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"Jesus' Last Prayer"
John 17: 20-26
A Sermon preached by Jonathan Smith
June 24, 2001
University Baptist Church
Minneapolis, MN
Today's gospel, actually the entire 17th chapter of John, as one of the commentators I read says "is what we should rightfully call 'The Lord's Prayer'. The prayer which we recite every week and call the Lord's Prayer is actually the Disciple's Prayer-the words Rabbi Jesus gave to his followers who yearned for some prayer of their own. But here in John 17 is Jesus' own prayer. Prayed on the eve of his betrayal and death, prayed with all the hope, love, intensity and anguish of that moment in his life. Jesus brings the [Creator's] love down to earth and "will make it known" to the world through his crucifixion, death and resurrection. Thus Jesus' prayer gives the church identity-as one with the [Creator] and the [Redeemer]; a mission-to proclaim the love of the Creator and the Redeemer; and the means-through the gift of the Sustainer, the HS to accomplish that mission.
In choosing to work with the Gospel reading from our recent lectionary choices I was struck by thoughts about unity and oneness and our visions, especially this weekend as we recognize the biennial and celebrate our pride as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and "straight but not narrow allies."
In Jesus' Last Prayer-Jesus gives us his vision for his disciples/followers which includes all of us. "That they all be one" interestingly enough this is one of the major theological foundations of many of our churches and other faith based community organizations. In "We are American Baptist" there is "an expression of Christian Faith, representative of American Baptists", pp. 29-33, that gives a very detailed description of the hope we have as we "find unity in diversity and diversity in unity." This is an awesome goal for an often quiet, and somewhat low profile denomination that has historically had such a huge impact on our culture.
According to Wm. Loader, in another commentary I referred to "last advice is important. Last prayer is also important. By portraying Jesus' last prayer John is preserving an image of what mattered most to Jesus. It was not really about history in the sense of trying to reproduce what actually happened. It was more about an image and understanding which would speak to his own and future generations. That is the image we have, especially from this passage: Jesus is praying for us! While the wording doubtless owes much to John's historical imagination, what it represents is in the deepest sense historical. It represents the central concern of the event of Jesus. The central concern is oneness, unity. It is multi-dimensional: oneness with God, oneness with others. It is typical of John's gospel that the event of Jesus is reduced to stark simplicity, and usually encapsulated in symbols. Jesus embodied, incarnated, the offer of life, light, water, bread, truth. The focus is on relationships characterized by love. The focus on oneness assumes an inclusiveness in which no one and nothing is left out. Jesus is praying that the community will hold together, that they will live from the unity they celebrate in his life and his relationship with the [Creator]. Failure to live in unity repeats itself when Christians write each other off, when love degenerates into hate or apathy. We all are aware of the many examples of this, as the media focuses on the noisy opinions of the more outspoken segment of our Christian family. Unity is the essence of what it means to be Christian. It is arguable whether these writers and their communities practiced what they preached and what they prayed. On the other hand, they warn us against shallow notions of unity in which compromise can betray the gospel and so betray people. It all depends on how we understand the basis of unity. With an inclusive understanding of faith, in Jesus we identify God's generous hand stretched out. John encourages us to think theologically or theocentrically, Jesus only matters because God matters. Oneness in sharing God's life as love is a broad and inclusive platform upon which many can stand and which can tolerate great diversity. There is no place for hate, prejudice, or writing people off. The whole event of Jesus' ministry is an expression of God's hand stretched out to all, to 'whosoever' (from John 3:16). Thus even these final intimate aspirations of Jesus are potentially a wish for all people. It all makes sense because this shared life is not something to be found only beyond this life, but to be found here and now and to be lived out in real relationships and in real community.
In Jesus' Last Prayer-we find the vision for the church/faith communities. This vision or mission is also stated in our bulletins and outreach materials, and most recently reiterated in our annual report, our mission statement, calling us to unity through our intentional inclusiveness here at UBC. The sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism are two great examples of how the HS brings people together, uniting us as one. Here at UBC, and at several other churches we practice an open communion, where all are welcome at God's table (everyone.). (thanks again, for having the courage and foresight to be a Welcoming and Affirming congregation) As one of the other traditions I've been involved with would state each time "God's table, for the children of God". In baptism we affirm by faith the various methods or styles of baptism to not create barriers to our unity. As a Baptist, this has been an interesting journey of enlightenment for me. Thanks to time spent hanging out with my sisters and brothers of the UCC, the ecumenical spirit of United and UBC, I'm learning how to not sweat the small stuff, like whether you are immersed or sprinkled. I think God understands, in our humanity, that we will make choices regarding the method we will use or follow on our faith journey to know God more. Some like a more disciplined structure such as the Benedictine monastic style at the monastery at St. John's in Collegeville. Others in a Bible study or small prayer or book group. As we work with other churches, denominations, religions or faith traditions we live out our unity in God. In discussing this journey with Pastor Doug he assured me that UBC was once again "ahead of its time in challenging this Baptist tradition several years ago.
I asked to participate the past Friday night in the "People of Faith Allies, GLBT Pride, Interfaith service, there's nothing quite like a few hundred of our folks having church to officially kick off this weekend's Twin Cites Pride Festival!
In Jesus' Last Prayer-I find my vision and I am deeply encouraged when I read that this prayer/vision includes even me. One of the incredibly awesome beauties of our faith in community is sensing how the HS brings us together from diverse backgrounds, cultures, levels of commitment, gender, race and even sexual orientation to name just a few and makes us one with God. My vision is that I can with the help of the HS live in oneness with God and oneness with others. As was shared recently at Pilgrims by a visiting colleague, who was fulfilling the neutral pulpit portion of the candidacy process, we are called to loving generously, or maybe it was wastefully, wanting others to be able to see the unconditional love of God in us. As I may have shared before, I'm not a bumper sticker kind of guy, and I'm not into a lot of the "Jesus junk" out there to let people know we are Christians. Isn't it said that they should know us by our love? The challenge it seems is, how do we live out our vision of inclusiveness and not lose our Christian identity? This has been particularly challenging for me and some of my classmates in seminary when we are asked to deconstruct, re-evaluate and re-construct what we believe by integrating or at least to being open to other ideas or beliefs. But the bottom line is, God's love and salvation is for all. I, as a Christian chose to follow Jesus, but know that it is very important for me to respect others choices of different paths to God, our Creator. We can learn so much from each other, and from all of the other great teachings. This struggle is not a new struggle, as I have been learning in Historical Theology, God's people have been debating, fighting, including, and yes, excluding each other since the very beginning. Theologians, as well as different religions have taken sides when we would do better to work together as a team. Thus the many simultaneous Reformations, culminating in Protestantism and even American Denominationalism. Now, we are having our turn to see how do we share God's message in our time and place in history. Some of the current ways in a Post-Modern world are Liberation, Black and Feminist Theology.
On a very personal note, most of you know I'm working my way through a tough time with the recent loss of my Mom. But with a little hindsight, I am overwhelmed by the oneness and unity I am experiencing with my family and friends throughout this journey. God was and is with us all of the time. As one of my favorite preachers/authors, Marianne Williamson closes services at the Church of Today in Detroit, with "may there be angels be to your left, angels to your right, angels in front of you and angels behind you, and also angels stationed to protect you from above and below-go in peace, for wherever you are God is". (this may not be an exact quote) For me these angels have been in and are in the cards, emails, (thanks John Mederios) flowers, phone calls, hugs from visitors and even in the saying of good bye to my Mom, I wanted her to "go in peace and be with grandpa". Knowing that along with our Lord Jesus Christ, my grandfather would be there to welcome his daughter home, made this easier for me to try to understand. We made some tough, as I call them "grown up" decisions but, you know what? God's peace was right there with us-through the support of pastors, the hospital chaplain, Dr.'s and nurses and prayerful support of our faith communities. The unity and oneness of the body of Christ was shared from whatever faith tradition we came from. Being checked in on by pastors and friends from the three churches I'm involved with; understanding supervisors at the Federal Reserve and the seminary, was of great comfort and assurance of the unity we have in God.
For me this is also experienced and re-affirmed in all sorts of relationships that God provides for us. Have you ever been reminded of this unconditional love while you're being entertained at concerts, or by TV or by movies? Oh yes, and for the sports fans, the games each respective season, as some of you may know I'm kinda clueless of this topic. (I've heard of the Lions, Tigers and Detroit Red Wings but who are the Packers and Vikings?) This could be with gospel, country or other music, or even with those more secular programs. We may not always agree with the sexual ethics or morals but even shows like "Friends" or Showtime's "Queer as Folk" or even the "Wizard of Oz" or for the Trekkies, "Star Trek" too can be of inspiration. I find the common theme is of friends and family living in community, caring about each other. We can see glimpses of how important relationships are for all of us. How do we live out our unity in God?
In Jesus' Last Prayer-what do you find for yourself, those you love and care about including your faith community here at UBC or wherever you call your church home? Are we being faithful to the Gospel? Do we have a hidden agenda when we get involved or are we looking out for what's best for me or my career? Or do we allow the HS to work through us so that others can see the light of Christ in and through us. As we embrace our culture and as we live in this world, Lord help us to be faithful to your gospel as witnesses to your Creating, Redeeming and Sustaining power. 'We pray that we may be one, even as you are one. Holy God. Amen.