"Recognizing Who and Whose We Are"

A sermon preached by Rev. Christopher E. Yopp from John 14:1-14 and I Peter 2:2-10.

Eric Clapton, which some argue is the greatest living rock guitarist, wrote a touching song about the death of his 4 year old son who fell from a 53rd story window. Following the death of his son, Clapton took nine months off and when he returned his music had changed. Many authors, poets and musician will tell you that out of tragedy their best work produced. The hardship had made his music softer, more powerful, and more reflective. Perhaps you have heard the song he wrote about his son's death. It is a song of hope:

"Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same if I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on,
‘Cause I know I don't belong here in heaven.
Would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand if I saw you in heaven?
I'll find my way through night and day,
‘Cause I know I just can't stay here in heaven.
Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart, have you begging please, begging please.
Beyond the door there's peace I'm sure,
And I know there'll be no more tears in heaven."

When you think of the word "home" what comes to mind? Maybe you think of a building, made with wood and plaster or, perhaps, brick and mortar. Maybe you think of home as a shelter from the storm, a place of refuge and safety – a sanctuary, if you will. Maybe when you hear the word "home," you think more of the hopes and dreams of the people who inhabit a home – a place where people build and share a life together - their hopes and hurts, their joys and sorrows. Maybe when you hear the word "home" you think of a place of comfort and rest, peace and security. Certainly, the word "home" conjures a lot of different ideas and images.
Some say home is where the heart is. Others say home is where you hang your hat. Robert Frost, one of my favorite poets, once wrote, "Home is the place, where when you have to go there, they have to take you in."
Somehow, someway, home has a special place in the human heart. It seems as though we are all longing for a place to call home. Many of you probably know the traditional folk song, entitled; "I Want to Go Home" or perhaps you are more familiar with the version by Van Morrison. At any rate, the lyrics read:

"I want to go home.
I feel so broke up, Lord,
That I want to go home."

These lyrics also express the deepest longings of the human heart and they, in many ways, resemble one of my favorite sayings of St. Augustine; "You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you."
A pastor once asked his congregation on Sunday morning; "How many of you all want to go to heaven?" All but one elderly lady in the back of the church raised their hands. After the service the pastor approached the elderly lady and asked why she didn’t raise her hand. He said; "Don’t you want to go to heaven?" She said, "Well, it all depends on just how soon were you aiming to make this trip?"
In our Gospel Lesson this morning, Jesus speaks of "home". In fact, he says; "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's 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 to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may also be." What words of comfort and assurance – words of peace and security! No wonder these words often find their place in Funeral and Memorial services.
These words come from a section of John’s gospel known as the "Final Discourse". In it, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the time when he will no longer be with them in the flesh. We can imagine their sense of broken-heartedness. But Jesus assures them that even though their relationship is changing, it is not ending. Even though he will no longer be with them in the flesh, they will remain connected. Jesus is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house where they will remain united to him forever. They will become one, in the truest sense imaginable, with him.
I came across a cartoon strip sometime back in a Christian magazine, that featured a long line of persons standing at the pearly gates, St. Peter was welcoming each person standing in line. As each person comes up to Peter, they are asked the denomination that they belonged to on earth. "Catholic," says the first. "Baptist," says the second. The next two say, "Methodist" and so on. Each person was then pointed toward a door with the name of their denomination inscribed above and walked through that door. But the way the cartoonist drew the picture, you could see not only what was on this side but you could also see what's on the other side of the doors. In fact, all the doors were a part of the same facade; they all opened to one and the same place - heaven.
I’ve reminded you before of the wonderful Hebrew picture that Jesus was painting for his disciples of the insula here. Keep in mind, it was customary that after the marriage arrangement was made between the parents of the bride and groom, for the bridegroom to build on to his father’s house, and once the construction was complete he would go for his bride and take her back to the place he had prepared for her. But the concept of the insula was a home with many rooms built onto it. As the family expanded and the sons would marry, they would build onto their father’s insula. And this is the picture Jesus paints for us - it is a beautiful picture of unity - "In my Father’s house are many rooms" - a big insula, and "I [the Bridegroom] go and prepare a place for you [my bride], and I come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also."
Our true home, as Jesus reminds us, is with God - our Father and Mother, the Creator, our Redeemer and our Sustainer of us all. And, John reminds us, that it is Jesus who comes from their very bosom of God who has prepared this place for us in God’s home, in God's heart. You see, our true home, ultimately, is not a place, but a relationship - a relationship with God through Christ.
Now while the disciples are still trying to absorb all of this, Jesus tells them; "And you know the way and to the place where I am going." And Thomas voices the question everyone is silently asking; "Lord, we don't know where you are going, and how can we know the way?" And Jesus responds, "I am the way, the truth, and the life..."
Now, without a doubt, these words are both astounding, not to mention, troubling for some. They are astounding because Jesus used the sacred and forbidden-to-be-spoken name of God for himself. Here Jesus utters the words; "I AM". Keep in mind, this was how God had revealed God’s self to Moses through the burning bush as "I AM..." And here, Jesus affixes these words to himself. This is one of the many "I AM" statements of Jesus’ recorded in the Gospel of John. And, no doubt, those who heard him make this affirmation would have automatically thought of the theophany - that revelation of God’s-self to Moses in the Burning Bush. The religious leaders would have considered this to be blasphemy. This was the holy and sacred name of God, a name that was so holy that it wasn’t pronounced, and Jesus said; "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." If you know me, you will know the Father... whoever has seen me has seen the Father."
As Disciples we often think of Jesus first as human, and then find in this individual the most complete, the most serene, the most thoroughly moral personality the world has ever known. His life was a life "full of grace and truth." It is supremely the place in which we see God, not simply in the organization of the cosmos or in the moral order but in the mercy, the love, the compassion, the honesty, the will of this one who is Word made flesh and reveals to us God.
The Maronite Church has an interesting view of God that I think most share. Their church affirms "God is mystery. Since there is a great distance between Creator and creation, no person can fully grasp God. All language about God is limited. The process leads to mystical union - the more one loves God, the more one encounters God. This God of mystery is revealed through Creation, through Humanity, through Scripture and through the person and Spirit of Christ."
A few years ago Calvin & Hobbes were my favorite cartoon characters - Calvin, the hyper-active little boy with a wild & vivid imagination, & his companion, Hobbes, a tiger. Well, in one cartoon Calvin and Hobbes were lying in the shade of a tree on a summer afternoon discussing the important things of life. Calvin says, "What if there is no heaven? What if this is all we get?" Hobbes answers, "Well, if this is all we get I guess we’ll just have to accept it." Calvin replies, "Yeah, but if I’m not going to be rewarded for my good deeds, I want to know it now."Jesus shifts his focus by reminding his disciples and us of our responsibility, he says; "Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and greater than these, because I go to the Father." These works are fueled by the one whom Jesus promises in verses 25 through 31, the Holy Spirit. You see, as Jesus reminded his disciples in those verses he wasn’t about to leave his disciples nor us ,as orphans. This relationship wasn’t ending, it was changing. And even though the fullness of this relationship is yet to come, Jesus reminds us that we can know the reality of this relationship now. We experience a foretaste of this eternal "home" now through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit - the Comforter - the parakletos - the one who walks alongside of us.
Both John and Peter offer a lofty vision and challenge for the church today. Peter tells his readers that they are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people of his own," who will proclaim the praise of God.
Perhaps, some of you are familiar with Canaan Valley, West Virginia. It is a high mountain valley. It is, in fact, the largest and highest mountain valley east of the Rockies. This valley offers a beautiful display of rock and stones that have been chiseled and chipped by decades of wind erosion, these granite goliaths are more like sculptures than stones.
Ask any geologist would tell you, stones speak. They tells us so much about the environment, about history and about creation. What do stones tell us? Stones are hard and unyielding, yet they are also strong and enduring. They can hold up the walls of our civilizations, or they can crash and crush the very shelters we have created. We give precious stones as tokens of our love and fidelity. We hurl stones in anger and hatred.
The Hebrew people understood the witness that stones have. We read that when something great happened within their community they would erect "living stones" as a way of memorializing an event or a place.
Jesus’ very trade growing up was a tekton. Now traditionally some translate this as a "carpenter" - one who works with wood, but tekton literally means a "craftsman" of any kind. And given the environment in which Jesus lived, most scholars agree that Jesus probably worked with stone, more so then wood. And what a beautiful thought! It adds new meaning to our reading from the first epistle of Peter. This one who worked with stone - Jesus, has chiseled and chipped the Church, you and me, into a living stone, that we might, as living stones were for the Hebrews, become a witness to God’s greatness and love.
Jesus says in John’s gospel; "I am the way, the truth and the life." You know, friends, when we follow the "way" of Christ, when we live the truth of his life, then we will truly experience and share in the life of Christ.
In our Lectionary Readings Jesus reminds us first of whose we are. We belong to God, a God who desires to have a relationship with us - a God who desires to establish a home with us. You see, we can never know who we are, unless we first know whose we are. And once we realize whose we are, then we are reminded of who we are - living stones! "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Therefore, may our lives reflect both whose and who we are! Amen.