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The Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 23, 2004
Acts 16:16-34, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, John 17:20-26
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev. W. Lee Shaw
For the last three weeks we have been hearing John's account of what was said during that last meal in the upper room. Matthew, Mark and Luke give us more details about what happened. John gives us his account, his remembrances, of what was said. What we have today is the last of what is called the “high priestly prayer.” Immediately after this reading John notes they depart across the Kidron Valley to a garden. Here is the last teaching of Jesus prior to his betrayal and arrest. I hear a poignancy in his voice as he prays with those closest to him.
I remember those times pastorally when I have been with a family to tell them of the death of a loved one. As I look at them I know that in just moments nothing will ever be the same again. Their world will shift, never to be righted in the same way. I wonder if Jesus may have felt the same as he prays for those around him. Soon, nothing will ever be the same again.
As I read and re-read this passage one thing came to me I had not noticed before. Jesus is praying for those gathered at the end of the meal but he is also praying for me. He is also praying for you. “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 be one.”
We are used to praying to God. We will do so in a few minutes in the Prayers of the People. I will later give voice for the community in the Eucharistic prayer. But here Jesus is praying for us. Praying that we will be one with each other and with him. Praying that we will not forget all that we have heard and learned. As we read those words, hear those words, that prayer is alive still. That we will be one.
To be one. So often we hear and use this phrase almost as in grief looking at the disunity within the Christian faith: East/West, Catholic/Protestant/Anglican, Anglican in all our diversity. There is little one-ness and at times that leads to a sense of guilt, frustration and disquiet. But I ask you to set all of that aside.
Listen to Jesus' prayer again, “I ask...also on behalf of those who will believe in me...that they may all be one.” We miss his plea if we look only to international or national unity. I hear his words directed to me in the here and now, to you in the here and now. How can we as this community be one in Christ? Where are the divisions, the hurts, the things that get in the way of our one-ness in God and in our community?
My friends, Jesus is praying for us: For our one-ness in him and in one another. This prayer is addressed to us, here, today. As we give voice to our Prayers of the People, as we give voice to our celebration of the Holy Eucharist, as we give voice to our shared fellowship in the parish hall, may we also give an open heart to those around us. May we also see in one another the face of Christ and hold that person in profound respect and care. Love.
A few weeks ago in the Wednesday service, I told about how I was encouraged to pray for someone that I was having difficulty with forgiving. My priest told me to hold my hands in front of me, picture the face of the person there, resting in my hands, then to pray for them, lifting them up to God. Not me, rather them. Then at the end to lift my hands and let them go. I have found that to be a helpful way for me to pray for another, to hold them and to lift them up to God.
And I know, sometimes we just don't know what on earth to say in a prayer. Sometimes we feel empty or totally overwhelmed. The Apostle Paul knew that when he wrote to the church in Rome. In the 8th chapter of Romans, one of the most sublime passage of scripture written, Paul notes that: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows that is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God,” (8:26-27).
In John we hear Jesus praying for us and Paul assures us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with “sighs too deep for words.” In our weakness and inability, the Holy Spirit is praying for us. We think too often that prayer is what we “do.” Prayer is also what God does for us. The Holy Spirit praying for our needs, our lives, our selves according to the will of God.
In my office I have a little green button that says, “God's love changed me.” I believe God’s love has changed me. God's love has changed me and is changing me yet. God's love has changed you and is changing you yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, interceding for you with sighs too deep for words.