Much of our life involves journeying, heading somewhere – it may be in a planned direction, it may just be aimlessly wandering – last week, as most of you know, we were on holiday and one of the great things about holidays is that you really can just wander aimlessly – there doesn’t need to be much of a plan – and there’s no real pressure of time.
However it does help if you want to get to a particular place if you have a direction. A couple of years ago we went to Venice and one day Helen decided that it would be fun to just walk and see what happened. Following Helen’s directional ideas was never a wise move ! The main part of Venice seemed to get further and further away and then we realised that we were in fact lost. We had stumbled into a part of Venice that was fairly unknown and it was only through talking to two American men that we had any idea how to get back. In Paris, and I promise this is not a talk on cities of the world, the best way to get around is the Metro (underground) system.
In Paris everywhere is within 500 yards of a station, and all addresses in Paris name the nearest underground station. All the tickets cost the same, no matter where they are going to, or how long the journey is. In Paris everything works on the basis that you know the ultimate destination of the particular line you are travelling on – if your stop is on that route then that’s the line that you take.
It really is incredibly difficult to get lost on the Paris underground as long as you know where you’re going ! And that may not be as obvious as it sounds ! There’s a story about a former United States Senator, Dwight W. Morrow, who searched in vain to find his railway ticket as he was on a train leaving New York City. "I must find that ticket," he muttered. The conductor, who stood waiting beside him, knew him well and said, "Don't worry about it, Mr. Morrow, we know you had a ticket so just send it to us when you find it." "That's not what's troubling me," replied Morrow, "I need to find it to know where I'm going."
For many people in life the direction they are taking is uncertain, but actually having an idea of our ultimate destination in life is tremendously important, as we try to work out how to live those lives.
In both of our readings this evening the idea of journeying was touched upon. In the reading from the first letter of Peter (2:4-9) we are encouraged to be like living stones, and in the gospel reading from John (14:1-12) we have Jesus’ famous answer to Thomas “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”
Life is a journey, the simple facts of that journey are that it begins at birth and ends at death, but in between we will be confronted with a huge number of choices. Life is a network of criss crossing routes, far more intricate than spaghetti conjunction ! Getting lost is a constant possibility. We can end up in all sorts of blind alleys, or get trapped in narrow cul-de-sacs which are difficult to get out of. We can often be tempted to stray from the straight and narrow path, preferring an easier route. Like the Paris metro finding our way can be a real problem if we don’t know our destination.
If we live our lives recognising Jesus as the way then it will shape everything that we do. We will be motivated by His love for us to share that love with others, we will be concerned that people everywhere know some kind of peace and justice in their lives, we will welcome the stranger, comfort the sad, and care for anyone in need.
In Alice in Wonderland, when Alice comes to a junction in the road that leads in different directions, she asks the Cheshire Cat, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to go to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where," replied Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go."
If we are following Jesus it really does matter which way we travel, and each moment of each day that is a choice we must make.
Again going back to the reading from the first letter of Peter we are reminded of some of the incredible privileges of following Jesus. We have His love, we know His peace and we become part of the world wide family and Peter says we are a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, enabled and empowered to share the mighty acts of Jesus who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.” AMEN
However it does help if you want to get to a particular place if you have a direction. A couple of years ago we went to Venice and one day Helen decided that it would be fun to just walk and see what happened. Following Helen’s directional ideas was never a wise move ! The main part of Venice seemed to get further and further away and then we realised that we were in fact lost. We had stumbled into a part of Venice that was fairly unknown and it was only through talking to two American men that we had any idea how to get back. In Paris, and I promise this is not a talk on cities of the world, the best way to get around is the Metro (underground) system.
In Paris everywhere is within 500 yards of a station, and all addresses in Paris name the nearest underground station. All the tickets cost the same, no matter where they are going to, or how long the journey is. In Paris everything works on the basis that you know the ultimate destination of the particular line you are travelling on – if your stop is on that route then that’s the line that you take.
It really is incredibly difficult to get lost on the Paris underground as long as you know where you’re going ! And that may not be as obvious as it sounds ! There’s a story about a former United States Senator, Dwight W. Morrow, who searched in vain to find his railway ticket as he was on a train leaving New York City. "I must find that ticket," he muttered. The conductor, who stood waiting beside him, knew him well and said, "Don't worry about it, Mr. Morrow, we know you had a ticket so just send it to us when you find it." "That's not what's troubling me," replied Morrow, "I need to find it to know where I'm going."
For many people in life the direction they are taking is uncertain, but actually having an idea of our ultimate destination in life is tremendously important, as we try to work out how to live those lives.
In both of our readings this evening the idea of journeying was touched upon. In the reading from the first letter of Peter (2:4-9) we are encouraged to be like living stones, and in the gospel reading from John (14:1-12) we have Jesus’ famous answer to Thomas “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”
Life is a journey, the simple facts of that journey are that it begins at birth and ends at death, but in between we will be confronted with a huge number of choices. Life is a network of criss crossing routes, far more intricate than spaghetti conjunction ! Getting lost is a constant possibility. We can end up in all sorts of blind alleys, or get trapped in narrow cul-de-sacs which are difficult to get out of. We can often be tempted to stray from the straight and narrow path, preferring an easier route. Like the Paris metro finding our way can be a real problem if we don’t know our destination.
If we live our lives recognising Jesus as the way then it will shape everything that we do. We will be motivated by His love for us to share that love with others, we will be concerned that people everywhere know some kind of peace and justice in their lives, we will welcome the stranger, comfort the sad, and care for anyone in need.
In Alice in Wonderland, when Alice comes to a junction in the road that leads in different directions, she asks the Cheshire Cat, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to go to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where," replied Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go."
If we are following Jesus it really does matter which way we travel, and each moment of each day that is a choice we must make.
Again going back to the reading from the first letter of Peter we are reminded of some of the incredible privileges of following Jesus. We have His love, we know His peace and we become part of the world wide family and Peter says we are a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, enabled and empowered to share the mighty acts of Jesus who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.” AMEN
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