Ramblings on a Journey The Reverend Kathy Peters May 16, 2014 [Jesus said:] Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1) I wanted a perfect ending. Now Ive learned, the hard way, that some poems dont rhyme, and some stories dont 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 whats going to happen next. (Gilda Radner as quoted in Sermon Seeds ucc.org 5/18/14) Jesus spoke these words as part of his final discourse, final speech to his disciples on the night before he was arrested. This speech, in a sense, is a love letter. I read somewhere that Henri Nouwen, wrote that this letter urged us to love Jesus, and love the way Jesus loved. The disciples wanted a perfect ending…not the one that they got…so do we all. I have started reading Eat, Pray, Love and Elizabeth Gilbert speaks about how she prays in journal form and often “hears” God writing back to her…. “I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. ….There is nothing you can ever do to lose my love.” (p. 54). How I too need to hear those words. Do not let your hearts be troubled….life doesn’t always go according to the best laid plans…poems sometime just do not rhyme but that does not mean life is not good or that the poem is not good or that some way will not be found to resolve what seems like an impossible situation. How I need to hear those words. Transitions are hard. Change is hard. Life is about not knowing exactly how things will turn out and that is hard. It has been a tough week as we try to transition our daughter to a supported living situation. We want a perfect ending. Life is not that way and this week the bumps have been high and hard …as they often are in life. But an old friend reached out to me this week… someone who experiences life with a special needs child…not knowing at all about the week I have been having. Coincidence, karma…..I don’t think so…the spirit moves. God sends the lifeboat. Sometimes it is not as evident as the e-mail I received this morning out of the blue but it was a lifeboat. We will have lunch next week. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” and I will give you hope and rest and sustenance for the journey! God grant me the courage to take a moment, breath, make the best of whatever may come but with the full knowledge that I am not alone. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. (John 14:14) “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ (Isaiah 30:21) A word of caution about this reflection: as always (!) it is only “ramblings” about my journey of faith, not a “to do” list for your journey! It is my hope that I might spark a thought or a reflection or an insight that will be helpful to you on your own journey of faith. Feel free to pass it on if you think it might be helpful to anyone else! If you would like to respond directly please do so at [email protected]. John 14:1-14 [Jesus said:] Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Fathers house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 13:04:28 +0000
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