Sent by a Loving God

Please stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel.

Our Gospel reading this morning comes from John chapter 14 verses 23 through 29, which you can find on page 13 13 in the pew Bible.

"Jesus answered, "Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. The word that you hear isn't mine. It is the word of the Father who sent me. I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don't be troubled or afraid. You have heard me tell you 'I'm going away and returning to you.' If you loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than me. I have told you before it happens so that when it happens you will believe."" This is the Word of God for the People of God.

You may be seated.

Reading John's gospel reminds me a little bit of reading William Shakespeare with one difference. Eventually, I understand Shakespeare. John is just a little bit harder to grasp but, through all of that language that can be confusing sometimes, there are these little phrases, these nuggets that we latch onto. Because they have an incredible, profound connection that that we feel. Both of our passages this morning are within actually the text that we, in the United Methodist Church, will use for a funeral service because both are powerful and, I guess, messages of comfort

They remind us that death does not have the last word.

They remind us that despite everything that's going on in the world,

we love and serve a God who can give us peace in the middle of the storm. Last Sunday, we started a new series that will go for for 4 weeks. It's just called "Loving." It focuses on the action of God upon those who believe, who believe in and into Jesus, but also the action that's stirred up among the community of believers. And so it kind of creates this flow of divine energy that flows from God into the church and out to the world. So last Sunday was "Marked by Loving God" and we spoke about the passage where Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment to love each other just as I have loved you. And this passage is sandwiched in between two people, two narratives of people who are going to betray Jesus. The new part of the commandant isn't the love one another. That message is found throughout the Old Testament as well, and throughout the gospels. The new part is where Christ says to love one another as I have loved you. As I continue to love. Even when I'm betrayed, I love. And so Christ is calling us to share the same kind of love to the world. And to show the world that there is a different way of living. That life does not have to be as it always has been. That, through Christ, we... we believe that God is breaking in a new kingdom in the world. And that when we come together as a community of faith, when we live out our lives as God calls us to live, we catch these glimpses of God's Kingdom, of a way of life in which God desires for us to have. And this morning...

It's "Sent by Loving God," which is kind of interesting because the only time the word "sent" is used in this passage this morning is when Christ says I have been sent by the Father.

But Christ is preparing the disciples for his departure.

Christ is facing the reality that he will die. And be resurrected and, while he knows he will be resurrected, he also knows that the disciples will experience tremendous grief upon his death. They will likely forget what he has told them until he is resurrected and then they remember he told us this would happen.

Grief has a way of making us forget things.

It can be difficult, when we feel so much devastation and pain and loss, to remember the message that God gives to us through Christ. And that's why it's so important actually to be part of a community of faith. Because then even when you are struggling with your own faith, you are surrounded by people who can help you through that struggle. There's a story in the gospels of the group of friends who lowered a paralyzed man through the roof to get him to Jesus because the house was so crowded. They couldn't find another way. And it's interesting, it's really subtle what Jesus says to them. He says to the man, "The faith of your friends has saved you."

The faith of your friends has brought you healing.

When we come together as a community of faith, we support one another through the dark times. And when we hit a season that's difficult, when we feel maybe we can't continue, when we have questions and we maybe begin to wonder is God really here, is God really with us?

My hope and prayer for people who hit that season is that they are surrounded by people who do believe, who love them, who will surround them, and over time walk with them. Until they are able, again, to remember for themselves, to see for themselves, to experience the peace of Christ.

"Whoever loves me will keep my word.

My Father will love them. We will come to them and make our home with them." That's a nice image. "We will come to them and we will make our home with them."

This is connected to the Revelation passage where we have this vision of the New Jerusalem descending from the clouds. And it says that God will be here among his people. He will dwell with them. And there is no temple in the city because God is there, because

God is with the people.

And here, even though we meet in a building that we call a church,

sometimes we have to remember, we have to remind ourselves that this building is not the church. The church is in us. The church is revealed to the world when we go out and do what we're supposed to do. When we go out and we love our neighbors, even the ones who are hard to love. When we feed them. When we give prayer shawls and we lift our friends and family up in prayer.

This is the work of the church.

No building should ever confine it.

The power of the church is in our ability to come together.

It's in the promise of God that where two or three are gathered I am with you.

And here in this moment Jesus is preparing the disciples for the next phase, for the next growth opportunity in their lives. Because he knows that they have within them, or they will have within them, the ability to be sent out. To have the peace of Christ that he gives them and then, with the Companion, to have the power and the strength and courage to go out into the world.

I love that this translation uses the word companion. There's other words that you can use such as advocate, but companion is... There's something just really kind of meaningful. It connects with me. It reminds me that no matter what I'm not alone. Even if I'm in a place where maybe I can't see my friends in the community of faith, my family in the community of faith, I can cling to the reminder that I have a companion through Christ.

And that this companion will teach everything. And will remind us of everything that Jesus taught us. And this reminder is not the same kind of reminder as Siri, or as our calendars, to remind us of a task. This reminder is something much deeper. It's a reminder that helps us to remember that we have a peace.

And that, when we turn our eyes from the world and focus on God, we will find the peace again.

My peace I leave with you. I give you not as the world gives.

Somebody pointed out... What does that mean? What kind of peace does the world give?

What kind of ways do people seek out to experience peace? [various responses]

Sure. Sure. Think about, you know, I know a lot of people who will turn to alcohol or drugs. Or even something innocuous like picking up their phone and just staying distracted.

We can seek to numb ourselves to pain. Because in our minds, it's better to be numb then to feel hurt. And to feel that pain that is, it can be devastating.

But when we numb ourselves, we also close ourselves off to joy.

To the good sides of life. We close ourselves off to love.

When we impose a a barrier around our hearts to keep the bad out, we keep the good out too.

So the Holy Spirit, the Companion, the Advocate reminds us

that no matter how bad things may feel,

we have a hope.

We have a hope that Christ who was resurrected will come back.

We have a hope and that hope is what gives us peace.

That hope of Christ's love is what gives us courage.

That hope in the promise of God, is what gives us power

to go out into the world

and show the world the light of God, the love of God.

And that love is not one that begins with judgment.

It's not one that begins with shame.

It's not one that begins, or ends, or anytime in between, with violence.

But always with the peaceful extension, the peaceful invitation, to join a community of faith, to see life in a new way, to see how much God loves us.

The Companion reminds us

of that reality.

Later, in chapter 16, there's something Jesus says that... there's much that I have to say to you, but you can't handle it yet. The Holy Spirit will essentially pick up where I left off.

And because of the peace that Christ gives us, because of the knowledge of the deep, abiding love that Christ has for us, even when we turn away, when we betray Christ. Because we all do, in our own small ways, big ways, but no matter how badly we betray Christ, Christ is still there

desiring us to return, to experience the love.

I think that's a beautiful image. It's a beautiful way of life that we can all live into.

It's not easy. And sometimes it's... No, most times it requires us to get out of our comfort zone.

And... I think it's best to start small. Just a little bit out of the comfort zone. Maybe if you're used to sitting in the last pew, you can just sit a couple of pews forward. [Laughter] Just work your way up to the front.

A little bit of change is good for us. Because it helps to keep us from getting into a routine where we begin to just do things mindlessly. You know? We are good at doing things on automatic. Have you ever driven home and then just not really remembered actually driving? Yeah.

We're good at being able to complete tasks sometimes without really focusing on it. We're good at being able to pray the Lord's Prayer without feeling the words that we're saying.

A little bit of change is good for us, a little bit of discomfort because just that little bit can bring us back into the moment.

We're, again, we are invited to the live in the present. To forget all that has happened in the past. Not to focus on all of our worries and anxieties about the future.

But to just be in this moment.

To love one another as God loves us.

I think that's a way of life that is worth living.

So yeah, a couple pews forward next Sunday, yeah? Cuz I feel like I'm like halfway down here. And then everybody who's sitting up here can't see me.

We are sent by a loving God.

Which means that we are not called to sit in comfort, but to go out, to be brave, to make new connections

and just to love people as Christ has loved us. Amen?