With everything we have endured in the last two years through pandemic, reckoning over systemic racism, broken politics, the effects of climate change, and now the war in Ukraine these changes can leave us clinging to what is known and familiar. Even if that familiar experience and understanding represents a broken past, it is often easier to hold on to it rather than venture into an unknown and uncertain future.

The story from Luke’s Gospel about the disciple Cleopas and his unnamed friend returning home to Emmaus on the first Easter Sunday is a window into the grace that can break the power of limiting assumptions about ourselves and the possibility of change and renewal that flows from Christ’s resurrection to us. They knew all the facts of Easter. They knew Jesus. They knew his teaching. They witnessed his miracles. They had even heard the witness of the women that he had risen. However, the perception that death was all there was had held them so tightly that they were unable to see beyond it, even with the risen Christ standing before them. This story is a reminder to us that the power of God’s next is always greater than the fear and pain of our last.

Having a solid sense of your own identity can be a powerful rudder as we navigate the storms of life. It shapes how we see ourselves relative to those around us, and the rest of the world. Identity and how we see the world are also instrumental in making the decisions that become expressions and reflections of how we see ourselves. We hope and pray that our sense of self will be all we need to withstand the human experiences that might otherwise shake our identity. The truth is that loss, illness, pain, poverty, broken relationships, and countless other experiences can often shake that sense of self and cause us to wobble. Sometimes, these are passing tremors. However, we also know them to be tectonic. When faced with this shaky ground, what resources can our faith provide to help us reclaim our sense of balance and identity?

The resurrection story from Luke’s Gospel expresses an important call and reminder…Remember. Not just simply to recall something that you had forgotten. The spiritual meaning of remembering is to reclaim a truth and a reality that we had once known. In this sense, when the women who came to the tomb to anoint Jesus for burial are encouraged to ‘remember’ they experience an open door to reclaim who they are, in relationship to the risen Christ, and what they had come to know, believe, and trust. This is the call to allow the transforming grace of God to help them put the pieces of their dis-membered life back together. This same call and grace echoes to us through the centuries…Remember who you are. Remember Whose you are.

Palm Sunday is such an interesting exercise in faith. Simultaneously it plays into our deepest expectations and confounds them. This isn’t a new phenomenon. It was woven into the story of the very first Palm Sunday. Jesus plays into the disciples’ most entrenched expectations as to who the Messiah was to be. Jesus also confounds these expectations. He assumes authority. He gives up power. This exercise isn’t about twisting the disciples into spiritual knots.  Rather, it is Jesus’ effort to loosen their grip on the past, so that they might be prepared for what would come next for them. He is leading them into their next faithful step as his disciples, as his partners.

Despite the generations of witness about the nature of God and the understanding of Jesus’ messiahship, the Holy Spirit reveals new dimension of this grace and work in each new generation. With every challenge to the human community, there are new things to learn about our faith response to the demands that emerge from it. The pandemic has certainly been such a challenge. On this Palm Sunday, a natural time to be open to how Christ will lead us, we have an opportunity to reflect on where we are as individuals and as a faith community. Through this reflection, we can discern new and deeper understanding of how and where we are being called to take our next faithful step.

Sometimes a major obstacle to learning new lessons is holding onto old lessons. Making room for new learning and seeing the world in a different way is often the gateway to new growth and understanding. It makes possible new discoveries, which will, in turn, open even more discoveries. Our history is filled with examples of how difficult it can be to make room for new learning. Remember that for centuries people thought the earth was flat. Remember the repression that was unleashed when scientists dared to contradict the church and say that the earth was not the center of the universe. Unfortunately, we are repeating so much of this history.

In our Scripture for this week, the pharisee Nicodemus has the rudiments of faith. And yet, because he is not able to make space in his faith and understanding that Jesus is a different sort of Messiah than they expect, he struggles. He comes to Jesus under the cover of night. Jesus knows that Nicodemus is capable of so much more than he lets on in this encounter. He pushes Nicodemus to let go the things to which he would cling so closely.

Today, we are challenged to let go of so many things that get in the way of a fuller expression of faith and community. The persistence of white supremacy still plagues us. The rise of absurd conspiracy theories creates distorted views of the world. The belief that the acquisition of power is victimless persists. If we are to live into the fullness of Christ’s messianic mission and what God is up to in it, we must first shed ourselves of the beliefs that get in the way.

What happens when Pentecost is over? In many faith traditions, Pentecost is like visiting a sculpture in a museum. You go. You ooh and ah about the day. Then what? Pentecost is one of those church holidays that has become a familiar and regular happening in the life of most congregations. In many cases, Pentecost is treated as remembering of the day that the Holy Spirit moved powerfully through the first disciples and not fully as a celebration of how the Holy Spirit continues to move powerfully in our lives, even on this very day.

Pentecost is more than a recognition of how the Spirit once moved, on that specific day. It is an invitation to open our hearts and lives to how the Spirit moves brings specific gifts into our life each day. In the Korean tradition there is a Creed that defines the Holy Spirit succinctly. The Holy Spirit is God present with us for guidance, for comfort, and for strength. This is a fulfillment of the promise that Jesus made the disciples before he was crucified. Our individual collaboration with the Spirit is the foundation of faith and discipleship. Our ministry in the world is accomplished through more than the sheer force of our will. Our work always has been and will continue to be enlivened by the Spirit.

The only question is, are we paying attention? Have we tuned our heart and life to the Spirit’s movement? Pentecost is a celebration and a reminder of this gift, to be sure, but more importantly, it is a moment to pause and reflect on our own life and experience. As we do this important work, we are better able to recognize the gifts of grace we have received…gifts brought to us by the Holy Spirit.

Life is a series of opportunities to choose. Do I go right or left? Do I go up or down? Do I do or do I not do? Having a compass to guide us through these choices makes it easier to navigate them. However, knowing how to navigate isn’t a guarantee that we will always have the outcome we desire. Each decision engages another set of variables to consider. Even if we make the absolute best/right decision we may not always end up where we would wish to be.

As we labor together to emerge from pandemic restrictions and figure out what a new normal will look like, we are facing a whole new series of questions and choices. With so many competing claims and the high level of politization of COVID protocols and vaccines we find ourselves in a very unfamiliar place. Our faith story and the experience of the early church can be very instructive for us. Those who have gone before offer us a road map to follow as we figure out our next faithful step.

The text reminds us that our next faithful step is more than emulating Jesus’ ethical path. It is important for us to know the whole context. We need to know what Jesus did, how Jesus did and, perhaps most importantly, why Jesus did something. Our faith reminds us that Jesus leads us through the difficult and unfamiliar choices we face. There is a way through even this strange time in which we find ourselves. Knowing this way forward is more clearly seen when walk the path of knowing the what, how and why of Jesus’ life, work and teaching.

Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. This is the very heart of Jesus’ teaching. It is the verbal representation, in one sentence of the totality of Jesus’ life. This sentence and the life that it represents is Jesus’ greatest sermon. Anyone who would seek to relate themselves with Jesus are called to preach this same sermon in both word and deed. To be faithful in this preaching requires that we resist the temptation of allowing the world to redefine the terms of this sermon.

In every generation, the church has struggled with preaching this message with the inclusive spirit that Jesus embodies. Fighting, persecutions and struggles have created enemies that become easily carved out. Friends reflect more of the exclusive, parochial, sensibilities of our own communities. They look like us, shop like us, speak like us and vote like us. However, Jesus’ conception of friends makes space for the other, the outcast, the marginalized, the hated and even the enemy.

If we are to abide in Christ as he abides in us, our commitment to Jesus’ vision must grow despite the cultural, societal, and political pressures to build fences and carve people out.

Most people I know want to make a positive contribution to the world. In whatever time they have on this earth, they want to know that their life mattered. It would seem that this instinct is woven into the very fabric of our heart and life. Or, to use a different image, it is organic to our life. Earthy, organic images of life, faith and relationships were a staple of Jesus’ teaching. This made sense, because the people that were the first recipients of his life and teaching were very close to the land. The images of grapes and sheep and fishing would have been supremely relatable. For most of us, however, we are far enough removed from the land that these earthy images that Jesus uses require some unpacking, some context.

Jesus’ “I am the vine” imagery from John 15 is precisely one of those images. Unless you are familiar with viticulture there is much of this image that is lost on us. For instance, the concept of pruning that Jesus speaks of seems punitive and even judgmental. And yet, for the vine grower, pruning off branches that are either unproductive or have grown too far from the vine is essential to bearing the best fruit possible. That is another aspect of viticulture that it is important for us to consider. When it comes to a grape harvest it isn’t simply a matter of quantity of grape. Quality of the fruit that is grown is a vital consideration.

This is the key to our text. The best fruit is grown closest to the vine. It is closest to the nutrients that make the fruit the tastiest and best. When Jesus teaches “I am the vine”, he is reminding the disciples that if we are to bear the best fruit, it can only be done as we are growing closer to Jesus.

Our history is full of extraordinary stories of women and men who sacrifice on behalf of others. We draw inspiration from these stories. They are stories of courage that warm our heart. In many cases we put these people and stories on pedestals, which has the effect of putting them out of reach. What if stories of self-giving on behalf of another weren’t rare? What if these examples were ordinary, everyday events? In fact, this is precisely what the Apostle John envisions for those who would seek to be disciples of Christ. To love another and give our self on behalf of another is the heart of discipleship.

There is one more element to this call, and it can’t be overlooked. When we give ourselves for the sake of our neighbors, we’re called to give the best of ourselves. This includes being willing to give up that which we deeply treasure if it means the liberation of others. Sometimes, the most valuable thing we have is time itself. To share our time, especially as many still feel lonely and isolated due to COVID, is a gift that can bring life. To share our privilege, power and position, especially when it comes at the expense of others can forge solidarity and unexpected relationships.

As the early church writers knew, the gateway to experience the Kindom of God, the Beloved Community, is through self-less acts of love, mercy and compassion on behalf of those around us who are in need.

The notion that we have been sanctioned by God to do with creation as we see fit is one of the most dangerous ideas we face today. It is often married with a view of God’s omnipotence that suggests that no matter what we do God will make it right. Neither of these ideas represent a good translation of the creation text, but together, they represent a critical impediment to addressing the deadly effects of global climate change. The creation story holds for humanity a very different vocation in relation to the environment than the one we currently practice.

Though we are part of creation, we are created in the image and likeness of God. While all creation bears the imprint of God’s creative love, humanity is imbued with the essence of God and the attributes that enable us to reflect and embody the image of God. To live this with integrity, especially as it relates to the rest of creation, means that we would live in ways that are consistent with God’s own creation story. This is the foundation of our vocation, a vocation that is woven into the creation story itself. We are to be stewards, caretakers, of this incredible gift we call creation. We harness the creative power of God and the functionality of all creation to care for one another and the totality of the created order.

Using the gifts that come with being created in the image and likeness of God, with God’s help we can reverse the effects of global warming and blunt the devastating consequences of climate change. However, it isn’t the knowledge that prevents us from acting. It is that we lack the will to make the touch choices. As followers of the risen Christ, this is a spiritual decision for us. Because it is spiritual, God’s grace and the movement of the Holy Spirit, God continues to empower us to make the hard choices.