowship, education, service and outreach in an inclusive and diverse community,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just like the church of John\u2019s gospel, we are meant to be a people walking the way of Jesus by connecting and loving others, appreciating others, hoping with others. That is the way to dwelling with God. That is the true refuge that has sustained Christians just like us in every time and place, in every condition, regardless of the storms and disasters.<\/p>\n

That can be your refuge; I know it is mine. Where are you staying? Come stay in the dwelling place Jesus prepared for you, for me, for all of us, come stay with God.<\/p>\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where Are You Staying? A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY by Rev. James Eaton, Pastor Fifth Sunday in Easter\/A \u2022 May 10, 2020 Acts 7:55-60 \u2022 Psalm 31:1-5,15-16 \u2022 John 14:1-10 I suspect one of the little noticed casualties of the pause is the name tag. You know these: they say, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,3,13,2,69],"tags":[231,230,232,16],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easter","category-sermon","category-theology","category-worship","category-year-a","tag-appreciation","tag-following-jesus","tag-knowing-jesus","tag-prayer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1059,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions\/1059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}