One of the joys of being a priest is the privilege of listening to the secrets people carry in their hearts. But this joy is simultaneously a sorrow, because so many of the secrets are feelings of guilt, shame and unworthiness. Very often it seems to me that people have heard the call to goodness and holiness much more clearly, than the good news of God's forgiveness and love. I would venture to say that at least half of the people who come to church, here or any church, feel unworthy to be present. So before I explore this theme any further, let me emphasize that God forgives you, whatever you have done, or failed to do, and God wants you to be a member of his church, his household.

I know that some of you will now make a mental objection to being a member of God's household, because you do not agree with certain doctrines of the Church. You assume that you must believe them all, in order to be saved. And one of the biggest stumbling blocks among those doctrines is in today's Gospel: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: No one comes to the Father but by me." Let me propose to you, a way around this stumbling block.

I see two problems with this verse:
The first problem is the logical and historical leap we make from this statement to a doctrinal absolute. And the second is that we expand the way of Jesus into the only truth for humanity. We, must ask, what did Jesus mean when he said these things, and have we/has the Church distorted that meaning? First of all, we can acknowledge that Jesus said very few things as definitive statements of doctrine. "Your sins are forgiven" would be one, and the summary of the law would be another: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Most of his teaching, however, was given in metaphors and parables and actions. He did it that way for a reason: he did not come to give a new law, a new doctrine. He came to show us a new approach to God and a new way to be a member of God's household, which was not based on obedience to rules or belief in doctrines. So a large part of his teaching is more like poetry and it is like painting and even like music, than it is like law or doctrine.

When Jesus said, "In my father's house there are many dwelling places", he was not talking about an actual palace with thousands of rooms. He was offering us the image of a spacious household where there is enough room for everyone. He was conveying a spiritual truth by using an artistic image. The same spiritual truth is intended by St. Peter when he calls us "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a spiritual house."

The logical and historical leap we make is to identify the words of Jesus, with the requirements of the church. Jesus did not establish baptism as a requirement for salvation, nor did he lay down rules about attending worship services, or living up to a standard of ethical behavior. The key words in that last sentence were requirement and rules. Yes, certainly we encourage people to be baptized as the means by which we receive grace to follow Jesus. Yes, we believe God is pleased when we worship, and yes, Jesus invites us to seek righteousness. It is the whole emphasis on inclusion if you obey the rules, and exclusion if you don't which is antithetical to the way of Jesus.

The second mistake which we make is to assume that the only way to come to the Father through Jesus is to come through the Church. That is not what he said. If St. John is right, if the Nicene Creed is right, that the Word of God through whom the universe was created, became incarnate in Jesus, then it would also be true that the Word of God can be discerned and followed by anyone in any culture who wakes up to the reality of that Word. St. John clearly tells us that the Word/the True Light/the Wisdom of God is in all things. The Church has tried to keep salvation to herself, and to be the gatekeeper for the household of God. It is presumptuous of us to think that the church is the only context in which the Word of God is available. It is far more compatible with our theology of the Creator and our beliefs about the Son to believe that God intends to save us all, and is using many different means to reach his people. One of the means God uses, the most visible means, is the Church; which is one true way to salvation.

I hope you feel that we have gotten around that stumbling block now, and that I can go on to say what I believe Jesus probably meant, in calling himself the Way, the Truth and the Life. As is almost always the case, we must hear this statement in historical context. Throughout the Hebrew Scripture, there are references to "the way of life" and "the way of God." As far as I can tell, these references divide very early into two groups. In the books of Moses and in many other places, the way of life means specifically, obedience to the statutes and ordinances of the Covenant. Before and during the life of Jesus, the Essenes took this approach to the extreme, with their monastic community by the Dead Sea, and their rejection of the Temple and the priesthood. They called themselves, "those who have chosen the Way."

A second group of references to the Way of Life is focused more on trust and loyalty to God as matters of the heart. The meaning is captured in the last verse of Psalm 16, which we have put at the entrance to our labyrinth: "You will show me the path of your life; in your presence there is fullness of joy." Then we must remember that John the Baptist came to "Prepare the Way of the Lord," which he did by inviting people to repent and receive forgiveness. Finally we must recognize the immediate context of these words at the last supper: Jesus is talking about going to the Father, and preparing a place for the disciples, so that they too can come to the Father. His language is highly poetic and metaphorical: he is not talking about a road to the Father, nor is he speaking of a series of requirements to be fulfilled step by step. In fact, just 11 verses before this famous verse, Jesus also said, "Where I am going, you cannot come." (13:33)

A much more likely interpretation is that Jesus is speaking of the way of love. At the end of Chapter 13, Jesus gave the disciples the new commandment, to love one another, just as he has loved them (13:34). And a few verses after our famous verse, Jesus goes back to the theme of love: "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them" (14:23, see also 14:15, 14:21) So what, precisely, is the way of love? It is a whole set of attitudes and behaviors, which include a deliberate effort to see the presence of Christ, the image of God, in every person; it includes the choice to forgive; it includes a set of behaviors which show hospitality and generosity to neighbors and strangers; it includes the choice to meet the needs of the poor and the lonely; and it includes a willingness to set aside one's own preferences for the sake of others. The way of love cannot be limited to a set of rules or guidelines, because its work is never finished. Every human being is accepted as a member of the family - or to use the words of our Native American liturgy: "we are all relatives." And each person who lives the way of love also finds it to be the Truth, and the Life. The only way to the Father, is the way of love. And this way of love is the path we are using in the Diocese, as we work together to renew our sense of community, and to prepare for the election of a new bishop.

Because these are words of poetry and metaphor, I was captured by a modern expression of them in our hymnal. They are the last words of W. H. Auden's Christmas oratorio, "For the Time Being", which are set to music, hymn 463 ( + 464) - please get our your hymnal and look at it with me. In this long poem, whose general subject is the birth of Jesus; Auden comes at the end to the time after Jesus' resurrection in which we live, "the time being."

"He is the way:
Follow him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts and have unique adventures.

He is the Truth.
Seek him in the Kingdom of Anxiety:
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.

He is the Life.
Love him in the World of the Flesh:
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy."

W. H. Auden, from "For the Time Being" 1941

We may well feel that we live in the "land of unlikeness': our lives are not what we expected them to be, we must face challenges and suffer defeats, so our experiences cause us to feel that guilt and unworthiness I mentioned at the beginning. Nevertheless, Jesus is the Way, and we are called to follow him through the land of unlikeness. And we do certainly experience anxiety - that is why we want definitive answers to spiritual questions. But as we follow Jesus and seek the truth, we will come to a great city with many dwelling places, which has expected our arrival for many years. For Jesus is life: we will find him in the midst of the world of the flesh; in the meals we share, in the land we cultivate, in the homes we build, in the care we give to children, in the clasp of hands in passing the peace, and in all our relationships. Jesus is present now, in the time of being: follow him in the way of love, seek him, and love him, for the Father and the Son have indeed made their home with us.

AMEN