LEAVING & RETURNING
May 13, 2018
John 17:6-19
A couple of weeks ago as our worship service was coming to an end, but right before I called on everyone to stand for that day’s benediction, Mrs, Margaret let it be known that there was something she wanted to say. For those of you here on that Sunday you may recall Margaret standing, turning to face everyone, then proceeding to talk about a topic she is incredibly passionate about – PRAYER. In that moment it was clear to me that she deeply desired to know that her church family was a praying family. My sense is her need to know that had been weighing on her heart for some time. For some of you, knowing that we are praying for other people is a critical and vital part of what it means to be a church family, and I have profound respect for that.
For some, praying is a simple task. For others, it is the farthest thing from it. There is good reason, I believe, to appreciate both approaches to prayer. I knew this even before a small group of us spent meaningful time together on eight or nine Wednesday evenings a couple of months ago for a study on Prayer. The only thing that would have made those Wednesday evenings better was if more people could have experienced what we experienced. We had powerful, touching, moving conversation with each other. We learned from each other and discovered ways to accept and celebrate our uniqueness. None of us thought about prayer, or approached prayer in the same way which allowed us to explore the topic in ways we had not done previously. Our group study of prayer set the stage for us to open up to one another and most importantly to be loved by the others who participated in the study.
Our particular study focused more on the numerous and various ways to pray, and less on what to pray. We talked about things like Centering Prayer and Welcoming Prayer, instead of concepts like Prayers of Supplication or Prayers of Petition. Now, if you are anything like me, the first time someone said, “Prayers of Petition” you didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, even though you probably prayed this type of prayer more than any other. You see, a prayer of petition is when you take time to communicate with God on behalf of others. This is what we do each and every Sunday when we enter into our time of prayer and even though in the prayer itself every name may not be re-stated, we are nonetheless petitioning God on behalf of someone other than ourselves. In fact, we did it a few minutes ago. These are the type of prayers Margaret so passionately spoke about a couple of weeks ago.
Prayers of petition are important. Especially for those standing together in community. Prayers of petition are vital to the health and welfare of a community of faith. It could even be said that prayers of petition build communities and if the prayers of petition are authentic, then it seems safe to say they can build authentic communities.
****************************
The Gospels contain numerous stories of Jesus seeking time and space to pray with God. This prayer time, it seems, was critical to the rhythm of Jesus’ life and today’s scripture recalls one of those times, but not just any time in Jesus’ life. If we put this into its larger context, the fact that Jesus took this particular time to pray for others is really quite remarkable. This is the evening before his crucifixion. This was the evening before he experienced the betrayal, trial, condemnation, beating and execution he knew was coming. Once you get past the roundabout nature of these sentences, I hope you can hear, or see, or feel how deeply Jesus cared for and loved his followers. You see, to pray is to Love, simple as that… And Jesus did just that.
Prayer offers us a chance to remind ourselves of blessing and to give thanks. What might it feel like to hear someone thank God for you? How empowering might that be?
Prayer is a chance to share our deepest concerns, worries and fears and to ask for guidance or help. Do you recognize how honest Jesus is about his concerns? Here he acknowledges that the disciples left the only world they had known to follow him, but now they were going to have to embark on the journey of returning. Jesus knows how hard this is going to be on the disciples. He recognizes how hard the world will be on them, and he is honest about that in this prayer because prayer offers a chance for honesty.
*********************************
Before returning, though, you must first leave, or escape or retreat. There is something very attractive about escaping from the world… leaving behind the world as we know it, even if its only for a brief period of time. Just consider for a moment the ways we have worked this idea of escaping or leaving into something we all love, especially my wife… vacation. It truly is striking that we vacate our normal lives for two or three weeks, or if you’re lucky, four weeks each year. The Travel Industry knows all about this need to leave… this need to escape… this need to vacate. They spend millions to lure us to take luxury cruises where our every whim is met, to enjoy fractional ownership in condos at the shore, to buy a second home in the mountains, to live in a gated community where we can leave our workaday pressures behind. Although the images used to sell these retreats reflect our glitzy media world, the human desire for leave the world and its incessant pressures is as ancient as the Bible.
It seems this desire to leave the world arose in the community of John, and understandably so. By all accounts conflict with the authorities were on the rise for this community which made a life of faith, a life that could disengage them from the powers of oppression… the powers that were opposed to the gospel, much more attractive. For those of us who know the drains of constant opposition… who know what it feels like to never be good enough… who know what it’s like to be excluded from feeling special, thoughts of retreating, or escaping, or leaving are intoxicating. Surely for those disciples it was equally so. “How good it would feel to retreat into their own group, to recall the stories of Jesus, to sense his presence in their meals of bread and wine, to enjoy each other’s supportive fellowship, and no longer to have to defend their beliefs and practices in a hostile world.”[1] And just like we can understand the allure of leaving, of escaping, of retreating, it seems Jesus could sense it in those first disciples, so he prayed for them and for all who come after them that they might know an alternative way to experience life.
For me, Jesus’ prayer is a prayer that acknowledges the movements of leaving and returning. Movements that are so often repeated in the human story. Except Jesus prays for the returning to look different than it has before. He prays for the disciples to look different when they return this time. You see, Jesus knew they must return, but he also knew they could return an empowered people if they found eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to recall that yes, they too were beloved children of a relational God whose essence is Love.
Instead of retreat from the world, Christ offers an alternative model that can empower the community to live in the world without succumbing to its values and pressures. They are to stay in the world under the protective care of God. They are to live amidst all of the knotted complexities of the world without themselves getting entangled.
The holiness that they might have hoped to achieve by leaving the world is to be found through the action of God as they return to the world empowered and emboldened. Disengagement was not their calling. Instead Jesus prayed that they might return to the world more fully engaged than ever before so that God’s Kingdom may come. A kingdom built on Love and Grace and Mercy.
Christ prays, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (v. 18). This is his reminder to the church that the pattern of his own life was not escape from the world but engagement with the world, with all of its distorted powers and pressures.
**************************************
Prayer is so important and it’s good to be reminded of that. It’s also a bit overwhelming to think that others are praying on your behalf, but prayers of petition are something the church is called to do. Jesus modeled it for us and being that we are part of the incredible legacy of Followers of the Way, Jesus prayed for us and here Jesus’ prayer is about the movements of the human story.
Leaving, escaping, retreating, is only one of the movements, an important one. It can help reorient us. It can be the movement that allows us to find the rest we need. But it is only one movement of that human story.
Another movement is the return and it is just as important, or maybe its more important. I have sent them back into the world and I pray this time they are better equipped. I pray this time they are more empowered. I pray this time they know you are behind them, beside them, in front of them letting them know they are never alone. On behalf of those who followed then and those who follow now, Jesus prayed for this type of return movement. Today I do too.
Amen!
[1] Troeger, Thomas H., Feasting on the Word Commentary, Year B, Vol. 2, Easter 7, Homiletical Perspective
John 17:6-19
A couple of weeks ago as our worship service was coming to an end, but right before I called on everyone to stand for that day’s benediction, Mrs, Margaret let it be known that there was something she wanted to say. For those of you here on that Sunday you may recall Margaret standing, turning to face everyone, then proceeding to talk about a topic she is incredibly passionate about – PRAYER. In that moment it was clear to me that she deeply desired to know that her church family was a praying family. My sense is her need to know that had been weighing on her heart for some time. For some of you, knowing that we are praying for other people is a critical and vital part of what it means to be a church family, and I have profound respect for that.
For some, praying is a simple task. For others, it is the farthest thing from it. There is good reason, I believe, to appreciate both approaches to prayer. I knew this even before a small group of us spent meaningful time together on eight or nine Wednesday evenings a couple of months ago for a study on Prayer. The only thing that would have made those Wednesday evenings better was if more people could have experienced what we experienced. We had powerful, touching, moving conversation with each other. We learned from each other and discovered ways to accept and celebrate our uniqueness. None of us thought about prayer, or approached prayer in the same way which allowed us to explore the topic in ways we had not done previously. Our group study of prayer set the stage for us to open up to one another and most importantly to be loved by the others who participated in the study.
Our particular study focused more on the numerous and various ways to pray, and less on what to pray. We talked about things like Centering Prayer and Welcoming Prayer, instead of concepts like Prayers of Supplication or Prayers of Petition. Now, if you are anything like me, the first time someone said, “Prayers of Petition” you didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, even though you probably prayed this type of prayer more than any other. You see, a prayer of petition is when you take time to communicate with God on behalf of others. This is what we do each and every Sunday when we enter into our time of prayer and even though in the prayer itself every name may not be re-stated, we are nonetheless petitioning God on behalf of someone other than ourselves. In fact, we did it a few minutes ago. These are the type of prayers Margaret so passionately spoke about a couple of weeks ago.
Prayers of petition are important. Especially for those standing together in community. Prayers of petition are vital to the health and welfare of a community of faith. It could even be said that prayers of petition build communities and if the prayers of petition are authentic, then it seems safe to say they can build authentic communities.
****************************
The Gospels contain numerous stories of Jesus seeking time and space to pray with God. This prayer time, it seems, was critical to the rhythm of Jesus’ life and today’s scripture recalls one of those times, but not just any time in Jesus’ life. If we put this into its larger context, the fact that Jesus took this particular time to pray for others is really quite remarkable. This is the evening before his crucifixion. This was the evening before he experienced the betrayal, trial, condemnation, beating and execution he knew was coming. Once you get past the roundabout nature of these sentences, I hope you can hear, or see, or feel how deeply Jesus cared for and loved his followers. You see, to pray is to Love, simple as that… And Jesus did just that.
Prayer offers us a chance to remind ourselves of blessing and to give thanks. What might it feel like to hear someone thank God for you? How empowering might that be?
Prayer is a chance to share our deepest concerns, worries and fears and to ask for guidance or help. Do you recognize how honest Jesus is about his concerns? Here he acknowledges that the disciples left the only world they had known to follow him, but now they were going to have to embark on the journey of returning. Jesus knows how hard this is going to be on the disciples. He recognizes how hard the world will be on them, and he is honest about that in this prayer because prayer offers a chance for honesty.
*********************************
Before returning, though, you must first leave, or escape or retreat. There is something very attractive about escaping from the world… leaving behind the world as we know it, even if its only for a brief period of time. Just consider for a moment the ways we have worked this idea of escaping or leaving into something we all love, especially my wife… vacation. It truly is striking that we vacate our normal lives for two or three weeks, or if you’re lucky, four weeks each year. The Travel Industry knows all about this need to leave… this need to escape… this need to vacate. They spend millions to lure us to take luxury cruises where our every whim is met, to enjoy fractional ownership in condos at the shore, to buy a second home in the mountains, to live in a gated community where we can leave our workaday pressures behind. Although the images used to sell these retreats reflect our glitzy media world, the human desire for leave the world and its incessant pressures is as ancient as the Bible.
It seems this desire to leave the world arose in the community of John, and understandably so. By all accounts conflict with the authorities were on the rise for this community which made a life of faith, a life that could disengage them from the powers of oppression… the powers that were opposed to the gospel, much more attractive. For those of us who know the drains of constant opposition… who know what it feels like to never be good enough… who know what it’s like to be excluded from feeling special, thoughts of retreating, or escaping, or leaving are intoxicating. Surely for those disciples it was equally so. “How good it would feel to retreat into their own group, to recall the stories of Jesus, to sense his presence in their meals of bread and wine, to enjoy each other’s supportive fellowship, and no longer to have to defend their beliefs and practices in a hostile world.”[1] And just like we can understand the allure of leaving, of escaping, of retreating, it seems Jesus could sense it in those first disciples, so he prayed for them and for all who come after them that they might know an alternative way to experience life.
For me, Jesus’ prayer is a prayer that acknowledges the movements of leaving and returning. Movements that are so often repeated in the human story. Except Jesus prays for the returning to look different than it has before. He prays for the disciples to look different when they return this time. You see, Jesus knew they must return, but he also knew they could return an empowered people if they found eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to recall that yes, they too were beloved children of a relational God whose essence is Love.
Instead of retreat from the world, Christ offers an alternative model that can empower the community to live in the world without succumbing to its values and pressures. They are to stay in the world under the protective care of God. They are to live amidst all of the knotted complexities of the world without themselves getting entangled.
The holiness that they might have hoped to achieve by leaving the world is to be found through the action of God as they return to the world empowered and emboldened. Disengagement was not their calling. Instead Jesus prayed that they might return to the world more fully engaged than ever before so that God’s Kingdom may come. A kingdom built on Love and Grace and Mercy.
Christ prays, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (v. 18). This is his reminder to the church that the pattern of his own life was not escape from the world but engagement with the world, with all of its distorted powers and pressures.
**************************************
Prayer is so important and it’s good to be reminded of that. It’s also a bit overwhelming to think that others are praying on your behalf, but prayers of petition are something the church is called to do. Jesus modeled it for us and being that we are part of the incredible legacy of Followers of the Way, Jesus prayed for us and here Jesus’ prayer is about the movements of the human story.
Leaving, escaping, retreating, is only one of the movements, an important one. It can help reorient us. It can be the movement that allows us to find the rest we need. But it is only one movement of that human story.
Another movement is the return and it is just as important, or maybe its more important. I have sent them back into the world and I pray this time they are better equipped. I pray this time they are more empowered. I pray this time they know you are behind them, beside them, in front of them letting them know they are never alone. On behalf of those who followed then and those who follow now, Jesus prayed for this type of return movement. Today I do too.
Amen!
[1] Troeger, Thomas H., Feasting on the Word Commentary, Year B, Vol. 2, Easter 7, Homiletical Perspective
