Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Getting Our Bearings Straight

Isaiah 30:18-26
John 14:15-31
In 1973 singer/songwriter David Essex asked the musical question, “Where do we go from here?/Which is the way that’s clear?” These may have been the questions on the minds of the disciples in the days following the resurrection. Living in a world as challenging as ours, they might be our questions as well. Where DO we go from here as people of faith? IS there a way that’s clear?

Our readings today provide two appropriate answers. Isaiah looks ahead to a time of grace and says, “…when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21). John’s gospel adds these words from Jesus, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Okay, so maybe the answers here are more to the question “how do we go?” than “where do we go?” But they offer the hope that in the days to come God’s people will receive guidance, direction, encouragement, and reminders of what they have been taught.

I think of a GPS device talking to a driver. “Turn left in 200 yards.” Or a coach yelling instructions from the sideline. “Move to the right!” By the grace of God we, too, have an Advocate offering us direction, a voice calling us back from our wayward paths. “Where do we go from here/which is the way that’s clear?” We follow what we know about God in Jesus Christ by the voice of the Holy Spirit. It’s the only true path we have.

Prayer: Lord, guide us by your Spirit that we may walk the path you offer to us. Amen.

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