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Easter VII May 15-16, 2010 John 17:20-26 I first met Wally back about 1988 or so. He had been a colonel in the Army Air Force, flying planes over the "hump" in WWII. Leaving the service he went into banking. He was retired when I met him, a relatively big guy with an erect bearing, given to plain speaking, not mincing words, actually kind of intimidating in a way. He handled the Saturday morning men's breakfast for years, then handed it off to another guy, who more or less let it fall apart. So Wally took it back, and when I left that church, it was going strong. When Wally spoke at a congregational meeting, at the men's breakfast, or in a Bible study, people listened. He was that kind of a guy. I always got along well with Wally, but for years, I did not feel like I really knew him. Then I started seminary and the pastor let everyone know what I was doing. After I had two or three quarters under my belt, Wally came up to me one Sunday morning and asked how it was going. I said it was going "okay." He asked if I was getting good grades. I answered "yeah, pretty good." Actually they were very good but I was feeling a little modest and probably still in a state of surprise at just how good they were. At any rate, he said "good, then we will keep praying for you." I knew he was joking, at least about the condition, so I laughed and he said that he and his wife prayed for me every day. And at that moment I got a thrill, a rush, as if something entered me or made its presence known. It was an incredible feeling, knowing that Wally and his wife, whose name was Marjorie, were praying for me, praying for me every day. It filled me with a sense of awe, a sense of the awesome power of prayer as I had never experienced before, not consciously anyway. Not too long after that I began hearing from more and more people how they were praying for me, for my success in answering this calling from God. And now brothers and sisters, consider that true story in the light of another true story, a story you heard me read just a few moments ago, a story from the Gospel of John. Jesus is at prayer, in the middle of a prayer, a prayer that includes you and me. Jesus the Son of God, praying to God the Father, praying for our success. As I share this with you, I need to tell you that I have goose bumps, I need to tell you that I have a sense of awe when I consider this text, a sense of the awesome power of the Son of God praying to the Father for you and for me! This prayer of Jesus is for us, you and me, and for those who will believe in him, in Jesus, because of our word. Jesus is praying that we will be one, that we will be in him and the Father, that the world may believe that Jesus was sent for the world, by the Father. Jesus in us, God the Father in him, that the world may know that Jesus was sent, that God loves them even as he loves Jesus himself. Jesus prays that those given to him by the Father, you and me among others, may be where he is, may be in union with him as he is with the Father, still distinct, yet one. One in love, one in mission, the name of God known to us and known to the world that Father's love for the Son may be in them and Jesus in them. This is incredible, brothers and sisters, simply incredible. This is what we are about, why we are here, why we are sent from this place. We are the community for whom Jesus prays, praying for the success of our witness in the world, praying that we might be one, not only as a Christian church, but as Lutheran Church of the Cross, as brothers and sisters here today. We are that community. Notice how I am saying this, I am using that first person, plural pronoun, pronounced "we." We, this church, are a "we!" We are not "us and them," it is not "me and you," it is "we." Oh we are distinct from one another, we do not look alike, talk alike, think alike, believe everything alike, we do not even have goals alike. But we are to be one in mission, a oneness if you will. You have been hearing about this recently, you heard it from me two weeks ago, you heard from Cathy last week, and now you are hearing it again. Brothers and sisters, sit up and take notice! This is why we are here, this is what we are about. We need to embrace the excitement that we feel. We do it when we step out of ourselves, step out of our apathy, our sense of entitlement. We do it when we forget the uncertainty we may be feeling, when we set aside the past, not so much forget it as simply acknowledge it and set it aside so we can move past it, knowing that we are united in Christ, united and stepping out in faith for the sake of our common mission. Here is the bottom line, we are called to be a missional church, not a country club, not a place where you come to escape the cares of the world, not a place where you come hoping for a short service because the fishing boat awaits. Let me share with you a quote from a book I read when I first started seminary. It goes like this: "...mission is not just a program of the church. It defines the church as God's sent people. Either we are defined by mission, or we reduce the scope of the gospel and the mandate of the church." Mission is not just something we do as a part of our programming and ministries. No, our very essence as a church, as a people of God, is missional, a "calling and sending action of God" that forms our identity. "Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church's effort to extend itself." This then, is what Jesus is praying for when he prays on our behalf and on behalf of those who will believe in him through our word. That we may be one, as a congregation, as a people of God, one in mission that the world may come to believe through us, our actions, our words, through our excitement, through our healing as a congregation. That we may one through the love we have for one another, through the love we have for the world, including those who have not yet been touched by the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
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