May 16, 2021 – 7th Sunday of Easter

Today in the book of Acts, we experience a common event in the life of the church. We see a vacancy. And we move to plug that gap. Rarely do we stop to consider whether the gap really needs to be filled. Today, some are rejected and some are accepted. And the wheels keep turning on the bus of the church. Just like the early church, the folks whom we consider suitable for filling the vacant slots are those who have been around for a while, those who have an idea of just how things work, those who are familiar with the traditions we have and will “just fit in”. We don’t want anyone who might not know the ropes. Just solid, dependable gap-fillers.

What might happen if we stopped to reconsider? What if “business as usual” wasn’t business as usual anymore?

No matter how much we try to keep our traditions, no matter how much we try to plug the gaps, God is already out there working in our community. And we have to play catch up. We have to find out what God is doing and we have to go join in. And all of our worldly structures won’t change just how God is accomplishing God’s work in the world. All the formality and selection will not get to the business of sharing the love and the grace of God in the communities we are called to serve. 

But how do we get out into the world to do that? In our gospel reading today, Jesus prays for us. And he allows us to listen in to that prayer. Jesus said, “I have given [your children] your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world … protect them from the evil one. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is the truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (Jn 17:14, 15-18) 

This moving passage — often called “the high priestly prayer” — comes as Jesus attempts to prepare his disciples for what is to come through his death, resurrection and ascension. It is hard for us to conceive of how difficult a task this must have been, since we live in the light of the resurrection. Having Jesus with them, unaware and unprepared for what was to come, it was a huge ask that the disciples might begin to grasp what Jesus was telling them. The prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father, not for the world but for those whom God had given him, is a beautiful, heartfelt expression of love for those with whom he had journeyed and now wanted to protect from harm and prepare for what was to come.

Christ is offering to us an alternative model of our world that can empower the community of disciples to live in the world without succumbing to its values and pressures. We are to stay in the world under the protective care of God. We are to live amidst all the complexities of the world without getting entangled. The holiness we might hope to achieve by escaping from the world is to be found not through disengagement but through the action of God and immersion in God’s word. 

The Church of Scotland has a poetic reflection on this scriptural passage, which I’d like to share with you:

He left them to it
and went back to the Father 

Gave them the great commission
and then took off
as only Jesus could 

Took off
in a cloud of glory
leaving the disciples
wallowing in a cloud of confusion 

And today
millennia on
it seems we’re still
surrounded by clouds
covered in confusion
not sure of what’s next 

And so, once more
Christ commissions us 

Go
into all the world
make disciples
baptize
Father, Son and Holy Spirit 

No contingency
you
and I
are it. 

Go
and make disciples.
We’ve been tagged.

May we know today that Jesus continues to pray for us. And may we pray for one another. 

Friends, Christ sends us INTO the world, not OUT of the world. We are to engage with one another. Through all of the world’s distorted powers and pressures. We are to invite one another into the community of God, with all the protection that God promises to us. All of this is ours… if we love God. If we but love one another as God loves us. Unconditionally. Without exception. 

In our world today, people are not being loved. Racism remains. Homophobia persists. Human beings are not being treated as equals. Humans are not being loved as Jesus loves us. Thomas Merton once said, “Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.” We must stand alongside all of these people and speak out. This is the faith we are all called to. The question today is whether you will you stand with me today and going forward or will you just look on. Every day, every interaction is a choice. Which will you choose?