Prayer: 100 Foot Clearance

John 17: 6-19 I John 5:9-13
May 24, 2009

Let’s set the scene.
First of all we have the way that the authors of the Gospel and the Letters of John, and their community sees the world. Throughout the Gospel and the Letters we read of a cosmic drama that is played out in terms of pairs of opposites: light/darkness, spirit/flesh, above/below, of this world/not of this world.

Understanding itself as set squarely against a hostile environment, the Johannine community, believed that those within its circle lived in a realm or sphere of spiritual influence fundamentally opposed to that which lay at the heart of the world outside. In that broken world, Evil ruled; in their world, God ruled—and there was no middle ground or grey area.

Characters in the Gospel of John continually misunderstand Jesus, because he always speaks on the basis of the realm above, from which he comes, whereas they always think on the basis of the realm below.

With that as the author’s background we continue to set the scene of this morning’s scripture reading, the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. These words are part of a prayer that Jesus offers after his last meal with his followers and just hours before his arrest and crucifixion.

The chapters 15-17 in the Gospel of John are called the Farewell Discourses which are set in the moment where Jesus and his disciples are together for the last time. This is the moment when Jesus is able to give his last instructions to his disciples, his final lecture to his students.

In a way, these words are Jesus' last will and testament.

After he concludes the instructions in chapter 16, he ends the meal with a prayer; a prayer for his disciples. Knowing that he is about to be crucified and that his vision, his knowledge, his connection with God will now have to be carried by his disciples, he prays for them.

It is not like the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane where he understandably prays for himself. In the Gospel of John he prays to God for his disciples and blesses them so that they may carry in the work that he has begun.

And though these words are in the form of a prayer of intercession, because they are requests from Jesus on behalf of his disciples, they have the weight & substance of Jesus' declaring the estate & his blessing that his followers will inherit after his death.

What Jesus wills to his disciples is:
· that Jesus is honored, glorified, in them (verse 10)
· that they are protected so that that may be one as God and Jesus are one (verse 11)
· that they are guarded even when they are lost (verse 12)
· that the joy of Jesus is made complete in them (verse 13)
· that they receive the mandate, the mission, the same purpose that Jesus had - they are sent into the world, created holy and complete, but broken with misuse and neglect, because God so loves the world that God created

Jesus prays for his disciples so that they may become
“Christ's body doing Christ's work with Christ's heart.” (David Ewart)
Jesus prays for his disciples so that they may know that
“Loving God leads to loving who God loves the way God loves.” (David Ewart)
Jesus prays for his disciples so that they may know that
“God has all the power that love has.” (David Ewart)

I wonder,
are we the descendants of those disciples.
Are we a part of that inheritance?

Do we want to be a part of that inheritance?

We may not want to rejoice too quickly and easily hearing that we are the benefactors of such an inheritance. Recall that in a few short hours, after sharing the meal with this disciples and offering this prayer on their behalf, Jesus' dedication to truth will end with him before Pilate, and then on a cross.

Whenever we are offered a blessing in the Bible, we might be tempted to run and hide - because a blessing never comes without a God-sized mission. And God-sized missions never come without a cost.
We do well to remember and confess that though we are called to be a holy people, a beloved community, sent to heal a broken world, we are ourselves, broken, prone to self-centeredness, fear and hopelessness.

On a week-end such as this, Memorial Day week-end, when we remember sacrifice in time of war, and the nobility of the cause of WW II in bringing and end to the Nazi regime, that war is always a sign of our brokenness. Because from a wider viewpoint of history we take a closer look at the way that WWI ended and see how it laid the seeds for the desperate situation in Germany that could support the rise of a person such as Hitler.

And even though we claimed victory in WW II we now also see the seeds for war were sown in the Middle East and eastern Europe when the treaties were signed. Even as we acknowledge and remember the sacrifice and of soldiers and civilians who endured the horror of WW II we confess that in many ways we are still fighting WWI and WW II.

We are still fighting.
We are still using war to end solve economic and social problems. We are still living in fear of the other, instead of trying to understand the economic and cultural causes of suffering. We are still relying on quick displays of force instead of finding sustainable ways of making peace even in the face of tyrants.

At the time of WW II it was right to pray for the destruction and replacement of the Nazi regime. But when will pray for the end of the cycle of violence and live our lives in such a way that shows we accept that inheritance offered by Jesus to his disciples?

“We live in a time in which many of our efforts to build a truly just, peaceful, and sustainable social order have seemed to fall flat and in which progressives often feel alienated because of the strength of regressive forces and discouraged because of the compromises made by progressives who do achieve power.

It is important, of course, to think horizontally—that is, to maintain historical hope which is at the very core of all that is good in the Bible.
But it is equally important to think vertically—and to remember that the good we can experience and do even in a broken world is of lasting value. [It is important to see] God as working in all things, luring the world toward the good.

It is important to see that it is possible for God to work within our perfectly imperfect lives, just as God did in the perfectly imperfect lives of the disciples.

Will we ever achieve just distribution of wealth and lasting peace in this world? Will we be able to save the earth from our own destructive lifestyles? No one knows. But to believe in God is to believe not only that God is working toward that end, and engaging us in the task, but also that every act of human kindness and every effort toward justice is retained forever in the heart of God. Whether performed in a whole or a broken world, our actions count.” (Russell Pregeant)

In today’s broken world there is so much information that wants us to convince of one thing: be afraid.

In today’s holy world there is another message: be alive.

When Jesus prayed for his disciples he knew God, and he knew that God created the world good, blessed, whole and holy.
When Jesus prayed for his disciples he knew God, and he knew what is possible when a human being centers his or her life in self-giving love for God and all that God loves in the way that God loves.
When Jesus prayed for his disciples he knew God, and he knew we need protection from the storms that threaten our homes, our communities, our world.
Jesus knew God completely and he prayed for us.


A life of prayer,

that is both communal and personal,
that is spoken both in words and in actions,
that is silent and patiently waits for the heart to open and the courage to act upon God’s guidance
that sees how God's work done God's way blesses us and all God’s creation

is the 100 foot clearance around our homes that will protect us from the storms within and the storms without that would separate us from our holy inheritance.

May this church be a place where every act of human kindness and every effort toward justice is a blessing for our community.

The community that we touch when we support the Heifer Project, and Habitat for Humanity
or teach our children and youth,
or contribute our time, talent and treasure to the ministries of this church and the United Church of Christ,
or dedicate ourselves to welcoming everyone no matter who they are or where they are on life’s journey into this community.

In all that we do may we remember that Jesus prayed for us and sent us into this world just as it is so that we might be echoes of God’s love for all creation.

Veni Sancte Spiritus. Come Holy Spirit Come.
It’s me, it’s you, it’s us, standing in the need of prayer.
Let’s stand and sing our hearts open.


Thanks to Russell Pregeant and David Ewart for many of the wonderful ideas in this sermon. I am just a tailor.

Russell Pregeant is Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Chaplain, Emeritus, at Curry College in Milton, MA, and Visiting Professor in New Testament at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, MA.
www.processandfaith.org/lectionary/YearB/2008-2009/2009-05-24.shtml


David Ewart, is a United Church minister in Canada
www.davidewart.ca
www.holytextures.com