Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said, "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all may be one. 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, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made you name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
The first thing I would like us to reflect on as a result of reading this Gospel is how much God loves and believes in all of us. We talk so much about what is wrong in the world, and indeed there is much to talk about. I talk a lot about how God desires so much for the Church to continue to become a more inclusive Church for all people, including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. As all of this is true, there is nothing more true than how much God in Jesus loves and believes in all of us to the point that God was willing to sacrifice God's Son to help us know how much we are loved and believed in. Many of our problems as followers of Jesus are mostly due to the fact that we have not taken advantage of the opportunity to reflect on how much God loves, and believes in us.
When God came to us in God's perfect revelation in Jesus, God made all human flesh God's wonderful treasure, pride and joy. Even after all that humankind had done and continues to do to thwart God's extravagant love for all, God still comes to us in Jesus through Holy Spirit to help us know how much God desires for us to succeed in making God's unconditional and all inclusive love known. This particular Gospel makes very clear that Jesus wants us to be one, so that the world may believe in God and God's relationship to us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God gave this great message to those first Apostles that included many women with in the community, and most likely included LGBT people then as it does now, so that the world might know and hear the God is madly in love with every one of God's children. God showed this in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and when we received the Holy Spirit through the ministry of those first Apostles to this present day. God's message in Jesus, that continues in the Church today is one of radical hospitality and reconciliation. The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost and desires to come to us again and again, to help lead us to healing and reconciliation through inclusion and mercy in this broken world of violence and prejudice.
The failure of preaching Biblical literalism is the agenda of proclaiming a God who is exclusive of people based on a criteria that is not really based in Scripture, but a misunderstood reading of the Bible. Sadly, this poor use of Scripture, became a minimal part of the consecration and ordination of Bishop Mary Glasspool and Diane J. Bruce in Los Angeles yesterday. The situation was wonderfully handled by escorting those using the Bible inappropriately to protest and condemn Bishop Glasspool's consecration, out of the situation. They were escorted out shouting something like: "The Bible Says Homosexuality is An Abomination." What they fail to understand is that "abomination" is a ritual matter of the Old Testament Law, it was not directed at something innately immoral. Anything can become an "abomination" when it is raised above the worship of God, to the point where it is more important than God. Biblical literalism which is often used to justify violence of the most hideous kind, claiming it to be in the name of God and the scriptures is an abomination. especially when it is offered as part of a worship rally by someone like Lou Engl or many of the other capitalists who represent fundamentalism.
God did not wish for the Church to be like this. Jesus prayed the prayer calling for us to be one, so that the world might believe in the message that was preached by the Apostles. Jesus prayer for the Church to be one is a prayer that has yet to be fully answered. Those who serve the Church in Christ's name are individuals who have human short comings. Every Church leader confronts their humanity in one way or at one time or another. The important thing is to recognize that even with all of our limitations as human beings, God still desires and wants us to know that we are loved and believed in as being able to part of God's answer to the prayer of Jesus. God believes so much in the possibility of us helping to answer that prayer, that God came to us in Jesus and showed us how to love those that are often unlovable. In Jesus, God showed us how to welcome the stranger, receive those who feel that they are excluded from being part of God's Church. In Jesus, God showed us that being an inclusive people is possible and very probable when we follow Jesus and trust in the Holy Spirit to lead us with her gentle grace and holy love.
How are we helping to answer the prayer of Jesus?
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son, Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, Book of Common Prayer, Page 226)
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