Sermon for Sixth Sunday of Easter – John 14:23-29

I love bumper stickers. Here’s one of my favorites (VISUALIZE WHIRLED PEAS). Or this one (MY KARMA RAN OVER YOUR DOGMA). Clever, right? I don’t care so much for this one (JESUS IS MY COPILOT). I mean, I think I know what they’re TRYING to say, but what’s a copilot for? When the pilot passes out. YIPES! You stay in your lane way over there, and I’ll stay way over here, and everything will be just fine. Have you ever seen one like this? (I’M NOT PERFECT JUST FORGIVEN) I confess, this one makes me skeptical, like they’d be the most likely one to cut me off in traffic. Now, that’s kind of ironic. For as much as I think and talk about Jesus’ forgiveness, isn’t it weird to feel skeptical when I see this sticker? Why do I feel that way?

Sermon for Fifth Sunday of Easter – John 13:31-35

Do you know what a life verse is? That’s where you look for a verse in scripture that inspires you. Or you’re going through a hard time and you look for a verse that gives strength or peace. Something to help you trust God when everything’s falling apart. You can memorize it. You can mediate on it. You can write it on a sticky note and put it where you’ll see it through the day. Have any of you ever done that? I have. But I’ve never heard anyone make this their life verse. “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.” That’s a mouthful! And you’d need a REALLY BIG sticky note to fit all that!

But it’s actually the perfect life verse, because Jesus is teaching us what glory really means, and what it has to do with our lives. But our problem is that we misunderstand glory. In the human world, what’s glory all about? Well, we could talk about fame and fortune and how we glorify our favorite celebrities and athletes. But we already know that kind of glory is short-lived and superficial. We know we buy into it. We know we shouldn’t. Easy lesson. So let’s get more complicated.