Fifth Sunday of Easter
Worship Edition
Where mom washed our hair
Jesus said,
"And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come and bring you to myself so that where I am you
may be also."
John 14:4
John 14: 1-14.  How we Abide the Goodbye   
Rev. Kathryn J. Cameron
 
Mother’s Day brings memory's tears
Kitchen sink drips
Her fingers scrub my scalp clean.
Prell smell. A remembered ad where a pearl dropped 
through thick green shampoo takes that road.
Along that way, the hidden product message: buy this softest hair
to make it to your wedding day.
 
My mother didn’t cry at my wedding.
 
She cried on days when her emergency room
Work got to her. That day the high school senior
Crashed into a mountain, doing 58 MPH around
a Curve. She shed tears when I called 
from the hospital with News: we’ve named her
after you mom, our daughter’s middle name—
she'll be baptized “Kathryn Irene”. Peace be with you.
 
And also, with you. Mom’s last Mother’s Day
with us Passed twenty years ago. We knew, not conclusively
my siblings and I, how we must come to abide that day as 
one goodbye among the many. “Farewell, until we meet again.”
 
Jesus said, “I go and prepare a place for you.” Thus, he spoke
saying “adios” to those he most loved. And if
I go prepare a place for you, he granted, again I am coming 
to Receive you to Myself, that where I am You
may be Also. “Farewell, until we meet again.”
 
Jesus said goodbye, 1990 years ago, if we follow
our Gregorian calendars based on his birth and calculate
his farewell address based on what the beloved
disciple remembered through the years. 
  
This Sunday, May 10, 2020 we hear again his goodbye, yes
And a promise: ‘where I am you may be Also.’
 
“I am you,” Jesus says. I am you will be also. That’s what
we hear when we take out the where. Why would you
take out the where? We believe place matters, don’t we?
 
We do believe place matters especially this year of our Lord
when we have been misplaced. Displaced, unplaced, among
the no-place-to-rest-our heads-believers of Jesus.

We grieve our loss of place, our social distance from our sanctuary. For
God’s sake we can’t even Sing! How can we sing the Lord’s song,
when we can’t Lift every voice and sing? ‘Where’ does matter and
 where matters not. 

“In my Father’s house there are many rooms,”
Jesus tells us. He might have added, ‘you have not begun to see
all the places you will find me and through me the Father who
is in me as I am in you. I am you. Wherever we find ourselves,
whether we think we know the Way or not, we may know this Truth.
We may also find the Life Jesus promises where God abides.
 
Such promise does not diminish our grief. We are beyond
sorrow in these days of loss. In the living room of sorrow sits anger, hurt cowers by the door. Yet Jesus gives us the Spirit to abide hurt and anger. God abides with us in our sorrow.
 
Jesus suffers with us the cross we bear, sheds with us the tears
we weep. The Spirit sighs with us the deepest breaths of despair
and exhales the air of hope when we cannot abide another
death; when we fear we have lost the Way. I am you Jesus says.
 
You be the ones believing in me and the works I do
for those who abide in my Father, and believe in me;
they will do what gives God glory. May we
 
be known not for what we buy or buy into; may we
be known for how we abide in God through Christ who
prepares the way. In truth and life, amen.
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Prayers are requested for
B ryan Ross, Jim Ross' son.
Eric Sipe and his sister, Vicky .
Helen Fox, Evelyn Ross' mother; for people living in group homes and their caregivers.

May each of us know the grace of God, the love of Christ and the company of the Holy Spirit.

For Children from Illustrated Ministry: https://illstrtdm.in/EasterWeek5
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 “In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.”


Send your prayer requests to Rev. Kathryn Johnson Cameron dkkwcam@gmail.com


First Presbyterian Church, Lincolnton, North Carolina
Rev. Dr. Kathryn Johnson Cameron, Bridge Supply Pastor
Rebecca Beatty, Organist and Choir Director