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The Seventh Sunday of Easter |
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EVERY SUNDAY, AND ALMOST AS OFTEN AS WE GATHER TOGETHER FOR ANY REASON, WE PRAY THE LORD’S PRAYER. TO BE COMPLETELY ACCURATE, WE PRAY THE PRAYER TAUGHT TO US BY OUR LORD. IN OUR GOSPEL FOR TODAY, WE HEAR THE REAL LORD’S PRAYER; THE PRAYER OF OUR LORD FOR HIS CHURCH. JUST PRIOR TO HIS COMING PASSION AND DEATH, JESUS PRAYS, NOT FOR HIMSELF, BUT FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM. IN HIS PRAYER, HE INCLUDES AS THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM AND BELONG TO HIM ALL THOSE WHO WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE COMING AGES, BELIEVE IN HIM BECAUSE OF THE TESTIMONY OF HIS ORIGINAL FOLLOWERS. JESUS MAKES NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN PETER, JAMES AND JOHN OR GEORGE AND STEVE AND SUE AND BILL. HE MAKES NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN THOSE IN THE UPPER ROOM WITH HIM AT THE TIME AND THOSE WHO ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN HIS NAME ALL AROUND THE WORLD TODAY. HE PRAYS FOR US THEN, AND HE CONTINUES TO PRAY FOR US TODAY, AND CONSTANTLY, WHICH WE AFFIRM WHEN WE SAY THAT HE IS OUR ONLY MEDIATOR AND ADVOCATE. THE PRAYER OF OUR LORD IS REALLY A CALLING FOR AND A PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THE CHURCH. JESUS PRAYS FOR US TO HAVE THE SAME RELATIONSHIP HE HAS WITH THE FATHER IN HEAVEN: “AS YOU, FATHER, ARE IN ME AND I AM IN YOU, MAY THEY ALSO BE IN US, SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME. THE GLORY THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME I HAVE GIVEN THEM, SO THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, AS WE ARE ONE, I IN THEM AND YOU IN ME, SO THAT THEY MAY BE COMPLETELY ONE, SO THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME AND HAVE LOVED THEM EVEN AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME.” JESUS PRAYED, AND CONTINUES TO PRAY, THAT WE MIGHT BE ONE. GIVEN THE TURMOIL IN THE CHURCH OF TODAY, ONE MIGHT WONDER AT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS PRAYER OF OUR LORD. I REMEMBER A CARTOON OF A FEW YEARS AGO, CALLED KUDZU, ABOUT A LITTLE TOWN IN THE SOUTH NAMED “BYPASS, GEORGIA.” THE PREACHER, WILL B. DUNN, IS COACHING THE CHURCH BASEBALL TEAM, AND AS HIS LEAD BATTER STEPS TO THE PLATE, THERE IS A COMMOTION ON THE FIELD. HE SIGHS, AND SAYS, “THIS HAPPENS EVERY TIME WHEN WE PLAY THE BAPTISTS. SOMEONE ALWAYS GETS UPSET AND LEAVES TO FORM ANOTHER TEAM.” UNITY IN THE CHURCH SEEMS TO BE AN UNOBTAINABLE GOAL. IF OUR GOAL IS UNITY, THE QUESTION WOULD BE, “WHAT IS CHRISTIAN UNITY SUPPOSE TO LOOK LIKE?” IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE CHURCH, UNITY WAS DEFINED BY THE LITURGY. SAINT JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS, ESTABLISHED THE METHOD OF WORSHIP, WHICH WAS LATER REFINED BY JOHN CHRYSOSTROM. THIS IS WHAT “ORTHODOXY” MEANS; RIGHT WORSHIP. EVEN WHEN THE LITURGY WAS TRANSLATED INTO LOCAL LANGUAGES, IT REMAINED THE SAME, UNITING ALL CHRISTIANS IN WORSHIP. IT DID NOT TAKE LONG, HOWEVER, FOR HUMAN NATURE TO RAISE ITS HEAD. THE ARGUMENTS OVER THE NATURE OF JESUS, THE QUESTION OF FROM WHOM THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCEEDS, AND EVEN WHETHER TO USE ONE OR THREE FINGERS TO MAKE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS THREATHENED TO AND DID DIVIDE THE CHURCH. THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH FOR WHICH JESUS PRAYED, AND FOR WHICH HE STILL PRAYS, IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE BETWEEN UNITY AND SCHISM. THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT WE NEED THE CONSTANT PRAYERS OF OUR LORD, AND OUR OWN, FOR THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. EVERY FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, OR SO, THE CHURCH SEEMS TO HAVE A CONVULSION WHICH THREATENS ITS UNITY. IT IS NOT SIMPLY DISAGREEMENTS OVER DOCTRINE, BUT HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL FORCES AND PRESSURES THAT THREATHEN THE UNITY FOR WHICH WE STRIVE. THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE EASTERN AND WESTERN CHURCHES, THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF THOSE “LOOSE CANNON” LUTHERANS IN GERMANY, THE FORMATION OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, AND THE RISE OF ALL THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES ARE, ULTIMATELY, ROOTED IN THE DESIRE OF GOOD PEOPLE TRYING TO DO WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS RIGHT FOR THE CHURCH GIVEN THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL FORCES AND PRESSURES OF THEIR TIME. THE VERY DESIRE FOR UNITY BROUGHT DIVISION. THIS SAME RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EPISCOPAL AND EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES IS BEING EXTENDED TO THE METHODISTS ON THE PART OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND TO THE PRESBYTERIANS AND MENNONITES ON THE PART OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. THE LOVE OF CHRIST, AND THE LOVE IN CHRIST, IS THE UNITY IN THE MIDST OF DIVERSITY. WITHIN A CHURCH, AND WITHIN A CONGREGATION, THE HISTORICAL MOMENT AND CULTURAL PRESSURES CAN STRESS AND THREATEN THE UNITY FOR WHICH OUR LORD PRAYS. THE ORDINATION OF GAY BISHOPS, THE ISSUE OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE, AND OTHER HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PRESSURES CAN, AND WILL, DIVIDE THE CHURCH SO LONG AS WE THINK THAT UNITY IS TO BE FOUND IN COMPLETE AND TOTAL AGREEMENT ON EVERY ISSUE OF THE DAY. ON SOME THINGS, GOOD PEOPLE WILL NEVER COME TO AGREEMENT, AND WHEN DISAGREEMENT TURNS TO ANGER, THEN SOMEONE IS GOING TO GO OFF AND START ANOTHER TEAM SOMEWHERE ELSE. WHERE THE LOVE FOR WHICH OUR LORD PRAYS CONTINUALLY RULES, HOWEVER, WE CAN ACCEPT OUR DIFFERENCES AND DISAGREEMENTS, AND LOVE THOSE WITH WHOM WE DISAGREE. IN CHRIST, AND WITH CHRIST, WE CAN EVEN LOVE THOSE ABOUT WHOM WE DISAGREE. IT IS, AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN, A CONSTANT STRUGGLE FOR THE UNITY OF LOVE, WHICH IS WHY THE RISEN CHRIST CONTINUES ALWAYS TO PRAY FOR HIS CHURCH. IT IS ONLY BY THE LOVE WE HAVE FOR ONE ANOTHER WHERE WE WILL FIND THE UNITY THAT MAKES US ONE WITH CHRIST, AND THROUGH HIM ONE WITH EACH OTHER. THE CONTINUAL PRAYER OF THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL, THE CONTINUAL PRAYER OF EACH CONGREGATION, AND THE CONSTANT PRAYER OF EACH FOLLOWER OF THE LORD JESUS MUST BE THE PRAYER OF OUR LORD; “MAY THE LOVE WITH WHICH YOU HAVE LOVED ME BE IN ME, THAT I MAY BE IN YOU AND YOU IN ME.” IT IS ONLY IN LOVE WHERE OUR UNITY CAN BE KNOWN, AND ONLY IN OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER THAT OUR LORD JESUS WILL BE KNOWN TO THE WORLD.
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