The Rev. Robert Lundquist Easter VIIA 5/8/05 St Paul’s, Ft Collins

A 19^th century English preacher told the story of a young girl who was asked to recite a poem at her school festival. She practiced and practiced with her father’s help, and seemed to be all set for her presentation. But on the day of the recitation, she stepped onto the stage and looked around nervously. When she began her recitation her voice quivered, and she began sobbing. Her father stepped forward from the audience, took her in his arms and asked her why she was troubled. “Because I could not see you, father. Let me stand where I can look right into your face, and I shall not be afraid.”

In Jesus we look into the face of God.

Today we observe the Sunday after the Ascension, sometimes called Expectation Sunday. Ascension Day, one of the seven Principal Feasts of the Church, was last Thursday, 40 days after Easter. Our lesson from Acts today described the Ascension, the Risen Jesus’ departure from his disciples. They stand looking into heaven, wondering what to do next. In the vernacular of today, one might say, “Jesus has left the building.” The ten days between our liturgical observance of the Ascension and the celebration of Pentecost next Sunday is what I call “The Time of the Unfunded Mandate.” For Jesus has given his followers a job to do (“Make disciples, baptize and teach”), but has not yet empowered them with the Holy Spirit to carry out their mission. Have you ever felt like you were in that “in-between” time? In fact, this is in many ways the situation in which St Paul’s finds itself today.

I can’t help but think that the apostles would be reflecting in their in-between time on the words and teachings of Jesus, perhaps upon the very Gospel passage we read this morning. This portion of John is a part of what is known as the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus’ petition given at the end of the Last Supper. Jesus addresses his prayer to “Abba,” the same as the Lord’s Prayer. It is a familiar and intimate form of address – in essence, “Daddy.” There are three things to note in this reading:

1. In this passage we get a glimpse of Jesus’ internal prayer life! We sense that his Way, his Truth and his Life flow from his relationship with God. For us that means that it is through Jesus, and his oneness with God, that we find our Way, Truth and Life. For it is through Jesus – God’s Word, God’s Logos – that the Word speaks in you and me. And when we abide in God’s Logos, God is heard when we speak. How awesome is that?

Jesus gives his word, is very self, to the community. This is so that when we act, Jesus is seen. God’s Word is made real to the world when we Christians speak and act. This is what Baptism is all about! As one of my seminary professors was fond of saying, “The question is not whether or not you are a minister – you were baptized into ministry. The question is, what kind of minister are you?” Jesus is our door, our path, our 2-way street. When we act, when we speak, God is seen and heard. This is why Jesus prays for his disciples and, by extension, for us. It’s a tough job with which we’ve been entrusted!

2. Choosing and being chosen – Jesus prays, “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.” So we wonder, who is given to Christ? And by whom? Remember the national bumper sticker campaign from the ‘70’s? Bright yellow banners proclaiming, “I Found It!” “It” was Jesus. And I remember thinking, even then, “How arrogant!” What is it that leads us to take credit for our relationship with Christ? When we reflect upon our partners and friends, it makes sense to ask, “Who is really choosing whom?” We assume that of our own volition we have chosen the things of our lives. But what is really happening? Jesus tells us that it is God who chooses and gives. This is not a predetermination or a predestination, it is about God choosing and giving – and waiting for our reply. “I have made your name (Abba, I AM) known… They were yours, and you gave them to me…” You are chosen, I am chosen – so how do we go about keeping God’s Word?

3. “Protect them in your name… so that they may be one, as we are one.” That’s pretty outrageous, to think that we may be as close with each other as Jesus is with God! As inheritors and descendents, that’s a pretty tall order for us. There are so many things that disrupt and corrupt our closeness: gossip, rumors, lack of candor and honesty with one another, withholding ourselves from each other, mistrust… “…that they may be one, as we are one,” prayed Jesus. That evokes all the gifts of love – intimacy, mutual support, selflessness, trust --

In pain and in joy;

In the difficult work of being witnesses to the world,

In the difficult work of setting the table for the heavenly banquet here on earth,

In the difficult work of healing a broken world.

Because it begins with you and with me. That we may be one, as Jesus and God are one. Jesus’ prayer is for us.

Sometimes I think that grown-ups have a fetish for analyzing and dissecting and intellectualizing the Good News. Often the antidote is to listen to a child –

Preschooler: “Daddy, how do you like Jesus?”

Just fine.

“No, do you like him dead or alive?”

[Thinking of the parables, the miracles, the teachings and the healings] Why, alive, of course… How do you like him?

“I like him dead.”

[Gasp!] Why is that?

“Because he died for me.

How simple it is, the realization of God’s love in Christ Jesus. How easy it is to miss.

In Jesus we look into the face of God.

Amen.

A Parish For All People!