never you mind, you death professor

love is life, his love is better

 

The Holy Gospel according to St. John the 17th Chapter!

Today is Mother's Day.

Mother's Day, that single day of the year where we stop to thank all those mother's in our life who give us so much, every day of the year...

Well, at least we think to honor them once a year, I guess :-)

So it is that on this Mother's Day, we ask Ruby McGraw to come speak, to tell us what is going on at the shelter. Inviting Ms. McGraw to come speak happened because you all at Trinity decided long ago that every May we will increase our support to the Domestic Violence Shelter.

I will admit, when I first heard about this I thought, "hmmm... What an interesting way to observe Mother's Day."

And perhaps you're having a similar reaction; why have someone from the shelter here this day, Mother's Day, you may wonder. After all, none of our mothers or members are at the shelter. Why not have someone from the shelter come on another day, a day that doesn't interrupt honoring our mothers...

The thing is, what I came to realize, and perhaps you have too; is that by including the shelter during Mother's Day, and all of May, you all have become the answer to Jesus' prayer.

That's right, when the shelter and the people living their, are included in our Mother's Day celebration, we find that we have become the answer Jesus' prayer...

In the Gospel today we get to hear Jesus' prayer. We hear Jesus' praying into the future, from his present into ours. The people Jesus prays about in the Gospel today, is us!

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me," Jesus prays.

In this prayer we hear that Jesus is confident that his mission will go into the future. It is with that confidence that Jesus prays, that Jesus prays for people who will believe in him.

Jesus prays for us, those who have come to believe in him through the words of Jesus' apostles!

Wow!

Jesus prays for us.

Now, if it isn't cool enough for you to know that Jesus, God in the flesh, God living, breathing, speaking, prays for you; keep listening because it gets even cooler.

Listen to what Jesus prays for, when he prays for us...

Jesus doesn't pray that we would just survive, be able to pay the bills, have a nice building or have as many members as we did in the 1950's.

No, Jesus prays that we would be one!

 

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their words," Jesus prays, "that they may all be one" he ends.

That we may all be one...

Here's the thing, when John let's us take a listen to Jesus' prayer, John also is giving us an intimate glimpse of Jesus' deepest thoughts and concerns.

And when we get a glimpse into Jesus' heart, it is interesting to see what Jesus did, and did not, worry about.

Apparently Jesus was quite confident that his mission would go into the future, that is why he dares to pray for those who will believe in him.

Apparently, though, Jesus is not concerned how big, or rather small, our endowment may be. Jesus is not concerned with the number of folks who may gather here; Jesus isn't interested in stats, apparently. Jesus is not concerned that his followers look one way or another, either. Finally, Jesus is not concerned that our buildings be glorious, enormous and pristine.

No, what Jesus is concerned about, is that we may all be one.

 

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their words," Jesus prays. "that they may all be one."

"That they may all be one."

 

The paramount concern for Jesus is that his followers in the future may all be one.

That we may all be one...

Interesting...

Jesus is confident his mission will go into the future, yet he isn't concerned about the size of membership, buildings, endowments or accolades. Instead Jesus' utmost concern is simply that as his mission goes into the future we would all just get along, one big happy family?!?

That doesn't seem to 'cut the mustard.'

Of all the challenges Jesus' mission will face as it goes from his time into the future, into 2,000 years into the future, and all Jesus cares about is that we just get along?!?!

To make sense of this, that Jesus' largest concern is that we are one; we need to remember what this prayer of Jesus is about, and what is closest to Jesus' heart.

Jesus' prayer is about his mission being spread by his followers, being spread even into the future.

Jesus' prayer is not about this mission go forth gaining money, donors and more, larger buildings; what Jesus' prayer is about, however, is that as this mission goes forth, all would be included.

There it is, there is the detail that makes sense of this part about unity!

That all would be one.

That all would be united.

 

In other words, Jesus prays for us that we would include everyone.

  Jesus' prayer isn't about unity per se, it is about inclusion!

It is a good thing that this is what Jesus prays for, too. Frankly Jesus prays for inclusions, sisters and brothers, is because Jesus knows just how hard it is to be united with everyone.

We open our doors, and some of the people who come in don't look like us, they don't act like us, they're noisy, they're messy.

In those moments when we're confronted with the differences of others, when push comes to shove; there are times, sadly, when we decide that we like things how they are, thank you very much.

There are times, sadly, when we decide that those who are different from us can see themselves out, a place that fits better. This is our place.

The thing is, it really is hard to include everyone, to let those who have been outside be united with us, to stand with those who have no one else to stand beside them.

Jesus prays that his followers in the future may be one, because it is so very hard to be one, to include all, to be united with others.

 

It is hard to include those who have been excluded, it is hard to be united to those who long to belong, it is hard to offer shelter to the homeless, it is hard to stand with those who stand on the other side of our walls; and that sisters and brothers is precisely why Jesus doesn't pray for our endowment, our membership or our buildings.

Jesus doesn't pray for those incidental things, because Jesus prays for what we really need; that we would have the ability, the courage, the strength and faith to do the hard thing, the right thing: to include those who have been excluded, to offer unity to those who long to belong, to stand with those who are alone.

In light of that, we find not only how appropriate it is that we include the shelter in our honoring of mother's today, we also come to find that we have become the tools to answer prayers.

In light of Jesus' prayer that we may all be one, we find that through our inclusion of the shelter we have become a place where Jesus' prayer is answered.

  Think of that!

Not only does Jesus pray for us,

and not only does Jesus pray for our deepest needs,

Jesus uses us, us to answer his prayers.

I want you to just stop and think about that...

YOU HAVE, WE HAVE BECOME GOD'S INSTRUMENT TO ANSWER JESUS' PRAYER.

Yeah...

Talk about miracle of miracles.

Talk about power of prayer.

 

So then let us also talk about those who have been on the wrong side of a partner's aggression.

Talk about a place that offers these women a home.

Talk about public funds that this place is losing, all while our elected officials ignore the sequester just to make sure planes land on time, for those who can afford a ticket of course.

In other words, talk about those who aren't spoken about when policy is being made.

Talk about those who long to belong.

And more than just talk, too.

Include those are excluded.

Stand with those who have no one else to stand beside them.

Speak for those who have had their voices taken away by violence.

Do this, and find that we become the vehicles to answering Jesus' prayer.

Now, I can't speak for you, but when I survey the needs of this world; when my heart is broken by looking on the pain some of those women at the shelter have suffered; when I encounter the pieces of a family broken by violence, I am glad Jesus doesn't pray for small things like the maintenance of churches, I am glad Jesus doesn't pray for petty things like endowments, I am glad Jesus doesn't pray for what really won't matter in the end like the number of names on our rolls.

 

Praise God, thankfully our savior is so good that he prays not for what we might want, but for what we need.

What we need...

What the world needs...

 

Now I can't speak for you, but when I think of Jesus power and the fact that Jesus uses people like you and me, places like Trinity Evangelical to answer his payers, I am humbled.

Again, I can't speak for you, but when I consider the serious challenges this shelter is facing and I remember that our God, our God who is good, our God who makes a way out of no way, or God who is love, that our God can use people like us to become the tools to answering prayer, I wonder...

Let us wonder. Perhaps God will keep making us into the answer of prayers, to Jesus' prayer.

 

We wonder, and we also remember.

We remember that Jesus hasn't just used us to answer his own prayers. Jesus also uses us to answer the world's prayer.

For instance, my prayers.

There was the night, when I hadn't been here long, that I received an email from this shelter asking is we, if Trinity Evangelical, would stand with them in vigil for all those affected by domestic violence.

God used this shelter to answer my prayer, that I might be a real pastor, the kind that is our of their comfortable office and in the world, the kind of pastor offering a word to the world needs.

It didn't stop there either.

You answered my prayers be coming, by bringing guitar and voice and offering music to those silenced by violence, by bringing company to those isolated by violence.

That night God used this shelter and you all to answer one of my deepest prayers.

We wonder and we remember.

We remember that Jesus doesn't just use us to answer his own prayers or our prayers. Jesus also uses us to answer the world's prayers.

What the world cries for is a place that would bring in those who long to belong, a people that would stand with those who have no one else to stand with them, a place that would include the excluded.

We all know this.

The world is tired of selfishness, lies and hypocrites.

The world, the world desires followers who would follow.

The world, the world cries for believers who actually believe.

The world, the world prays for is people who pray.

People who pray at night, pray in the morning, pray on their knees, pray with their hands and deeds, people who pray with their wallet.

When we honor our mother's by including those mothers who have no one to honor them, we not only become tools to answer Jesus' prayers, we not only become the vehicles to answering our own prayers, we become the instruments to answering to the world's  prayers, too.

I want you to just stop and think about that...

YOU, WE ALL BECOME GOD'S INSTRUMENT TO ANSWER THE WORLD'S PRAYER.

Let us listen, after all, to why Jesus prays that we may all be one: "As you, father, are in me and I am in you," Jesus prays, "may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

So that the world may believe that God has sent Jesus.

Here is the thing:

It isn't by our numbers that we convey to the world that Jesus is the Messiah.

It isn't in by our building that we witness to the world that Jesus is God, either.

And it isn't by the money stored away that we proclaim Christ crucified and risen.

No.

When we are one, united not where it is easy, but where it matters

When we are in solidarity, not with the crowd, but with the excluded,

When we are united, not with the powerful, but with those in need,

Then, then and there we proclaim to the world that God sent Jesus.

 

It is in those places of need that our offer of support proclaims to the world that Jesus is Lord.

It is in those places of pain that our willingness to be present becomes the answer to Jesus' prayer.

It is in those places of sorrow that our courage to bring inclusion witnesses to God's glory.

It is in those places of brokeness that our solidarity becomes the answer to our own deepest prayer.

It is in those places despair that our offer of embrace gives the world reason to believe that Jesus is God's only begotten son.

Finally, it is in those places of exclusion that our welcome, our unity, becomes the answer to the world's deepest prayers.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.