Sermons of Rev. Timothy J. Kennedy

					One Does What One Can
Seventh Sunday of Easter
John 17:1-11

Sunday, June 05, 2011
				

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, {2} since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. {3} And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. {4} I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. {5} So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. {6} "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. {7} Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; {8} for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. {9} I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. {10} All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. {11} And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Jesus prayed, "Protect them ... that they may be one, as we are one."

Now that is the Lord's Prayer: "I ask ... that they may all be one ... as we are one..." We pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven ..." and call that the Lord's Prayer ... but really, it is a prayer for the followers of Jesus, taught by Jesus. But on this night of the Last Supper, Jesus prayed that his followers "may all be one, as we are one." And why is Jesus so concerned with the unity of his followers? "So that the world may believe that you have sent me."

In January three fellow pilgrims and I visited Mar Saba, an isolated monastery located in the wilderness of Judea, about ten miles east of Bethlehem. The monk who served as our guide to the monastery was very gracious, and as we were getting reading to leave, he urged us to stay for some coffee and bread. We stayed. When the snack was served I said to the other three, "Let's have a prayer." I said "Dear God...," and the monk interrupted, and he was not polite about it. "No, no you cannot pray here. You are not Orthodox."

Jesus knows that the world will not believe that God loved the world ... if God's followers act unlovely. Or as Nietzche once observed, "I cannot believe in your Redeemer, until his followers act more redeemed." The real Lord's Prayer? "I ask that they may be one, as we are one." Cynics among us might well respond, "That prayer doesn't have a prayer!"

I don't think Jesus means one church. The word "ecumenical" comes from a Greek word meaning: one house. There really has never been one church. One of the earliest names for Christianity was "The Way." But there was never one path along the Way. Never one church with one pastor, worshipping in one language: the One Lord. St. Paul, for one, was about the business of planting churches in the way that Johnny Appleseed was out making orchards. There was a congregation planted in Philippi, and seeds that were sown in Corinth, and just look at what's blossoming in Ephesus! Here a church, there a church - united in their love for the Lord ... but different in language and, if you will, personality. There never was one church, one house. But surely we who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and savior can learn to live under one roof!

A sparrow lay on its back in the center of the road with its tiny claws pointed upward. A mighty war horse stopped on the road and asked, "Why are you doing that? "Replied the sparrow, "This morning I heard that the sky was going to fall." Snorted the war horse, "And you think to prevent it with your tiny legs raised skyward?" Said the sparrow, "One does what one can."

You and I are not going to make a name for ourselves by uniting the Christians of this world in the name of Jesus. But, said the sparrow, one does what one can. Surely it cannot be more clear than this: if Christians who worship together, who pray together, who sing together, who learn together ... must learn to get along together. Not one house - but one roof, with Jesus as our foundation!

Today is a banner day at Grace - actually, a three banner day! Lyra McKay, Nova Lynne and Daniel are going to be baptized. And of course, they are not going to be baptized Lutheran? I always chuckle to myself when people say, "I was born a Roman Catholic," or, "I was born a Lutheran" - as if the delivering doctor could turn us over and see at the nape pf pur neck some sort of denominational label. In reality, we are not born anything ... at least not in terms of our faith.

In the same way, we are not baptized into a denominational tradition; we are baptized into the Christian faith. As the author of the letter to Ephesians puts it, there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." And this morning our one Lord claims through baptism, three beautiful youngsters: Lyra, Nova, and Dan.

I want to conclude with a portion of the liturgy we use to install members who serve this congregation in leadership positions. "You are to be examples of faith active in love, to help maintain the life and harmony of this congregation. This applies to us all, of course, but the greater the visibility, the more important the responsibility. Such a hankering for harmony may not change the world but, one does what one can. At least, that's what a little birdie told me.