Sunday
05/08/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “I pray they will be one”
New Testament
Scripture: Psalm 97
New Testament
Scripture: Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
Gospel Lesson:
John 17:20-26
My friends, my sisters and brothers, welcome on this the Seventh
Sunday of Easter, this Mother’s Day, and this Ascension Sunday. In this season
of Easter, this season of resurrection, we proclaim, He is risen! He is risen
indeed! This season of Easter however, will end with Pentecost Sunday, which is
next Sunday May 15th. I would encourage you all to wear red next
Sunday, to celebrate the fire filled power of the Holy Spirit that showed up on
the day of Pentecost so long ago.
Today, is also the day that we get to formally honor our
mothers, and all mothers. While everyday could be argued as being Mother’s Day,
today we honor and appreciate all woman who take on any mothering role. As a
church, we thank for your love, your wiliness to be a mother, and as a result,
much of this service this morning is dedicated to mothers, both past and
present.
This Sunday is also Ascension Sunday. While the actual
Ascension Day of Jesus Christ was celebrated a few days ago on Thursday, we
celebrate this Sunday, the Ascension of Lord Jesus into heaven. In the Book of
Acts 1:6-11 it says:
“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is
this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods
that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth.” When he
had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him
out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing
up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up
toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will
come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:6-11, NRSV).
While Jesus ascended or went to heaven, we believe as
Christians, that Jesus Christ will return one day to usher in the fullness of
the Kingdom of God here on earth. In this scripture from the Book of Acts,
Jesus Christ promised the disciples that the Holy Spirit, or the third person
of God, would show up in a powerful and a new way. This event will occur next
Sunday, on the holiday of Pentecost.
This morning on this Seventh Sunday of Easter, this
Ascension Sunday, and this Mother’s Day, I want to talk about unity. In the
gospel of John reading for this morning, Jesus tells his disciples that he
prays “they will be one” (Jn. 17:21a, CEB). This country, this world, and the
Christian Church has always been filled with people who have differences. We
have Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, Yankees Fans, and Met
Fans. We have people that have this position on this, and this position on
that, yet Jesus Christ calls us to unity.
I
remember talking to an older gentleman once, who was a staunch Republican. When
he went to vote, it didn’t matter who was running he told me, he would check R,
R, and R, and pull the lever. Yet this man told me that he had close and
personal friends that were Democrats.
My
point here is that we as people will never agree on everything, but we need to
make sure that we love and value all people, without exceptions. We need to
make sure that we create room in our churches for all people. Do we have to
agree with everything that everyone is saying, no, but this morning Jesus
Christ says, “I pray they will be one” (Jn. 17:21a, CEB). This morning, Jesus
Christ was telling the disciples and the early church that he wanted them to be
unified in him.
As
I said, we have people in this church with differences, but all love each other,
don’t we? We have people in this church that have grown up in different
Christian denominations, but we still love each other don’t we? We are united
in Jesus Christ, who calls us this morning to “be one” (Jn. 17:21a, CEB).
You
see my brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ was and is a unifier. Jesus took
fisherman, a tax collector, a converted religious leader or two, and etc., and
put all of these people together. While they were all different, Jesus unified
them all, and called them to stay unified. In order to be unified, Jesus calls
us to love and care for each other. We can have our differences, but we are
called to love and care for each other. We cannot be hurtful, harmful, instead
we must be loving, compassionate, and caring.
In
the way that Jesus challenges the disciples and us to be unified this morning,
I bet that many of us can say that our mothers were or are still unifiers. How
many of us can remember going to big family functions, even though some of the
family that came we didn’t or don’t like, or didn’t get along with? How many of
you came because your mother or grandmother invited you? At these family
functions you likely sat around the table with some people with different
political views, different social views, and or ideas. Yet to many mothers and
grandmothers, they didn’t see us as Republicans, or Democrats, or this, or
that, they saw us as God’s children. I believe that this morning that Jesus
Christ looked at his disciples and the early church, even though they were a
ragtag group of people, as God’s children.
When
we begin to look past what people are labeled as, or what political party they
are in, we can begin to see them as flesh and blood people just like us. I
believe that Jesus intentionally chose a diverse group of disciples, so that
through them, they would “be one” (Jn. 17:21a, CEB). I also think that within
our families, within our churches, this country, and this world, we will always
have differences. Yet we can be united in Jesus Christ.
This
unity, this idea that Jesus said, “I pray they will be one,” was modeled for me
by mother, as she has always brought the family together (Jn. 17:21a, CEB). A
family that was diverse, and had many kinds of people, yet at mom’s table we
all said grace together, as we all bowed to one Lord and savior. Jesus Christ
is what unifies us, and I think that for many of us we can say that our
mothers, our grandmother’s modeled this so well.
Now
to be fair, we also have great men and fathers who have and continue to do all
of these things. My Grandpa Winkelman was a great unifier in our family, as we
brought us together. I also remember one time when my Grandpa Winkelman and
Grandma Winkelman had a cat that had a litter of kittens. In being very young,
about 7-8 years old, I asked my grandpa why these little 1-2 week old kittens still
had their eyes closed. Well, my Grandpa Winkelman said in response, “Well Paul,
all cats are born Democrats, but then they open their eyes”. Since I was like
seven or eight years old at the time, as I said, I didn’t get the joke until
later. My mother, has also been a lifelong Democrat, and she did find the humor
of this joke. So many men, fathers, and grandfathers have also modeled unity well,
but today we celebrate mothers, and those who take on a mothering role.
I
know that for my grandmothers and my mother, nothing brought them more joy to
see their children and family coming together in love, getting along, and
laughing. Jesus calls us to unity as well. We are free to hold our differences,
but while loving and respecting all people, Jesus calls us to be unified in
him.
In
our reading from Psalm 97 this morning, the Psalmist writes that God rules all,
and that we should rejoice in God (Ps. 97, CEB). The idea that we should be
united in God’s love.
In
our reading from the Book or Revelation from this morning, we have few sections
of scripture from last chapter of the book. In these sections, they discuss the
return of Jesus Christ to earth, how the people that love him with be rewarded,
and how we will be unified in him (Rev. 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21, CEB).
Unity,
unity, unity. Can we have unity as people, as town or city, as a county, as a
state, as a country, and as a world, if have differences? Jesus Christ believed
that it was possible through him and in him to have unity. Not to agree on
everything, but to agree on our love and service to and for Jesus Christ.
In
looking more closely at our gospel reading from the gospel of John from this
morning, Jesus talks about praying for his disciples and all who believe in
him. Jesus says, “I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe
in me because of their word. I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are
in me and I am in you” (Jn. 17:21-21a, CEB). Jesus Christ says, the ways that I
am in the Father, and the Father is in me, that is how close I want you to be
to me. Jesus then says, “I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world
will believe that you sent me. I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so
that they can be one just as we are one” (Jn. 17:21b-22, CEB). Jesus is saying
that we wants the disciples and all people to believe in him and be unified
this, so that the world will see this.
Jesus
continues on saying, “I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made
perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have
loved them just as you loved them” (Jn. 17:23, CEB). Jesus says that when we
are in him, we are united, and when we love each other, people see him working
in and through us.
Jesus
then says, “Father, I want those you gave me to be with me where I am. Then
they can see my glory, which you gave me because you love me before the
creation of the world” (Jn. 17:24, CEB). So before time, before creation, was
God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Further, Jesus wanted his disciples and
us to be united so that the world might see who he is, and the power of his
gospel. To love our neighbor, and all people.
Jesus
then concludes this gospel reading with the prayer he began in the verse I just
read. In the last two verses, Jesus says, “Righteous Father, even the world
didn’t know you, but I’ve known you, and these believers know that you sent me.
I’ve made you name know to them and will continue to make it know that your
love for me will be in them, and I myself will be in them” (Jn. 17:25-26, CEB).
The
mission statement of the United Methodist Church, is “to make disciples of
Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”. When the church is united in
love, the way many of our mothers, or grandmothers, or mother figures have
loved us, our witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ is much more effective and
powerful. While we might disagree on certain things, let us be united in the
love of Jesus Christ that binds us together. In doing this, may all of the
people we meet, may all of the people who enter into this church, see the love
and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ through us. For when we are truly
rooted in the love, grace, mercy, and power of Jesus Christ, then we love
everybody, without distinction. On this Mother’s Day, let us remember and honor
our mothers, our grandmothers, and all mothers. Let us remember that Jesus
Christ was raised in part by his mother Mary, who nurtured and loved him. May we
take the unity that many of us got from the women in our lives, and may we be
united in the love of Jesus Christ. For when we come together, we are strong,
we can move mountains, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can change
the world! All praise be to God, his son Jesus Christ, through the power of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
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