LIFE TO THE FULLEST

LIFE TO THE FULLEST

Choking through our sobs, Patricia and I bid Madeline, our oldest daughter,  goodbye in front of her student apartment building in New York . At the last moment I lay my hands on her shoulders and blessing her and praying for her safety, happiness and wisdom. I get choked up thinking about it now, actually.Corny and embarrassing, but it was the best I could do in the moment. One last prayer for our baby, our oldest, our sweet girl, as she left the nest.  

Jesus’s  prayer in John 17 seems as if  he is trying to get one last prayer in for the people he loves. What I especially love about the prayer is that it is the same prayer we pray for our loved ones- especially those of us who have children.  Jesus wants the best life for his followers- his children. Jesus says, in verse two, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The most common interpretation of the words “eternal life” is to relate it to some kind of afterlife. All throughout John, though, “eternal life” is meant to be read as “life to the fullest.” 

Jesus wants wants us to life to the fullest through him and with him right now! Brian McLaren, a writer I like a lot, says in his book, The Secret Message of Jesus that this life “a life that is radically different from the way people are living these days, a life that is full and overflowing, a higher life that is centered in an interactive relationship with God and with Jesus. Let’s render it simply an extraordinary life to the full centered in a relationship with God.” 

Jesus doesn’t want to save us from the world by granting us access to some kind of eternal life on streets paved with gold. Even better, Jesus wants us to have life to the fullest through his way- a way that lives from the the reality of a self-giving love that sits at the center of all things.

MEET JOEL SMITH!!! NEW LAY ASSISTANT FOR YOUTH MINISTRY AND STUFF!

Ed. Note-- Joel will be joining us August 1st as a Lay Minister for Youth. He will be focusing on small groups out in the community that we are planning for this year, service Saturdays, and increasing our presence "out there" with all of you. He will also be with us on other days at church, too. We are so excited to have him as a part of our staff and youth ministries team.

I asked him to introduce himself to all of you for this week's email message.

Peace--Tim+

Hello, everyone!

My name is Joel Smith and I am the new lay youth minister at All Saints. I’m very excited to return to the Atlanta area after I spent the last two years in Athens in the automotive program at

Athens Technical College. I was intent on finishing that program and diving head first into the workforce as a mechanic. However, upon finishing up at Athens Tech, I didn’t feel that I was making the right decision concerning vocation. I spent some time discerning what I felt called to do, and after some serious thought, I felt that I needed to devote my time and energy to the Episcopal Church.

Working in the Episcopal church is nothing new to me. I was a devout youth group attendee at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Alpharetta, where I also helped on the breakfast team and worked as an acolyte and an usher. Along with my new position as lay youth minister, I am on Summer Staff at Camp Mikell, which is the camp of the Diocese of Atlanta. I’ve been going to Camp Mikell since 2006 and I really encourage you to make a trip up there as well.

Father Tim and I have been busy as can be planning awesome activities for all the youths including, but not limited to, bible studies, Camp Mikell retreats, super awesome days of fun with St. Luke’s, and service Saturdays! We’ve got some great things planned so be sure to keep an eye out for updates.

Now, a little more about me. I love all kinds of music, cars, reading, the great outdoors, and sometimes I even like the great indoors. (Oh, and also Go Falcons and Go Braves). The Episcopal Church was an extremely important and formative aspect of my youth, and I hope that it can do the same things for you that has done for me. I can’t wait to meet all of y’all!

The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

Joel Smith

The Waze of the Father

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:5-6

Neighborhood streets in Atlanta are clogged with traffic like never before. As a result, people are hacking the popular mapping application, Waze, by telling it that there is traffic on their streets so it will not route people through their neighborhoods. Waze works well because it gets updates from users. The maps themselves are good, but people cannot find the best way anymore. The "users" are messing up "the way."

Thomas needs a map. He and the other disciples are feeling lost and confused in the days following Jesus’ death and resurrection.Thomas is a literal thinker, because he thinks that Jesus is talking about going down the road, or to another country, and he wants to know the way to get there so he can be with Jesus. The only “map” that exists, Jesus tells him, is to follow the path that Jesus has walked- loving others, welcoming the outsider, forgiving, healing and restoring the world. I still think Thomas must have been confused even after Jesus tried to set him right. Humanity has continued in its confusion as well.

Our “maps” towards Jesus are often no good, or at the very least confusing. The "users" - Christians- do well at messing up the way sometimes. All kinds of things are labeled as Christian when they are really just hate or fear for the other. Being who we are does not mean that everyone else not like us is wrong, or lost. Being who we are means that the end result of our faith practices should be lives that look like Jesus- lives of self-giving love like God has for us. Our “map” is our prayers and way of life and if it takes us down a path that leads towards violence, anxiety, fear and distrust of the other, it is probably no good. We are still lost, because Jesus is somewhere else. 

A life spent pursuing the way of Jesus may not be perfect or without doubt or hardship or confusion. Jesus does tell us  that any life lived with love and compassion, however imperfect it may be, leads toward home. Jesus has shown us the way- now we are called not only to follow it home but to be with him during the journey. 

God's Wasteful Love For Us

Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:6-10

My Dad has a lot of great sayings on his office wall. My favorite is, “Live fully, love wastefully, and have the courage to be yourself.”

God loves us “wastefully” or with an abundance beyond the limits of our conception. 

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Even hen Jesus tries to describe God’s wasteful love by using overly-familiar images of temple, sheep gate, shepherd and sheep his followers  “ … did not understand what he was saying to them.”  (Jn 10:6)  In the midst of the harsh realities of their lives in the ancient world, I imagine it was easier to believe in a violent and vengeful God than the one Jesus is describing. In the end, he has to spell it out for them and give them the definitive good news that “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

Our lives sometimes make it hard to see, but Jesus reminds us God’s love is  huge and obvious as the temple, humble and gentle like a sheep, guiding us like a shepherd, and safely leading us to holiness through the “gate” that is communion with his love for us.  

Jesus is shepherd, gate, and sheep rolled into one. He is self-giving, guiding, saving love made plain for all humanity. Abundant life- being truly human- is found not in “killing and destroying” but in constantly orienting our lives (with God’s help) towards self-sacrifice, humility and compassion for ourselves, others, and the world.