Scriptural Basis
John 17:1-11 (NRSV)
Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. "
Blog Reflection
All of us knows the experience of talking with a loved one just before she/he dies. My last conversation with my grandmother before she died was one of the best times I had with her. There are stories of the last words shared between the partners in a gay relationship, before one of them dies of AIDS. Elton John's historic hit "The Last Song" features a video of a father and son as the son lies dying in the hospital from AIDS. The father is probably learning for the first time about being gay. The most important thing the father wants to communicate to his son is how much he loves his son. To relieve his son's sense of loneliness and rejection so that he may die with some sense of dignity and knowing how loved he was.
Today's Gospel is part of a last conversation the disciples would have witnessed. Jesus is praying to God about the future of the ministry of Jesus' followers. As part of his prayer Jesus proclaims his oneness with God and the glory of that relationship. This prayer is being said in the company of the disciples the night before Jesus' crucifixion. As part of that prayer, Jesus prays for those whom God has given to be in relationship with him and that there would be a oneness among those who believe in Jesus and pray to God in his Name.
We are between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost. We recall the story of how the risen Christ had left the physical sight of those who loved him during his earthly ministry. The disciples are experiencing a sense of sadness and fear about the future. It is that same fear many of us experience after someone has died and we pick up the pieces of our lives and try to move on. There is a remaining sense of grief and uncertainty with what comes next.
The words Jesus prays in this Gospel is a prayer that no matter what happens, that his followers would be one in purpose, faith and mission. Or at least, that is what many have interpreted that to mean. How it has been applied throughout the centuries of Christian history and tradition leaves a lot to be desired. The prayer that Jesus' followers would be one was not a statement that the Church would become one gigantic, conservative, political super power. Yet, that is one of the many implications of Roman Catholicism and other Christian denominations, including the Anglican Communion. That oneness somehow suggests Christianity to be a religion of supercessionism so that all other religions, sexual orientations, races, genders, gender identities/expressions, languages, codes of behavior/thinking and communicating must all be determined by the Christian Church.
In his book: Gay Unions in Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason, Rev. Gray Temple wrote these words:
I can't end (* that is the chapter on Scripture), without lodging a final plea in connection with the Bible. If we love the Bible and read it faithfully and respectfully, we should consider taking an interest in the matters that interested the biblical writers. For many centuries the church and the world have asked of the Bible questions in which it takes little apparent interest. There are many lesser examples that any of us could readily supply. Most of us would think of the attempt by Fundamentalists to extract cosmological and geological data from Genesis as comically futile--if it did not infiltrate our school curricula.
But that's minor compared to the really big wrong turn the church took with the Bible in the period beginning with Constantine and peaking in the Reformation. The church turned away from the topics the Bible treats so passionately in order to press the Bible into service answering a question nobody in the Bible apparently ever thought of. That new, nonbiblical question is, "How shall a soul hopelessly mired in sin dare to stand before a righteously angry God?" And the standard reply, strung together from verses originally devoted to other subjects, has been, "Christ shed his blood for me." Interest in that question has diverted our attention from two related topics about which the Old and New Testaments are centrally concerned. The first and deepest is is nothing less that the utter transformation of persons, communities, and whole societies here and now. And the related interest, reaching its peak expression in the career and teaching of our Lord and the writings of St. Paul is the categorical rejection of dominance, endured or exercised in any human transaction whatever.
What the Bible covets for each and all of us is the breath-taking inrush of God's very presence when we find ourselves in a new unity with persons we had previously feared, resented, or despised. But when the Holy Spirit empowers us to embrace our Lord's counsel about not pushing others around, we find ourselves with tear-filled eyes surveying a roomful of people we realize we want to live to serve and whom we'd gladly die to preserve. That was the exhilaration of the Selma Bridge for all its danger and the Lincoln Memorial for all its crowding as Dr. King spoke of his dream. Even Gandhi the pacifist recognized that as the enviable grace available to soldiers in arms. It is the impact Jesus had on thousands on grassy hillsides. It is the quality of community life that Paul talks about so much more than he mentioned justification by grace through faith. (Pages 96-97).
What Canon Temple writes is about how Christians have sold the soul of the Church by being concerned about doctrine and using fear and intimidation to build not the Body of Christ, but a socialistic, political super power. Christianity is not a religion of dictatorship or of doctrinal certainty. It is a oneness in the life of Jesus who loved the homeless, the outcast, those who are sick, lonely and without someone to love them. The oneness that Jesus prays for is a oneness that will look past theological and dogmatic differences and see the people in the here and now who need God's message of love, forgiveness, inclusion and justice for all people. A oneness that is not based on racism, sexism, heterosexism, or cultural, religious and politically based bigotry. A oneness where corporate greed for the purpose of dominating the middle class and poor into non-existence is universally condemned, because the lives of individual people are more important that billions of dollars in profits. A oneness that is prepared to reach out to LGBT individuals to achieve equality in marriage, employment, personal and public safety, and some kind of stability of life.
As we prepare to celebrate our Mother the Holy Spirit's empowerment of the Church next Sunday at Pentecost, perhaps we can spend some time in prayer and discernment about what role she might be calling Christians to play in the missionary work of justice in our world. It would be so stunning if Christians would begin taking an interest in tearing down the walls that have been built up by centuries of prejudice, violence and document writing all for the purpose of seeing who the Church should exclude from the Body of Christ. Christians could spark a fire of compassion and transformation if we would cooperate with the Holy Spirit, by allowing her grace and beauty to help us learn to work in community with other religions, cultures, sexual and gender diversity to heal the world. The tongues of the fire of the Spirit are looking to ignite with in us a concern for those marginalized by the Church and society so that all are valued and respected.
That I do believe is the oneness that Jesus prayed then and prays even now for all of us to share with the world around us.
Prayers
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).
Look with pity, O God, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, page 826).
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, page 818).
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