June 1, 2003 - Second Sunday after Ascension Day

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June 1, 2003 - Second Sunday after Ascension Day - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Acts 1: 15-17; 21-26

PSALM: 1

SECOND READING: 1 John 5: 9-13

GOSPEL: John 17: 6-19

A few years ago, while I was still in Northern Michigan, the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, came on. I don't know if you remember that movie or not. The movie came out, and there was a lot of protest from well-meaning Christians that this movie was blasphemous and should not be shown, and so on. Well, I had read the book already, and so I wanted to see the movie and see what Hollywood had done with it. So, I went, and I was standing outside of the movie theater, where there was a group of well-meaning Christians boycotting the movie, of course. One of them came up to me and said, "Are you going in there?". And I said, "Yes, I am going in there". And he said, "Well, I will pray for you." I thought, "Well, O.K.! Do what you have to do!"

I will pray for you. Those are good words. I have heard them many times. People have said, "I will pray for you", especially in those times when I found it hard to pray for myself - those times of stress and those times of feeling abandoned by God - when I just somehow could not pray, and somebody said, "Well, I will pray for you." And, especially after times of having talked with them and conversed with them, and after letting them know where I was and what was going on in my life, and they would say, "I will pray for you", and I would say, "Thank you". And so many times in my own ministry, I have heard people come up to me and say, "Father, will you pray for me? I can't seem to pray right now." And those are in times of sorrow and grief, in sickness and disappointment, and in times of anger. I will pray for you - very important words. I believe in the power of prayer, even from that well-meaning Christian who was going to pray for me while I was watching the movie. I don't know what they were going to pray for me, but I am sure it was all good!

In our lessons this morning, we hear Jesus praying for His disciples - a very profound prayer. When I looked at the lesson for this morning and read it, and re-read it, and re-read it, I said, "What is Jesus really saying here?" He is gathered together with His disciples. They have just had dinner together - the Last Supper - and Jesus has told them that this was going to come to an end. "I am going to die. It is going to happen." And then, after they had eaten, He starts praying. First of all, He prays for Himself, and then He prays for those disciples who were there.

Notice what Jesus prays. First of all, He acknowledges the disciples. He acknowledges them to God, and He says, "These are special gifts - these people are special gifts that You have given Me." He doesn't say to God, "Well God, these people - well, they are just duds. They haven't understood a word I have said. They haven't done anything right." No, He said, "God, these are special gifts that You have given to Me, and they have been obedient. They have been faithful, and they have accepted the truth of who I am and who You are." Jesus recognizes in them their potential - not what they were, but what they could be.

In our own prayers, do we do that? When we pray for someone else, do we recognize their potential, or do we say something else? Do we recognize the potential of each person whom we pray for and that God loves them truly? They may have gone through a lot in their lives, but God still loves them; and they are good people.

And then, Jesus prays - I love this one! - Jesus prays for their protection that they may be one. That puzzled me at first. Why would Jesus pray for their protection that they may be one? And then, I read some commentaries, and someone said, "Well, it is because they were their own worst enemies." Oh! Yeah! That makes sense. They are human. There could have been bickering between them, and they even argued about who was going to be the greatest after Jesus went to Heaven, and so on - just like any other group of people. And Jesus prays for their protection that they may be one - that they recognize those kinds of things that go on in any kind of community or congregation, or, especially, committees, and He prays for their protection.

And Jesus also prays that they may be joyful - filled with joy. Isn't that interesting? Here, at this time - this time when Jesus is going to be leaving them, and they have no idea what may happen - Jesus prays that they may be joyful. He could have prayed that they would be strong, that they would be politically-correct, that they would be strong militarily, that they would conquer everything, but, no, He prays for their joy, that they would be happy, that they would live their lives in joy - the joy that Jesus knew in being connected with God, the Father. And so, He prays for their joy.

And then, after He prays for their joy, He prays that they will be protected from evil. Jesus is going to send them out into the world, and Jesus knows that they are going to meet resistance here and there and everywhere; and Jesus prays for protection against evil for them. He wants them to be a positive influence. He wants them to spread the Word of God, the Love of God, as they have learned it through Him, as He knows it from God, the Father; and He wants them to be protected from any outside interference or forces that might destroy them.

And then, He prays that they might be sanctified. Now that word, sanctified, means to be set apart - not over and above everyone else or above everything else, but to be special, to be holy, if you will - to live the life that they have learned to live while they were with Jesus, and while they were going about seeing what Jesus had been doing. He asks the Father to sanctify them, as He, Himself, has been sanctified, set apart. But notice that He is sending them out into the world to be a part of the world - not above it, not below it, not outside of it - but to participate in the world and to participate in everything that is going around them. In those days, there was a lot going on around them. There were Greek philosophers, and there were Roman soldiers. There were all kinds of things going on around them, and Jesus says, "You are going on into the world, and I am praying to God that you are protected, and that you are set apart and made holy. Live your lives in that manner. Look for ways of building relationships." That is what Jesus is saying to them. "Look for ways to build, not to tear down, not to destroy, but to build, to love one another. Be in the world, that you may know God's love through others, and others, who have never heard these words, may know of God's love, also. Be holy. Be a follower of Christ - not holier than thou - but dedicated to serving through Christ by serving others and showing God's love".

This prayer was for the disciples, but it is also Jesus' prayer for us, as the Church. Jesus recognizes our potential and what we can be - not what we have been, but what we can be in the love of Christ. And Jesus recognizes in us that we may have divisions among us, and that that is a possibility. And Jesus prays for our protection constantly - praying that we may be one, as He and the Father are one. And Jesus tells us to go out into the world, not forgetting who we are, but being sanctified, being holy, being a follower of Christ, being a Christian.

Jesus' prayer was for the disciples. Let our prayer be a living prayer for others.

AMEN
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June 8, 2003 - Pentecost

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June 8, 2003 - Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Ezekial 37: 1-14

SECOND READING: Acts 2: 1-21

GOSPEL: John 15: 26-27; 16: 4b-15

I don't know about you, but I really like birthday parties. I love birthday parties. In my family, when I was growing up, birthdays were special days for my sister and me, and every time our birthday came around, we had a special celebration. We had a special celebration on my birthday, because it was the Fourth of July. I thought everybody was celebrating my birthday! We had fireworks, and we had everything! I even had a birthday cake that was decorated in red, white, and blue. I don't remember anything about my day of birth, but my mother used to tell us stories about our days of birth on our birthday. My mother said to me, "Well, that was a great day. You ruined two picnics - the doctor's and ours". Great! Great way to enter into the world!

But days of birth. . . . Think about your birthday - the day that you were born. It was the day that you took your first breath - that you breathed in and were able to live on your own. You were given life. You were given that precious gift of life, and you began that journey that you call your life. And, each year, you get a day to celebrate that. Each year, you get a day to give thanks to God for 365 days from the last time you celebrated your birthday. And you also are able to give thanks to God for 365 more days, perhaps, that you will be able to be on your journey - your life's journey.

Well, traditionally, in the Church, on Pentecost, we celebrate the birth of the Church, and, of course, we know that the Church existed in God's mind long before Pentecost. As Jesus was gathering His disciples and teaching them and being an example for them, the Church really began there. The Church - that entity, that thing that we call this gathering of people - the Church. On that day of Pentecost, the first Church members, if you will, were gathered together, and they were celebrating. They were celebrating a holiday - Pentecost. And, suddenly, among them, there was the wind - that gasp of air, that first gasp of air, if you will - of new life, of birth in a community of people who had come together. They were probably a little perplexed about what had taken place in their lives, because this happened after the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. They were probably wondering, "What is going on now? What do we do now?" And, all of a sudden, it occurred to them, or they became aware that they had new life - they had new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them. In our Gospel, we heard Jesus say, "I have to go. I have taught you everything that I can teach you now - everything that you are able to understand - I have taught you, but, now, it is time for Me to go. But, be aware! There is going to be a helper for you. There is going to be an advocate." Astrengthener, a comforter, whatever you want to call it, but it is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like the wind - the breath of God - breathing on them and saying, "Go, now. You are empowered to do My work - to spread the Gospel, to spread the Good News of God's love in the world".

The Spirit of God hasn't given up. The Spirit of God is still very much within us, and each one of us has taken in that breath and have become whole, have become real, and we have been given the gift of life to spread the Gospel of God, to spread the love that God has given us. The Church - that entity of people who come together, who have been baptized, who have been given new life through their baptism in the Spirit of God - gathers together as we are gathered together here.

Very soon, our Church leaders are going to be gathering in Minneapolis for the General Convention, and we pray that the Holy Spirit will be among them, to give them new life - to re-create the Church as it goes along, as it moves along in history, as we have moved along in our own history. We pray that the Holy Spirit will be upon the delegates and our Bishops, and that they will listen, and that they will hear that wind of God that will be breathing through them.

Today, we celebrate. We celebrate the birthday of the Church, and we have a prayer in our prayer book that I like very much for those who are having birthdays. But, this time, I would like to pray for the Church, because I think that the words are meaningful and helpful and have significance. We pray: "O God, our times are in Your hands" - the time of the Church, our time right now, the time of the Church is in God's hands right now. And we pray that God "will look with favor on the servant" - the servant, the Church - look with favor on God's servant, the Church, as they begin another year. Grant the Church may grow in wisdom and may grow in grace, and we pray that God will strengthen the trust of the Church in the goodness of God, all the days of its life. And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

God has given you the gift of life - the breath, the breath of God. You took it in the day of your birth. Keep breathing it. Keep breathing the breath of God. I love that hymn, "Breathe on me, O breath of God". Be the Church; spread the Gospel; spread the Good News of God's love to all the world. That is what we are called to do. That is why we have been given life. And this we do in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us celebrate. Let us come to the banquet table, and let us celebrate the birthday of that entity we call the Church.

AMEN
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