A Sermon in Memory of David Dodds
The Rev. Patricia Gillespie
Isaiah 40:28-31
Psalm 23
Revelation 7:9-17
John 14:1-6
It's a good question that Thomas asks. "How can we know the way?" We still ask that question today about our own lives: Which way should I go? Where do I turn next? How am I going to get out of this one? How can we know the way? Jesus doesn't answer that question by giving his friends a map. Instead he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "The way" is best shown in a person, not in a set of directions.
Jesus is the way. Jesus, the way, gives us life, indeed saves our lives, by giving his own. He put his life on the line that we might live. He saved our lives – Jesus is God's ultimate rescue squad.
So today we don't have to look very far to see Christ reflected in our world. Emergency service people, like David, show us something very Christlike. They (indeed, some of you here today) risk their own lives to save the lives of others. They show others the way to life. In doing so, they show us Christ.
Fire fighters, paramedics, police officers, EMTs, rescue personnel .... these are among the saints, and sometimes the martyrs, of today. They're not perfect, these saints, but they do reflect Christ, however imperfectly. They remind us that the way to life comes very close to death. That's a Christian message – the message of the cross, the intersection of death and life.
And it's scary business this saintly death-and-life work. It's frightening whenever we face death – in a fire or ambulance, in a hospital bed or in the lonely depths of our hearts, and today as we gather to celebrate the life of someone we love. How, then, in our fear and grief, can we know the way?
Jesus says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. I go to prepare a place a place for you... In my Father's house there are many dwelling places."
Jesus doesn't tell us what these dwelling places might be like,
but the promise is that somehow they are better than our wildest imagination.
The Bible tells us that,
The heavenly hints that David found in this town and in this church are reflected in the mission statement that he helped this church develop: "Growing in peace with Christ."
It seems a far cry from the life-and-death world of emergency services. And yet it, too, is saintly business. This, too, reflects the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Here also, lives are being saved.
In this peace, in this church, life is renewed.
As Christians, we are asked both to "run the race" as part of God's rescue team and to seek peace. Both are reflections of Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In both we give ourselves to others. Both may be exhausting or painful.
But always, when we follow the Way that is truth and life, God is with us, and the Way gives us life.
Isaiah knew this when he wrote: "Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
David had one request for our gathering to celebrate his life: He asked that we hear the music from "Chariots of Fire," which we will do later in our worship. David ran the race well, through the fiery times and the peaceful ones. And now the victory of life is his. The music reflects that journey.
It's our journey too. And we do know the way. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. We may not see Jesus walking the streets of Paynesville, but God sends us glimpses of Christ in one another.
When those times in our life come that we again ask Thomas's question, "How can we know the way?" God responds, showing us the way to life and truth in the reflection of Christ in the lives of our neighbors, the everyday saints like David. We, like David, are called to reflect Christ. We also can show others the way to life.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in one another, for you are the saints of God.