WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.799 Here now today starts with this story that actually came from some of our United Methodist material from Reverend Dr. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:13.839 Derek Weber, uh, who was talking about uh an experience he had in Minneapolis at a conference. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:14.400 Right? 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.039 And he's moving in and out of the city as one does at a conference. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:28.239 And uh what he noticed in particular was this sign that said, the bus does not stop here. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.000 Isn't that an interesting sign to have up? 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:40.399 Because there's like millions of places you could put that sign up and be accurate and correct. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:54.399 Yeah, you know, we're looking at sort of the logical part of this of saying, shouldn't we be naming the places where the bus does stop instead of this sign, the bus does not stop here? 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:05.840 Uh, but he's using the story to talk about how a lot of us uh in the Christian church uh we're pretty good at focusing on what we're not, right? 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:19.680 You start talking about a church, and how often is it when we talk about what we will not abide in a church as opposed to what we're looking for, what feeds us, what nourishes us. 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:26.719 So this passage today walks into that dilemma uh in my mind, uh, kind of easily. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:41.040 All right, this Jesus here preparing these disciples for his absence, and we get a bit of um, well, this is the season in the Christian year where we're trying to understand the resurrection more deeply. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:51.680 And so it helps us to go to those passages where Jesus was talking about what uh it was going to be like when he was gone, because those are good descriptors, right? 00:01:51.920 --> 00:02:05.439 And Jesus tells them, uh, tells them that they, the disciples, are going to be able to join him in wherever he's going next. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:06.079 Right? 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:12.319 And Thomas he says, Well, how can we know the place where you go? 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.719 How can we go and join you? 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.759 We've not been to that place. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.960 And Jesus gives an interesting answer. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.680 He says, You know the way. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.199 You know the way. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:38.719 It's an interesting answer to me, uh, given that these disciples have only known Jesus really in this earthly context, in their interactions with him. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:44.800 If they know Jesus, it's because they've been watching how he behaves, how he lives day to day. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:52.639 So when he says you know the way, it's easy for me to think, oh, I've been showing you the way now for three years. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:03:02.000 Surely you know the way, the way that is you are invited to walk in order to be with me again. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:18.719 So I like that as a it's just a curious question or curious answer to a difficult question, but ultimately what he's telling Thomas is, and I think he's talking to us too, I think that you know the way. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:21.919 This isn't an answer you do not know. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:25.520 He says, You know me. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:32.400 I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:39.360 Now many of us have heard this passage before, and it's a provocative passage. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:43.759 There are some people who love this passage. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:45.680 Why do they love it? 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:56.080 Because it confirms an understanding, a belief that they have that Christianity is the main religion, maybe the only real religion. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:59.680 And it feels like Jesus is acknowledging that here. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:09.039 So people who think that way, well, or believe that way, they're like, there it is, black and white, here in scriptures, gospel of John. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.800 Interestingly enough, others don't appreciate that passage. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:16.480 And you know why? 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:19.680 The same reason. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:25.839 Because it feels like Jesus is being un unnecessarily exclusive here. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:35.519 It sounds, or at least as people read it, they think, oh, well, Jesus is it looks like he's saying this is the only way is to go through him. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.879 Christianity is the only way to God. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:42.480 And so we end up in this dilemma. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:53.279 Christians on both sides arguing over whether or not Christianity is the only opportunity, the only option. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:00.480 It better not be this option. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:14.000 I'm not gonna go to that church, I'm not gonna believe this way, and the bus stops right, or the bus doesn't stop here. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.839 This is not a place the bus is going to go. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:22.639 Or maybe to it's the opposite, which is how it works in my head. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:28.079 The bus stops right here and it progresses no further. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:40.319 We land in that spot where we're debating this theological point that truly, at least in our capacities, has no answer. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:50.800 Stuck at a bus stop, bus not going anywhere else. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:57.040 So Jesus tells us that we know the way. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:09.759 That we know the way to be with Jesus, even in this new understanding of Jesus' life, even after crucifixion and resurrection, we know the way. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:23.439 I started in my journey with this passage this week thinking about a time way back when I was a youth director down at Laguna United Methodist Church. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:27.199 Has anybody been to Laguna United Methodist Church? 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:28.560 I heard somebody. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.240 Oh, and well, my mom has. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.240 A couple of you others, beautiful church, right? 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:45.439 They have cursed the pastor in this church because this one side is a big window that looks out on the Pacific Ocean. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:51.920 And this side is a big window, looks out on this beautiful meditative garden. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.040 Nobody hears a sermon in this place. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:58.079 Beautiful, beautiful church, right? 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:16.240 And I remember as the youth director down there, so I don't know how old I am at that point, 21, 22, I get this advertisement for this uh program called Sierra Service Project, a project you guys have taken part in at certain points in the uh history of the place. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:26.639 It is a project where young people are invited to go work on Native American reservations, do little jobs for communities that maybe can't afford to do those themselves. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:36.480 So uh I'm looking through it, and this is really early on in the SSP history, and I'm reading through, and I'm thinking, this is cool. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:44.959 I'd been a summer camp guy, and so I thought, oh shoot, building, building as an act of mission and an act of faith. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.360 That sounds really, really cool, right? 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:56.879 And I'm looking at what they do and who they're helping, and and uh I zero in on this number one hundred dollars. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:12.000 And my first thought was wow, that's not a lot for them to pay me to go work on their reservation. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:13.839 Doesn't that make sense? 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.160 I'm gonna go work for a week. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.800 My gift to you, I'll do it for a hundred dollars. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.040 That's what I'm gonna do it for. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:30.160 Then I read further and I'm like, I think they want me to pay them. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.120 They want me to give them money to be able to go work for them and build their homes. 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:39.600 Now, obviously, here we're like, well, no duh, they didn't have the money to build this stuff. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:41.200 That's part of the gift that you bring. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:51.120 But in my brain, I'm like, holy smokes! And then I'm in Laguna Beach, which is, you know, fairly comfortable economically, shall we say? 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:57.440 And I'm thinking, how am I going to convince all these young people to go spend$100 to go do this work? 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.399 And I took the brochure and I tossed it away. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.519 So this is not how this is going to work. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:11.120 So then as life rolls out, I end up at another church, this time as kind of the youth pastor. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:14.320 Uh, this is at San Ramon Valley United Methodist Church. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:19.519 Has anybody been up in the Danville, Walnut Creek, in that area? 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:21.919 I spent seven years at the church up there. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:23.039 Really great church. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:26.720 Anyway, they already went to SSP. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:28.720 That was their tradition. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:33.519 So now I'm like, oh, okay, well, I guess we're gonna do it. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:35.840 We're gonna start spending$100. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:37.600 Get up there. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:41.360 I, you know, I've at this point I've probably been to 10 or 12 SSPs. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:43.279 So I've I've done many, many of them. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.559 And uh I had a really, really great experience. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:59.360 You know, you get up there, not only are you engaging with this culture that you don't always get to learn too much about, uh, you know, now you're living amongst them and uh uh having direct experiences. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:04.720 Uh, you get this experience of being able to do something kind for them. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:16.240 Uh uh that, you know, for Christians, that's how we understand the core of the beauty of being a Christian is getting that experience of helping somebody else out. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:25.679 I remember as a goofy experience, it was so early on in SSP, they got to where they would go to high schools for showers. 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:35.759 But my first year, a big barrel that they had hoisted up about eight feet, tar all around it so it would warm the water inside. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:37.919 Yeah, that was the shower. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.679 We took a shower in this thing. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:52.240 I tell you what, it was one of the most meaningful experiences I've ever had, so much so that I went every year, obviously, for years and years. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:57.279 We grew into other missions where we were taking kids down to Mexico. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:12.799 And not only were we doing repairs, which is another cool part, we learned some construction, basic construction, but it's cool to learn how to roof, how to build a deck, you know, how to do drywalls, stuff like that, that not everybody gets to learn how to do. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.600 Then you go into Mexico and you actually build a full two-bedroom home. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:23.440 Usually the one we did, we had to do the foundation itself and then grow it up. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:26.240 Really meaningful experiences. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:42.879 They were so powerful to me, not only from what I learned, but the experiences of working with different cultures and the opportunity to be offering God's love to somebody else and to experience what that feels like in my heart. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:50.080 Makes me think to myself, yeah, we know the way. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:55.600 We know the truth, we know the life. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:11:58.879 Jesus was right. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:12.159 I remember later on in my life, I was in uh church in Austin, Texas, Bethany United Methodist Church. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:17.360 And that uh I took an adventure because uh um it was a big church. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:20.480 San Auron Valley was bigger than this church, God. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:22.480 So that was a big church too. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.360 This one worshipped 1,700 people. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:34.559 I was the youth pastor over there, and and uh my my roster just of young people of youth was 400 names. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:36.799 How fun is that? 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:39.039 Nancy, was that fun? 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:43.679 Yeah, yeah, but you know it was fun. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.159 That's kind of why I went. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:49.919 I wanted to see something like that. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:54.399 A story came to my mind this week as we're thinking through, getting prepared. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:03.519 Uh um, we had a young man in the youth program, didn't have a lot of money, turning 16. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.000 And what happens at 16? 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:09.519 Get the driver's license, right? 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:23.279 And we live in an age where so many 16-year-olds do get a car, they figure it out, you know, whatever the however the economy's working, it might not be the best car, it might be the best car. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.080 But usually that's how it lands. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:28.320 It wasn't gonna happen for this young man. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:39.600 One of my youth uh counselors, he uh had opportunity to get another car, but he still had his truck. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:40.240 Right? 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.480 And you're thinking, oh yeah, well that's great. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:44.480 You can go sell that truck. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:49.679 Get a little bit of money, you know, who doesn't like a little bit of money? 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:51.600 But what did he do? 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:56.879 Just gave it straight to the young man who couldn't afford a car. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.639 Your first reaction is, whoa, hey, okay, settled down there. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.440 His name is Roman, Roman Smith. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.120 What are you doing, Roman? 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:08.879 You're not a rich guy. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:11.600 Can you afford to be doing that? 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:17.440 And it wasn't too long before I realized, no, no, he was the smart one. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:41.840 You could feel him bubbling up with the joy, the love in his heart to not only uh uh um be able to share that such a meaningful gift, because we knew how meaningful it was going to be to this young man, but to get to feel it inside of himself, the love of God just bursting at having done such a kind thing. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:45.919 We know the way. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:53.039 We know the truth, we know where life is. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:56.559 Here's another fun one. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:02.799 You know, as the pastor, I get in on uh certain uh text loops. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:04.879 Alright, alright. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:17.200 And this one, our good friend, Roy Brewbaker, recovering from getting his getting a new hip, and it was uh an emergency new hip. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:19.600 So it was a little bit of crazy. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.840 Right, and I bring you good news. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:23.679 He texted me last night. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.360 Here is the latest. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:31.279 Good first week at home with physical therapy and health, continued good progress. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:33.279 So yay for Roy. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.399 Roy, if you're watching us, praise to you. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:44.960 But see, I get other ones like this, and you don't get to hear these. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:48.320 Good week here. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:51.200 My daughter will be here. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:54.399 Sunday I'm going home on Monday, made good progress. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.200 Thank you for church community support. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:01.279 Boyd helped me greatly on Wednesday. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:05.759 I get to hear those. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:08.559 You don't always get to hear them, so it's kind of cool. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:15.679 We know the way, we know the truth, we know the life. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:17.600 Amen.