12-step Eucharist, May 6, 2026, John 14:1-14. The Way
The first part of this reading from John is the most commonly read gospel at funerals. These words of comfort briefly remind families of Jesus’ resurrection and their loved one’s presence in the resurrected life. I have reached the age when I mourn the loss of family members and friends far more often than before.
Recent deaths of beloved friends have cemented my belief in the resurrection of the dead. But as I remember their lives, I’ve come to feel in my bones that resurrection is not simply a destination but a path they were already on. The path toward seeing the presence of God in each other, in themselves, and the path of turning their lives over to the God of their understanding.
Whatever your belief is in a higher power, you may see resurrection as merely a belief in life after death. While that’s true, it’s incomplete.
Instead of thinking of resurrection after we die, try this on for size. Resurrection refers to what the risen Jesus is already doing in our lives. He is gradually drawing us into deeper union with God/ and with one another, one day at a time. As we spend time with the God of our understanding, we begin to experience God’s presence within ourselves and one another. Eternal life begins here on planet Earth. It’s a life that emerges from our relationship with the risen Christ on this side of the grave and continues into the next.1
People in 12-step recovery should know this more than anyone else. We have experienced a truckload of resurrections as we have begun this journey of recovery. Listen to the people in 12-step rooms who say, “I thank God that I am an alcoholic; my life is so changed.”/ Not only listen to them. Watch them. See how they treat others/ and themselves. They are,/ we are, living this new eternal life.
Jake Owensby reminds us that the Gospels do not offer logic or proof of the resurrection. Instead, they invite us to imagine and live within the mystery of the resurrection, something we cannot fully grasp in this life.1 This sounds so much like 12-step work. As C.S. Lewis put it, “Act as if.” Or, in 12-step terms, “Fake it till you make it.”
“We’re always seeking clarity while God asks us to trust. The path will always only be clear one step at a time.”2
When we learn to trust and finally give up trying to squint through the thick fog ahead, we look down at where we stand and realize we see our next stepping stone, clear as day. No matter our worldly destination, we always know the way: one step at a time, taken in trust, hope, and love. Tonight, in John’s Gospel,3 Jesus again tells his followers, “I am the way, the path.” This expression contrasts sharply with “I am the answer,” a phrase many Christians assume Jesus said but didn’t. The difference between the two self-descriptions is significant. “I am the way” invites grand adventure and openness to the ambiguities and doubts that accompany a journey along uncertain paths. “I am the answer” suggests perfection, a page at the back of the textbook, solving an equation, answering test questions—no hint of a relationship. Instead, Jesus invites us to be on a journey rich in wild mystery, full of the unknowable and the incomprehensible. A journey.
Tonight./ As Christ guides and lives beside and within us./ In those around us. We see the path on the Way, gradually, one day,/ one step at a time.
1. Jake Owensby, “Easter Message” in Woodlands, April 5, 2026.
2. Erica Lloyd, “The Way,” InwardOutward, Church of the Saviour, May 2, 2026
3. Peter W. Marty, “First Words,” Christian Century, April 27, 2016.
Joanna Seibert