Are you on your way?

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On my phone, when someone calls, I get the option to send a message, instead of answering or simply declining. For instance, if I'm in a meeting, and I see my phone ring from someone I was expecting to call, I can send a message in two clicks that reads, "Can I call you later?" My favorite option, though, is, "I'm on my way." I usually send that one to close friends who call me, especially if they live in other cities. A priest friend from Austin called recently to ask about how we were doing Bible study. It was mid week around lunch time. I sent the automatic text, "I'm on my way." He wrote back, "Well hurry, I'm about to order lunch."

When I finally called him back, he asked where I was, and I told him I'm in Port Aransas, but I'm still on my way...always, at least while I'm alive, I'll be on my way, never quite arriving. In St. John's Gospel, Jesus make quite a few "I AM" statements. It is an echo of the un-name of God given to Moses when he spoke with the Burning Bush. "Tell them I AM sent you..." Jesus us tell us, "I AM the Good Shepherd..." for example. At one point, Jesus says, "I AM the Way..."

I have to figure out my own way, and Jesus is the Way that I am trying to follow. The community that followed Jesus Christ, before they were called "Christians," were the Followers of the Way. To me, that means that Jesus has done what he expects us to do as his followers. He healed people, fed people, brought together the religious and those considered unclean in his time. Each of the gospels spends an inordinate amount of writing on his final days; the Last Supper, arrest, the trail, condemnation, crucifixion, and burial. Then the empty tomb; the appearances; the presence of the Resurrected Christ with Followers of the Way.

That is for us to follow, too. In this season of Easter, I struggle to try to love as Christ loved, to have compassion and be in relationship with the religious and those considered unclean. I also want to go through a Resurrection and Transformation as Christ did. I seek to die to self, and live to God. I seek to remeber that I have been Baptized into Christ's Death, and Raised to the Eternal Life with Christ. I seek to make my very life an offering for God's service. Christ is the Way I seek to follow. I'm on my way, and it is to be a Follower of Christ.

So if you call and I can't answer, and get that weird response response from me. I might not mean I'm about to show up wherever you are. I might just be playfully reminding us that I'm seeking to be a Follower of The Way; seeking to live out the Resurrected Life Christ has given to us all.

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