Seventh Sunday of Easter John 17: 20-26 May 16, 2010
On this final Sunday of the Easter Season, our gospel reading comes from the lengthy prayer that Jesus offers at the Last Supper in the Gospel according to John. Today's passage appears at the end of that prayer where Jesus prays that we all might be one.
Immediately after these words, Jesus and his disciples leave the upper room and cross the Kidron Valley in the darkness of night, and come to the garden where Jesus will be taken captive and brought to the religious officials for a kangaroo court and his eventual crucifixion.
This final prayer is important and it is very telling in that it gives us a glimpse into what was of utmost importance to Jesus at that time, that we might have a spirit of oneness and unity—oneness with God and a oneness with other brothers and sisters in Christ.
On any given Sunday, people of faith gather for worship and as a part of their time together, they stand side by side and profess the words found in the Apostles' Creed, and together they profess a belief in the "one holy, catholic church." That's catholic with a small "c," which means universal. We are saying we believe that all Christians everywhere are all part of the same body, the same faith.
We say that we're one. But unfortunately we tend to focus more on how we're different from each other - how Lutherans are different from the Methodists, or the Baptists, or the Evangelical Free , or the Roman Catholics, or the Missionary Alliance and on and on.
Not only do we have divisions between the different churches, but also we have divisions inside our churches. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between one of our ELCA Church Wide Assemblies and a political convention, because at both you find groups going around lobbying for their positions on any number of social statements and a whole host of other issues.
By the time the closing benediction and commission to "Go in peace. Serve the Lord" is proclaimed, the main result of the meeting is usually that a whole lot more tension and division has been created.
In today's text Jesus is calling us to be one. Now it is important to understand that UNITY does not mean UNIFORMALITY. Unity means we can work together despite our differences. Unity means we even celebrate our differences because we are richer for them.
At the risk of wading into unfamiliar waters, allow me to draw analogy.
Music would not be music without diversity. If everyone sang the same note it would be really boring. You have to have more than one note to create harmony. Now, a multitude of notes can also create dissonance and disharmony. If everyone is going off in his or her own direction with no common purpose that is not music--that is chaos. The difference between the awful blats and bleeps that emerge when the orchestra or band is warming up and the beautiful music they produce during the concert is that they are playing together rather than independently. They are all on the same page, playing the same song, with the purpose of making beautiful music. That music becomes rich and beautiful because different instruments with different sounds and playing different notes are working together. Celebrating those differences, blending those different sounds is what makes music.
And there are many different kinds of music. On any given Sunday in churches within our community, across the nation and around the world, you will find voice choirs and bell choirs and a worship bands. You will find churches using organ and piano and a variety of other instruments. Interestingly enough some of the biggest fights in churches over the past 20 years have been worship wars. Some people insist that you can only worship God with organ and classical music. Others say it has to be guitars and synthesizers and more of a rock sound. And neither side is very accepting of the other. When it becomes a worship war people on each side of the fence seem to say, "You do things your way and I'll do things God's way!"
Another analogy might be found in the quilts we will bless next week. Each quilt is made up of individual scraps of fabric, some are bright and bold, some are patterned and some are, well, simply odd. But with a good eye, a quilter can pull it all together and create a wonderfully colored quilt that will be both pleasing to the eye and comforting to the recipient. Many scraps make for one wonderful quilt.
Just as God is the creator of music and appreciates all of the different instruments and sounds, so God is the creator of all people. People are different. God chose to give us different personalities, backgrounds, races and preferences. Therefore, we should value those and rejoice in those differences. We each bring different gifts to the church and the church is richer for it. We are each unique and as the French would say, "Vive La Difference" - Long live the difference!"
Sometimes people make the mistake of assuming that everyone in their church is basically the same as they are. It becomes very upsetting to them to discover that some people hold exact opposite views from them on some issue that is important to them. But, there are people with all kinds of different views and perspectives in these pews this morning.
There are people who live for the Vikings, others who love the Packers, and still others who hate football and think it is silly!
There are people who have been planning and preparing for this weekend's opening fishing (and because of that, many of them are not here this morning) and then there are those who see all that time wasted sitting in a boat on a lake as a waste of time when you can go to Morey's in Nisswa and buy your catch for half the price per pound!
There are Republicans, Democrats and Independents here.
There are people who are Pro-life and there are people who are Pro-Choice.
There are people who are thankful for the recent ELCA Church Wide vote on matters of Sexuality, and there are those who are adamantly opposed to the vote, even at the risk of walking away.
There are people who support the war in Iraq and there are people who support our military personnel there, but are adamantly opposed to the war.
And, to be honest, I think that is OK. Unity does not mean uniformity. What Jesus is praying for in this prayer is not "Sameness", but "Oneness".
St. Paul calls for the same thing in Ephesians chapter 4 where he says, "I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling t which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."
We don't have to all be the same to be united in loving and serving God. Even though we are different people with different perspectives we can still work together and be the church, the body of Christ. We can walk arm in arm without seeing eye to eye. We can disagree without being disagreeable. And hopefully, we can be both faithful disciples and stewards and support the mission and ministry of this congregation without throwing out the baby with the bath water.
An early church leader called the church to behave as follows: "In essentials, unity. In nonessentials, diversity. In all things, charity."
There are certain things that are essential.
It is essential to believe that Jesus is Lord.
It is essential to answer the Great Commission, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19)
It is essential to follow the Great Commandment, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:37)
Nonessentials, such as your political party or your perspective on social justice issues should never divide us. Having differing perspectives on those issues can make the church stronger, because it challenges us to think through our position.
It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. The same diamond looks different from different angles. Christians often have legitimate, honest disagreements and differing opinions. But that does not mean we need to be divided. We can still care about one another and love one another and treat each other with charity.
That charity part is absolutely essential. It is the glue that holds people with different perspectives together in the church. It is the Cream of Mushroom soup that holds a Lutheran hotdish together.
While Jesus knows that we are different people with different views he prays that we may be one, that we may be united. It is our love for one another, even when we have different perspectives on things that bears witness to the love of God. What God wants is for us to have the same goal, the same purpose.
God wants the rest of the world to be able to look at the church and to see what God is all about.
The point here in John's Gospel is not that we should get along with each other because it's nice to be nice to people. No, we're told that we need to get along, to have unity with each other, because God's name, God's reputation is at stake.
Because with our words, we can tell people all we want about what God is like.
But the people of the world are going to end up making their judgments based on what they see and what they hear when we are outside these church walls.
One day a minister went to visit a family that had just moved into the neighborhood. As he rang the doorbell, a dog jumped up on the porch and nearly knocked him over. When the woman came to the door, the dog nearly knocked both of them down as he raced into living room. The woman invited the minister to sit, but it was hard for them to have a conversation, because the dog kept jumping on everyone, licking them, barking, and wanting to play. The minister finally became exasperated because no one in the family made any attempt to control the dog. As he walked out onto the porch to leave, he said, "I don't mean to be rude, but how in the world do you stand it with your dog jumping on everyone and licking them and barking so much?" The woman was dumbfounded. She said, "Our dog? We thought it was your dog."
We make assumptions about what we see. That minister saw a dog on that family's front porch and assumed that it belonged to them. That woman saw the minister enter the house with a dog and assumed that it belonged to him. Based on what we see, we form thoughts and opinions all the time.
It's the same way with the church. As people look at us, at what we do and say, what we say at the HiWay Café or what we post on Facebook or how we behave on the softball field—people are going to form opinions. But they are opinions not just about us, but about God, because as the church we are supposed to be in the business of showing the rest of the world what God is like.
Just as it was Jesus' prayer, so it is my prayer that we may be one that we may be in harmony and common mission.
The musicians and choir members who enrich and enhance and lead our weekly worship on Sunday mornings can teach us what that means. They are each different and unique people, and they play different instruments and sing different notes, but when they do it together, when they are on the same page, playing the same song, they make beautiful music.
Yes, there are differences, but we should celebrate those differences. We should celebrate the different songs and sounds we can make. We should rejoice in the fact that God created us to be unique individuals, but that he seeks to unite us in a harmonious symphony of love to the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbor in need. May the music of our love and service for one another make others want to join us in offering God our songs of praise. Amen.
Pastor Stephen Blenkush
Zion Lutheran
Milaca, MN
www.ZionMilaca.org(Sermon Archive)
