{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Sermon - 5-3-26","description":"Year A \u2013 Fourth Sunday of Easter \u2013 April 26, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd John 14:1-14 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen. *** Several years ago, I was at my parents\u2019 home, and we were excitedly awaiting my aunt and uncle, who were coming to visit. My dad was talking to my uncle on the phone, who had called for the address so he could plug it into his GPS and be on his way. My dad, however, being more comfortable giving directions than trusting an app on the phone, was instead directing my uncle using landmarks and compass directions\u2026 I\u2019ll never forget overhearing him tell my uncle to\u2026 just feel your way around the airport. Feel your way around the airport. If you are ever curious about something that might make me lose my mind\u2026 it would be to give me driving directions to a place without giving me the address, and instead, instruct me to\u2026 feel my way there. Stressful! \u2026 fortunately, I was not the one driving, and my aunt and uncle eventually arrived, so perhaps he is more in tune than I am with his \u2026emotional sense of direction. I prefer the straightforward approach. Just tell me where we\u2019re going\u2026 I\u2019ll use GPS or a map\u2026 I don\u2019t want to feel my way to a place\u2026 I like to be prepared, and I do not like to be lost. Feel my way there\u2026 how does one do that? So\u2026 I deeply empathize with the disciple, Thomas, when he says, \u201cLord, we do not know where you are going\u2026 how can we know the way?\u201d I might be projecting\u2026 but when I read that, I can hear the strain and tension in his voice\u2026 maybe even a hint of panic. Our gospel takes us back again to the night of their last supper. Jesus has just washed their feet and commanded them to love\u2026 and he told them to remember him when they gather around bread and wine\u2026 and he promised he would be with them whenever they do. But then\u2026 they just watched Judas abandon their group\u2026 and they just heard Jesus tell Peter that he would betray him\u2026 not once, but three times! And Jesus has been telling them he must die. The world as they know it is falling apart\u2026 and into their stress and anxiety\u2026 Jesus assures them\u2026 Do not let your hearts be troubled\u2026 do not be afraid. These are words for us, too\u2026 Our world is in an upheaval\u2026 and Jesus assures us, as well\u2026 Do not let your hearts be troubled. (x2) Jesus has prepared us to live in this world\u2026 Jesus has already given us our directions\u2026 a way of living that is God\u2019s will for us\u2026 a way life that brings close the kingdom of God. A way of living that transforms our hearts and turns us back to God, again and again. Jesus\u2026 is that way\u2026 and the truth\u2026 and the life. And the way of Jesus is always\u2026 love. The way of Christ\u2026 is love. A way that\u2026 actually does require us to feel our way to our destination. But also\u2026 a way that has concrete, and written directions for when we can\u2019t muster up that feeling. It\u2019s love\u2026 Love God\u2026 and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love. And when you don\u2019t know how to feel your way to loving your neighbor\u2026 or loving the stranger in your country\u2026 or how to feel your way to loving the needy person who is pleading for you to help them\u2026 when maybe\u2026 you\u2019d rather judge them\u2026 When our own baggage gets in the way, and we can\u2019t seem to recognize the light of Christ in this other person\u2026 we can get there another way. When we can\u2019t envision what the final destination looks like, or the vagueness of the emotional sense of direction is just too stressful\u2026 You can start with the turn-by-turn directions that Jesus gave us\u2026 Just start by feeding the hungry. Then clothe the naked. And then\u2026 welcome the immigrant and the stranger. Care for the sick and any among you who have need. Look for those whom our society has pushed to the edges\u2026 those who are marginalized\u2026 those who are suffering under oppression\u2026 those who are treated with contempt\u2026 and warmly invite them into the fold. And when it is our own selves whom we are struggling to love, try wrapping your heart with grace\u2026 and let it work its way through you. That is how we find our way through Jesus. For the least among us are the ones Jesus directed us to love first\u2026 and the way, truth, and life of Jesus is always the way of love. So we can feel our way there\u2026 and when that is just too abstract, or when we are legitimately struggling to manifest love for our neighbor\u2026 or\u2026 love for God\u2026 yes, there are those days\u2026 days when we are more angry at God than loving\u2026 Or days when we are struggling to manifest love for ourselves\u2026 yes, total honesty here\u2026 there are those days, too\u2026 Because yes, we are human, and even though love is a divine command from our God\u2026 that doesn\u2019t mean we can just force ourselves to feel it. I\u2019m being real with you\u2026 and Jesus knows this about our humanness\u2026 knows that we can\u2019t always feel our way there. So even though we are commanded to love\u2026 commanded to feel our way\u2026 Jesus also showed us how to follow the turn-by-turn directions to get there\u2026 showed us how to follow our way through the way of Jesus. We follow the way Jesus taught us, and little by little, this way of love will transform our own hearts into ones more capable of loving\u2026 and then, little by little, our loving hearts will transform the world around us. Love is a way of life\u2026 it is a daily discipline\u2026 a habit we form\u2026 a guiding light. Love doesn\u2019t have to be sporadic, grand, and glorious gestures\u2026 in fact, I think love is better expressed in the daily, reliable series of little things that shape our whole lives\u2026 around love. Because ultimately, for love \u2013 the kind of love that transforms \u2013 for this kind of love to become action, it must first begin with relationship\u2026 and it begins with abiding in the source of all love. For we cannot give what we have not received\u2026 and so we must return again and again to the love of Jesus. Because Jesus\u2026 is the way, and the truth, and the life\u2026 \u201cand all things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life\u2026 and the life was the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. (John 1:3-5) Jesus\u2026 is the source of abiding love\u2026 of love that transforms\u2026 love that liberates\u2026 love that makes all things new. And so Jesus tells his disciples that if they cannot believe that he and the Father are one, then believe because you see how the way of love transforms the world\u2026 He tells them that those who follow the way of light and love will do greater works than he did\u2026 because he is going to the Father, but we are still here. Jesus fed the five thousand\u2026 how many people have his disciples fed since then? Jesus cared for the sick\u2026 how many people have his disciples cared for since then? Jesus welcomed the stranger\u2026 how many people have his disciples welcomed since then? Indeed, across millennia, the works of love in the name of Jesus\u2026 have done so much more. And the light of the world continues to shape us\u2026 and to guide us\u2026 through love\u2026 and that way of love, draws us all back to Jesus. So we do know the way\u2026 we know the way by how love feels\u2026 and we know the way by following the directions. We do know the way\u2026 and the truth\u2026 and the life\u2026 we know that it is Jesus, who is the light of the world\u2026 and the way of Jesus is always\u2026 love. Amen. ","author_name":"Your Faith Journey","author_url":"http:\/\/faithlutheran.libsyn.com\/podcast","html":"