Easter Five - The Way of Love

Jesus invites us to follow him by stepping out onto the Way. A way of living and loving that will heal us, change us and prepare us for our return to God in the fullness of time - The Way of Love.

Sentence:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ ” John 14:6

Collect:

Gracious God, Source of all being,

Lead us on the Way of Love that we may know ourselves and others

Loved, forgiven and healed and that the journey make us whole and holy in the wellspring of your grace.

In the name of Source, Beloved Word made flesh, and Spirit. Amen.

Reflection:

Jesus was often referred to as a teacher but he did not teach in a classroom. He was a wisdom teacher who taught about life while living it, while walking, while worshipping, and while healing those he met. His lessons were practiced while walking the Way of Love with his disciples and bringing hope and compassion to where ordinary life was happening. (Easter Five. John 14:1-14.)

You may like to read I have previously written about Jesus being the Way.

The Way

Or you may like to read what I have written about Dwelling in God.

Dwelling in God

In the western church we often seem to interpret the Way that Jesus spoke of as an agenda of moral certitude or that of overflowing niceness which can dissolve all resistance! Morality, certainty and niceness are surely not bad but I do not think that is what Jesus called the disciple back then, or now, into.

By referring to the Way as the Way of Love I mean a number of things inspired by the gospel. Firstly, I believe that Jesus was reminding his disciples then and now, that we are called into the great belonging – the Oneness at the heart of everything. John’s gospel often recalls Jesus as saying that ‘I and the Father are one and if you believe in me you join us in that belonging at the centre of everything’. This is the great Love that is the creative and regenerative source of all being. The Way of Love is therefore the way of remembering that we are part of the One. Given this belonging we are never separate to the divine or indeed our neighbour at some level. And in this, eternity has its beginning, so that our beginning and end are simply dance steps in the great belonging.

And while this sounds beautiful and at times ultimately comforting it is also our greatest challenge for if we see the oneness then we cannot easily see ourselves as separate from what we do not understand, from what disturbs and frightens us, from what and who we wish to be distant. For the mature person of faith there is this complex dance of silence and intimate whispers and loud rejoicing and demanding; of spacious peace and engaging with those who are not at peace; of surrender and openness and taking up one’s purpose and stepping out with intention. It is not one thing or another but in due season the full human range of experience all entered into with faith. We step out onto the Way before we are sure of what the journey will bring.

Secondly the Way of Love is the path of the pursuit of truth which is not so much about sacred rules that never change as it is about the courage and desire to travel further into the heart of God and be stripped bare and to relinquish our small truths and rules. Jesus describes Truth as a Way, a path, not a solid monument. Truth in the spiritual life is a way of going through life that courageously seeks out God’s truth at this moment in our life and in the next moment and situation. It is a journey or a process. The subtlety of the truth changes with our capacity to perceive, the situation, and what is unfolding within us in our relationship with the divine. It is not that truth is situational so much as our capacity for truth is experienced layer by layer.

And thirdly the Way of Love is for the whole of life, of life lived in relationship with God the Source, Jesus the Word made flesh, and with the Spirit that moves where she will. The Way of Love will take us further and further into the fullness of life in all its beauty and tragedy. In the story of Stephen’s martyrdom he is fully alive – he can see the resurrected Jesus at the right hand of God – as he is being killed. This is not to glorify suffering but to say that on the Way of Love even tragedy does not kill love or life. For those who are aware of the divine there is a fullness of life that cannot be extinguished.

Can we dare to believe this? It sounds so counter intuitive. And yet it is the radical claim and example of Jesus. The Way of Love that Jesus lived was not hugely successful by any worldly standards but it was the complete revelation of love - so much so that not even suffering and death could end his life or his love. And it is into this certainty that we are called. The only certainty is that the love of God will make us, and break us, and remake us until we are nothing but love returning to Source. Not an easy way but the Way.

Even so, come Lord Jesus risen one, and companion us as we dare step out on the Way of Love.

Intercessions:

Gracious God, the One True Source of all being,

Hear our prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving for your created world and all who live upon it.

We particularly pray for endangered creatures small and large, for forgotten peoples, for those displaced by war and natural disaster and climate change …

We pray for those who are custodians of your precious places and sacred knowledge …

We pray for agencies of care and peacemaking seeking their protection and strengthening.

Source of all being,

Hear our prayer.

Jesus, Word made flesh,

Keep us ever close that we might hear your words of life

and follow you on the Way of Love.

We particularly pray for all who suffer and live in fear …

those who flee violence in their own homes … those facing frightening diagnosis …those whose minds are not at peace …

Inspire and encourage all who preach your gospel in word and action

that hope and truth might reach where it is most needed.

Jesus Word of Life and Love,

Hear our prayer.

Spirit that blows where you will,

Come disturb, entice, quicken our hearts and minds

that we might imagine more courageously your will being done in our world in our time.

We particularly pray for each and every soul that turns to you for truth and hope … for those nearing death and for those who have already departed from our sight … we entrust ourselves and those we love into your boundless love that binds all things together.

Spirit that blows,

Hear our prayer.

Living God,

Source of all Being, Word made flesh, and Renewing Spirit,

We pray in the name of the Risen Christ, who calls us by name to step out onto the Way of Love. Amen. 

 This is my work informed by all that I have heard, read and experienced. I am indebted to the wisdom of others.