May 2, 2004

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Psalm 23

“Points of Passage” 

     Can you tell me the title of the most popular hymn of all time?  That’s right, I knew you’d know it – ”Amazing Grace”!  Can you sing it with me?…

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

     Can you also tell me the name of the Psalm that is the most popular Psalm of all time?  That’s right, I knew you’d know it, too – Psalm 23!  Can you say it with me?…

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.  He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul.  He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.  Thou anointest my head with oil.  My cup runneth over.  Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

     I have a feeling the reason Amazing Grace and Psalm 23 speak to us so well and so deeply is that they are both about being lost and found, being led through dark times and at last into the light.

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, then when we first begun.”

     Have you ever been terribly lost and then some good soul came along and showed you the way home?  When I was in Haiti, our small group was stuck along a highway in a broken down truck in the dark.  Foreigners in Haiti aren’t supposed to be out at night, but there we were, lost in the dark.  Our guide, however, knew what to do.  He flagged down a vehicle and headed out into the night.  When he returned, he had a small car for the eight of us to cram into.  He took us to the next town where we got a bus to take us back to Port Au Prince (which was quite a feat as even the native bus drivers refuse to go out at night).  Through village after village and several voodoo street festivals (!), he took us the 80 miles home, safely.  We were lost in the dark, but our guide knew the way, so we got home safe and sound. 

     Jesus told his disciples that he was going on ahead of them to prepare a place for them, a place of “many mansions”.  “But Lord,” said Thomas, “We don’t know how to get to the place you are going.  How can we know the way?”  And Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

     We partake of Holy Communion today confessing we don’t know the way, but depend on the Lord to get us there.  He knows the way, knows that it takes his own body and blood to get us there.  He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  The sheep need a shepherd, a Savior, one who knows and who is the way, the truth and the life.

     How about you…are you looking for the right path?  Are you feeling lost?  Is there some darkness you yearn to leave behind?  God allows you the freedom to experience the joy of green pastures and still waters and the anxiousness and grief of dark valleys too.  Love allows such freedom, but love also shows a way through.  Trust the Lord with your darkness.  He knows the way through even if you don’t.  His way is always salvation, a seat at the banquet, a cup overflowing.

     People around town have heard that we are cooperating with Second Church and that we are having discussions.  I’ve been asked if our two churches are going to merge.  Some of you have asked me the same question.  In response, I have to honestly say I don’t know.  Should we stay our own course, or would we and the community we are called to serve be better off if we served together?

     There’s a lot we don’t know as we reach out (like we did in hosting the production of Carmen this past Friday evening).  These are happy and hopeful and yet uncertain times.  We wonder if this is the right path for us, perhaps a bit unsure of what tomorrow might bring.  These are natural feelings and it’s OK to have them, but let me assure you this – Jesus knows the way even if we don’t.  If we’ll trust him, he will guide us on the right path.

     He is with us now.  We have nothing to fear.  With him, the darkness, the uncertainty, is but a point of passage.  He beckons us on to the light ahead.  A banquet awaits with cups overflowing!  He brings us liberation and celebration – thanks be to God!  Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.