Fifth Sunday of Easter

When you go about your daily routine

do you do it for yourself or do you do it in Jesus' name?

I don't think most of us really actually think about it.

We simply do what we feel like we need to do and get on with it.

However, when we start our day with prayer, and make an intention to do things in Jesus' name

our understanding and perspective on everything we do that day, is different.

And pretty much always for the better.

We are able to see through Jesus' eyes and heart

we are able to respond with Jesus' compassion

all of which far surpasses our own abilities.

Its amazing that even Christians can forget

to claim Jesus' name in their lives.

We believe and do good works out of our belief

and then we simply go through our day

forgetting to acknowledge that Jesus is walking with us.

During this time with the Diocesan Partnership, there is an online book study happening

on Jim Wallis' book, Christ in Crisis.

Which very much seems like the kind of title we need to be studying right now,

but it doesn't have anything to do with the pandemic.

In fact, Jim Wallis wrote his book in response to an entirely different crisis

he saw going on in the world before the pandemic.

Christians forgetting the truth.

Christians forgetting Jesus.

Christians forgetting what Jesus taught, what Jesus stood for, what Jesus did, and forgetting the power of Jesus' name.

All in all, Christians, followers of Christ, forgetting Jesus who is Christ.

Which does seem like a bit of a crisis actually for Christianity.

Naturally, because of the polemic world we live in, many think his book is political.

And if you read it, you will find much in it that touches on facets of our political life.

The word politics comes from the Greek word polis which means city, 

politics is then the ordering of the city, of the social life of the people.

However, the book itself is not political,

its just that any conversation about how people are together socially, is academically political.

What the book truly is

is a call to remember the biggest and most basic precepts of what it means to follow Jesus,

and to live in a way that shows it.

This is the kind of conversation Jesus is having with his disciples in the passage from John's gospel.

Jesus is trying to prepare them for what is going to happen to him.

He is trying to prepare his disciples to continue on after he is gone,

to believe in him and continue doing the works he has taught them. 

To live into their belief and show it to the rest of the world.

And the disciples don't seem to understand. 

I think this is the true daily struggle of being a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ:

Trying to figure out how to live into, and show, your belief in Jesus. 

As any of you who watched this week's Porch Pondering video know, I do love good questions to ponder. 

This week I thought of a lot of them:

Do we live our lives in Jesus' name? 

What would that mean for our lives? 

What does it look like to live in this way? 

Do we believe that what he says will happen will in fact happen? 

Do we believe that we will be surprised by the amazing things that God can do through us? 

What would that mean for our values?

What would it mean for us to live from Jesus' values?

Does our faith and our works align? 

Do people really know that we are Christians, centered on following Jesus, in all the ways he taught?

As we have time to reflect on our lives, as they are now or before the pandemic,

it would be good to do a compass check,

to see if we are truly pointed towards Jesus,

to see if we on Jesus' path or our own path headed in another direction, 

to see if we are claiming Jesus' name in our lives.

Jesus is calling us to walk a long and difficult road,

And many of us are already feeling the weariness of the long road we have been walking this year.

Unfortunately, we are all still in the middle of these roads, 

no real end in sight yet.

However, we are thankfully not alone. 

Even as we may be alone at home

or alone in a once-bustling office, 

we are still in community.

Our community as Christians in Jesus' name goes to the ends of the earth.

Every time you say a prayer, 

in the morning, in the middle of the day, at night or even in the middle of the night,

you are not praying alone.

The community of Christians, of the saints of God, is big enough, you are always praying with others.

Jesus is with us wherever on the road we are. 

Jesus is walking with us, even when we forget to remember him, or forget his name. 

Nothing we can do, 

not our broken compasses, not our forgetfulness, not our questions, not living our belief

can draw us away from the love of God and the compassion of Jesus.

So let us remember Jesus, 

let us remember his Name.

Let us study our compasses

ask our hearts some questions

and turn to the one who is with us always,

and say,

lead the way.

I swear, once you let Jesus lead, you won't have to ask for directions.

Amen.