February 21, 2015

“Jesus said: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” John 14:6

“There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen Power which makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses. But it is possible to reason out the existence of G*d to a limited extent. I do dimly perceive that while everything around me is ever-changing, ever-dying, there is underlying all that change a Living Power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates. That informing Power or Spirit is G*d. And since nothing else I see merely through the senses can or will persist, He alone is. And is this Power Benevolent or malevolent? I see it as purely Benevolent. For I can see, that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists. Hence I gather that G*d is Life, Truth, Light. He is Love. He is Supreme Good.”     Gandhi

“Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily believes certain things. That Jesus was the son of God, say. Or that Mary was a virgin. Or that the Pope is infallible. Or that all other religions are all wrong. Some think of a Christian as one who necessarily does certain things. Such as going to church. Getting baptized. Giving up liquor and tobacco. Reading the Bible. Doing a good deed a day. Some think of a Christian as just a Nice Guy.

Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He didn’t say that any particular ethic, doctrine, or religion was the way, the truth, and the life. He said that he was. He didn’t say that it was by believing or doing anything in particular that you could “come to the Father.” He said that it was only by him – by living, participating in, being caught up by, the way of life that he embodied, that was his way.

Thus it is possible to be on Christ’s way and with his mark upon you without ever having heard of Christ, and for that reason to be on your way to God though maybe you don’t even believe in God.

A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked idea of whom to thank.

A Christian isn’t necessarily any nicer than anybody else. Just better informed.”

(originally published in Wishful Thinking – Frederick Buechner

No matter the religion, if one believes in G*d, then one believes in supreme goodness and Truth. And therefore the opposite may also be true: that if one believes in supreme goodness and truth, then by extension one is doing the work of G*d, though they may not even have heard of or know G*d, or Jesus. Goodness must trump evil, love must trump hate, light must trump darkness. There is no doubt that people have been searching for the truth about our existence, where we have come from, if there are others like us, and where we might be going, for millenia. To Live means we have a chance to learn that a greater good, an Ultimate Presence pervades our world. This Lent, take time to learn just a little bit more about Jesus – or at least find a way to do some good – even if it is just so that you are not doing bad. Jesus has come to show us truth – and to teach us truth. His way is goodness, love, light, and service – and if you have love, and if you live to bring light into people’s lives, and if you serve others, then you are in the way, the truth and the life, whether you know it or not.

Pastor Dave