Seventh Sunday of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19
Roman Catholic
Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
1 John 4:11-16
John 17:11-19
Episcopal
Acts 1:15-26
1 John 5:9-15
John 17:11b-19
Theme For The Day
Christ's prayer for the church is that it would have gifts of unity, protection, and truth.
First Lesson
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
The Selection Of Matthias To Fill Judas' Place
Peter reminds the company of the faithful of the vacancy among the twelve apostles that was created by Judas' death. (Luke interjects some parenthetical detail here, omitted by the lectionary, about Judas' death -- not by suicide but by some dreadful abdominal illness.) Peter announces that a man must be chosen from among the outer circle of disciples to become "a witness with us to his resurrection" (v. 22b). The crowd proposes two names, and Matthias -- about whom we know almost nothing -- is chosen by prayer and the casting of lots (v. 26). Peter's prayer preceding the casting of lots indicates that the choice is made not by chance, but by God. This passage is important because it includes Luke's definition of an apostle as an authoritative eyewitness to the resurrection. Apostolic ministry, by extension, is any ministry that communicates this apostolic testimony. The church's leadership is not without its human weaknesses -- Luke's graphic description of Judas' death and the community's recent memory of Peter's betrayal are evidence of that -- but God accommodates human weakness in order to allow the church's witness to continue.
New Testament Lesson
1 John 5:9-13
Whoever Has The Son Has Life
The lectionary concludes its march through 1 John with this passage, which begins with an affirmation that the greatest testimony is not any human proclamation, but the work God has done in giving Jesus to the world. There is a choice set before every human being: to believe in Jesus Christ, or not to believe in him. Our decision reveals the degree to which we trust God. Eternal life is found in Jesus alone: "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (v. 12). This selection concludes with the first verse of the epilogue to this letter, in which the author declares his purpose for writing: "that you who believe in the name of the Son of God ... may know that you have eternal life" (v. 13).
The Gospel
John 17:6-19
Christ's Prayer For The Church
Jesus' lengthy prayer, of which this passage is a part, is sometimes called his High Priestly Prayer, and sometimes his Great Prayer for the Church. It is highly unlikely that this is an exact transcription of a public prayer offered by the historical Jesus. Rather, it reflects John's theological understanding of the person and work of Christ, and of Christ's desire for unity among his followers -- particularly those late first-century disciples to whom John is writing. The concerns addressed in the prayer are very much those facing the Johannine church toward the end of the first century. Speaking of his followers, Jesus asks God "that they may be one, as we are one" (v. 11). He asks for God to protect them from the evil one, and from the world's hatred (vv. 14-15). Like him, he declares, these believers now belong not to the world, but to heaven (v. 16). Jesus prays that God will "sanctify them in the truth," in conformity to God's Word, which "is truth" (v. 17). These concerns -- unity, protection, and orthodoxy -- all reflect the situation of the Johannine church, which was beginning to undergo persecution and to experience problems of disunity resulting from false teaching.
Preaching Possibilities
What would Jesus say to the contemporary church, if he reappeared among us?
A similar question was undoubtedly in John's mind, as he composed the lengthy discourses and prayers which are, for him, a compendium of Jesus' teaching. John is concerned about a church increasingly troubled by internal conflicts, vulnerable to persecution and tempted by teachings that are, to his mind, unorthodox. The lengthy prayer of Jesus that John reconstructs in chapter 17 -- far too long a prayer to have been recorded verbatim -- is in fact John's imaginative answer to the question of what Jesus would say to the church of his own day.
The three concerns -- unity, protection from evil, and the maintenance of true teaching -- are remarkably relevant to the needs of today's church. They could provide the outline for a sermon.
First, unity. It is especially apparent in North America how splintered the church of Jesus Christ has become. The "melting pot" nature of our culture, uniting immigrants from around the world into a single society, has created a situation that is historically unique. The historic national divisions among European churches have become, in our setting, denominational divisions within a single nation. The inertia present in all human bureaucracies -- of which ecclesiastical bureaucracies are, sadly, no exception -- has resisted most efforts at denominational union. The twentieth century, which began hopefully in the United States with unity movements like the Federal Council of Churches (later the National Council of Churches), and continued with the post-Second World War Consultation on Church Union, has ended in an ecumenical stalemate. In Canada, a bold move to create a united Protestant church has resulted in a situation in which some are in, but many others still out. There have been small gains, to be sure, but the overall witness of our varied denominations is still one of scandalous disunity. Jesus' prayer for the twenty-first century church would undoubtedly still include a plea that, "that they may be one, as we are one."
Second, Jesus' prayer for the first-century church includes a wish for protection from "the evil one" (or, in some variant texts, simply from "evil"). Persecution was an obvious threat in the days of John, so a prayer for protection from evil would have been clearly understood to mean protection from the imperial authorities -- who had already wreaked havoc within Judaism, through the sack of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple. The church in North America is not, of course, under persecution (despite the rhetoric from certain extremist factions in our midst, who see the separation of church and state -- affecting issues such as the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance and the posting of the Ten Commandments in courthouses -- as a form of persecution). Far from outright persecution, we are more in danger of being consigned to irrelevance by a culture that increasingly turns a deaf ear to Christianity's witness. The contemporary threat from the evil one -- from which we do need to be protected -- takes the form more of studied indifference than deliberate persecution.
Third, Jesus prays that God will sanctify the church in the truth. So many of our neighbors, in this diverse society, have trivialized truth. Some have come to disbelieve that there is such a thing as ultimate truth at all. For such individuals, there is only utility: the things that work and the things that don't. If Christianity works for you, many seem to be saying, then believe it; if it doesn't, then find something else that works better. As long as you end up feeling happy, it doesn't matter. This is no basis on which to select a religious allegiance. Jesus is not asking God to sanctify his followers in the truth so they can flit here and flit there, sampling every dish on the spiritual smorgasbord. No, he is giving them the Spirit of truth so they may discern the one true path, and follow it.
Prayer For The Day
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a way as gives us breath,
Such a truth as ends all strife,
Such a life as killeth death.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a joy as all can move,
Such a love as none can part,
Such a heart as joy in love.
-- George Herbert (adapted)
To Illustrate
Many years ago, the United States Army issued a guidebook for its noncommissioned officers.
One of the topics in this guidebook was how a sergeant could deal with two soldiers who had been quarreling: how they could rediscover unity and become friends again.
The guide suggests that the two men should be assigned to wash the same window: one outside, one inside. As they stand looking at each other, rags and cleaning fluid in hand, absorbed in a common task, it is all but impossible for them to continue being angry.
***
An old, but still serviceable comic story about ecumenical disunity ...
A shipwreck victim was marooned alone on a desert island for many years. Like Robinson Crusoe, the castaway cleverly constructed everything he needed out of materials he found on the island: bamboo, gourds, coconut shells. He was proud of his handiwork -- so proud that, when a rescue ship finally arrived, he refused to leave, until the captain had accompanied him on a walking tour.
Proudly, the castaway showed the captain everything he'd made: his dugout canoe, the treehouse where he lived, his storehouse bulging with food, the little shed where he kept his fishing gear. Finally they came to the largest structure of all: a magnificent, thatch-roofed building, made of bamboo poles lashed together, with what appeared to be a steeple rising from its roof. Inside, there were rows of handmade benches. Up in front was a pulpit carved from the trunk of a tree, and high in the steeple hung a hollowed-out gourd in the shape of a bell.
It seemed to the captain that this church was the cleverest creation of all. But then he looked out the window ... and saw another building, very much like the one he was standing in.
"If this is your church," he asked the man, "then what do you call that?"
"Oh, pay no attention to that building," answered the castaway. "That's the church I used to go to."
***
A group of pastors from India was once talking with an American relief worker. "You Americans," they told him, "are utterly unequipped for life in the real world."
"You think that life is supposed to be pleasant: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and all that stuff. When it's not, you think something is wrong that you need to fix. Once fixed, you can get back to a normal state: pleasant."
"On the contrary," he continued. "We think life is hard. We know we will suffer. Our challenge is to learn how to trust God in the midst of suffering, find his purposes through it, and still have the courage and hope to change it."
***
One of the items that circulated anonymously by e-mail following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was this set of comparisons -- between Monday, September 10th, and Tuesday, September 11th. What follows is edited from a longer list....
On Monday we e-mailed jokes
On Tuesday we did not
On Monday we thought that we were secure
On Tuesday we learned better
On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes
On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are
On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived
On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met
On Monday there were people fighting against prayer in schools
On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying
On Monday people argued with their kids about cleaning up their room
On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids
On Monday people were upset that they had to wait six minutes in a supermarket line
On Tuesday people didn't care about waiting up to six hours to give blood for the dying ...
On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color, and creed
On Tuesday they were all holding hands ...
Remember, the front of all U.S. coins say ... In God We Trust
***
It's well known that the official seal of Harvard University includes an open book, and the motto, Veritas -- Latin for "Truth." What is not so well known is that this is not the seal Harvard has always had. The original university crest showed three open books -- one of them face-down, to show the limitations of human knowledge. The motto underneath was not simply Veritas, or "Truth," but Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae -- "Truth for Christ and the Church." It is interesting to note how one of the greatest universities in our land, founded originally for the purpose of training young men for the ministry, has strayed so far from its roots. Is there such a thing as independent truth, unmoored from the divine truth in which truth is meant to be grounded? The Gospel of John would say, "No."
***
What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true but because it might prove useful.... To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion.... It is not enthusiasm, but dogma, that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society.
-- T. S. Eliot
***
The inspirational writer Robert Fulghum tells the story of how he once traveled to Greece, to attend a seminar. On the last day of the conference, the teacher walked over to the bright light of an open window and looked out. Then, he asked if there were any questions. Fulghum, as anyone who's read any of his books knows, is something of a jokester. He laughingly asked the seminar leader what was the meaning of life. Everyone laughed and got ready to leave. But then the leader held up his hand, to ask for silence. He responded, "I will answer your question."
Then, he took his wallet out of his pocket, and removed from it a small round mirror about the size of a quarter. "When I was a small child during World War II," he explained, "we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place. I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun could never shine. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places that I could find. I kept the little mirror, and as I grew up, I would take it out at idle moments and continue the challenge of the game.
"As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game, but a metaphor of what I could do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of the light. But light -- be it truth or understanding or knowledge -- is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world -- into the dark places of human hearts -- and change some things in some people. Perhaps others seeing it happen will do likewise.
"This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19
Roman Catholic
Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
1 John 4:11-16
John 17:11-19
Episcopal
Acts 1:15-26
1 John 5:9-15
John 17:11b-19
Theme For The Day
Christ's prayer for the church is that it would have gifts of unity, protection, and truth.
First Lesson
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
The Selection Of Matthias To Fill Judas' Place
Peter reminds the company of the faithful of the vacancy among the twelve apostles that was created by Judas' death. (Luke interjects some parenthetical detail here, omitted by the lectionary, about Judas' death -- not by suicide but by some dreadful abdominal illness.) Peter announces that a man must be chosen from among the outer circle of disciples to become "a witness with us to his resurrection" (v. 22b). The crowd proposes two names, and Matthias -- about whom we know almost nothing -- is chosen by prayer and the casting of lots (v. 26). Peter's prayer preceding the casting of lots indicates that the choice is made not by chance, but by God. This passage is important because it includes Luke's definition of an apostle as an authoritative eyewitness to the resurrection. Apostolic ministry, by extension, is any ministry that communicates this apostolic testimony. The church's leadership is not without its human weaknesses -- Luke's graphic description of Judas' death and the community's recent memory of Peter's betrayal are evidence of that -- but God accommodates human weakness in order to allow the church's witness to continue.
New Testament Lesson
1 John 5:9-13
Whoever Has The Son Has Life
The lectionary concludes its march through 1 John with this passage, which begins with an affirmation that the greatest testimony is not any human proclamation, but the work God has done in giving Jesus to the world. There is a choice set before every human being: to believe in Jesus Christ, or not to believe in him. Our decision reveals the degree to which we trust God. Eternal life is found in Jesus alone: "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (v. 12). This selection concludes with the first verse of the epilogue to this letter, in which the author declares his purpose for writing: "that you who believe in the name of the Son of God ... may know that you have eternal life" (v. 13).
The Gospel
John 17:6-19
Christ's Prayer For The Church
Jesus' lengthy prayer, of which this passage is a part, is sometimes called his High Priestly Prayer, and sometimes his Great Prayer for the Church. It is highly unlikely that this is an exact transcription of a public prayer offered by the historical Jesus. Rather, it reflects John's theological understanding of the person and work of Christ, and of Christ's desire for unity among his followers -- particularly those late first-century disciples to whom John is writing. The concerns addressed in the prayer are very much those facing the Johannine church toward the end of the first century. Speaking of his followers, Jesus asks God "that they may be one, as we are one" (v. 11). He asks for God to protect them from the evil one, and from the world's hatred (vv. 14-15). Like him, he declares, these believers now belong not to the world, but to heaven (v. 16). Jesus prays that God will "sanctify them in the truth," in conformity to God's Word, which "is truth" (v. 17). These concerns -- unity, protection, and orthodoxy -- all reflect the situation of the Johannine church, which was beginning to undergo persecution and to experience problems of disunity resulting from false teaching.
Preaching Possibilities
What would Jesus say to the contemporary church, if he reappeared among us?
A similar question was undoubtedly in John's mind, as he composed the lengthy discourses and prayers which are, for him, a compendium of Jesus' teaching. John is concerned about a church increasingly troubled by internal conflicts, vulnerable to persecution and tempted by teachings that are, to his mind, unorthodox. The lengthy prayer of Jesus that John reconstructs in chapter 17 -- far too long a prayer to have been recorded verbatim -- is in fact John's imaginative answer to the question of what Jesus would say to the church of his own day.
The three concerns -- unity, protection from evil, and the maintenance of true teaching -- are remarkably relevant to the needs of today's church. They could provide the outline for a sermon.
First, unity. It is especially apparent in North America how splintered the church of Jesus Christ has become. The "melting pot" nature of our culture, uniting immigrants from around the world into a single society, has created a situation that is historically unique. The historic national divisions among European churches have become, in our setting, denominational divisions within a single nation. The inertia present in all human bureaucracies -- of which ecclesiastical bureaucracies are, sadly, no exception -- has resisted most efforts at denominational union. The twentieth century, which began hopefully in the United States with unity movements like the Federal Council of Churches (later the National Council of Churches), and continued with the post-Second World War Consultation on Church Union, has ended in an ecumenical stalemate. In Canada, a bold move to create a united Protestant church has resulted in a situation in which some are in, but many others still out. There have been small gains, to be sure, but the overall witness of our varied denominations is still one of scandalous disunity. Jesus' prayer for the twenty-first century church would undoubtedly still include a plea that, "that they may be one, as we are one."
Second, Jesus' prayer for the first-century church includes a wish for protection from "the evil one" (or, in some variant texts, simply from "evil"). Persecution was an obvious threat in the days of John, so a prayer for protection from evil would have been clearly understood to mean protection from the imperial authorities -- who had already wreaked havoc within Judaism, through the sack of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple. The church in North America is not, of course, under persecution (despite the rhetoric from certain extremist factions in our midst, who see the separation of church and state -- affecting issues such as the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance and the posting of the Ten Commandments in courthouses -- as a form of persecution). Far from outright persecution, we are more in danger of being consigned to irrelevance by a culture that increasingly turns a deaf ear to Christianity's witness. The contemporary threat from the evil one -- from which we do need to be protected -- takes the form more of studied indifference than deliberate persecution.
Third, Jesus prays that God will sanctify the church in the truth. So many of our neighbors, in this diverse society, have trivialized truth. Some have come to disbelieve that there is such a thing as ultimate truth at all. For such individuals, there is only utility: the things that work and the things that don't. If Christianity works for you, many seem to be saying, then believe it; if it doesn't, then find something else that works better. As long as you end up feeling happy, it doesn't matter. This is no basis on which to select a religious allegiance. Jesus is not asking God to sanctify his followers in the truth so they can flit here and flit there, sampling every dish on the spiritual smorgasbord. No, he is giving them the Spirit of truth so they may discern the one true path, and follow it.
Prayer For The Day
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a way as gives us breath,
Such a truth as ends all strife,
Such a life as killeth death.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a joy as all can move,
Such a love as none can part,
Such a heart as joy in love.
-- George Herbert (adapted)
To Illustrate
Many years ago, the United States Army issued a guidebook for its noncommissioned officers.
One of the topics in this guidebook was how a sergeant could deal with two soldiers who had been quarreling: how they could rediscover unity and become friends again.
The guide suggests that the two men should be assigned to wash the same window: one outside, one inside. As they stand looking at each other, rags and cleaning fluid in hand, absorbed in a common task, it is all but impossible for them to continue being angry.
***
An old, but still serviceable comic story about ecumenical disunity ...
A shipwreck victim was marooned alone on a desert island for many years. Like Robinson Crusoe, the castaway cleverly constructed everything he needed out of materials he found on the island: bamboo, gourds, coconut shells. He was proud of his handiwork -- so proud that, when a rescue ship finally arrived, he refused to leave, until the captain had accompanied him on a walking tour.
Proudly, the castaway showed the captain everything he'd made: his dugout canoe, the treehouse where he lived, his storehouse bulging with food, the little shed where he kept his fishing gear. Finally they came to the largest structure of all: a magnificent, thatch-roofed building, made of bamboo poles lashed together, with what appeared to be a steeple rising from its roof. Inside, there were rows of handmade benches. Up in front was a pulpit carved from the trunk of a tree, and high in the steeple hung a hollowed-out gourd in the shape of a bell.
It seemed to the captain that this church was the cleverest creation of all. But then he looked out the window ... and saw another building, very much like the one he was standing in.
"If this is your church," he asked the man, "then what do you call that?"
"Oh, pay no attention to that building," answered the castaway. "That's the church I used to go to."
***
A group of pastors from India was once talking with an American relief worker. "You Americans," they told him, "are utterly unequipped for life in the real world."
"You think that life is supposed to be pleasant: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and all that stuff. When it's not, you think something is wrong that you need to fix. Once fixed, you can get back to a normal state: pleasant."
"On the contrary," he continued. "We think life is hard. We know we will suffer. Our challenge is to learn how to trust God in the midst of suffering, find his purposes through it, and still have the courage and hope to change it."
***
One of the items that circulated anonymously by e-mail following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was this set of comparisons -- between Monday, September 10th, and Tuesday, September 11th. What follows is edited from a longer list....
On Monday we e-mailed jokes
On Tuesday we did not
On Monday we thought that we were secure
On Tuesday we learned better
On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes
On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are
On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived
On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met
On Monday there were people fighting against prayer in schools
On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying
On Monday people argued with their kids about cleaning up their room
On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids
On Monday people were upset that they had to wait six minutes in a supermarket line
On Tuesday people didn't care about waiting up to six hours to give blood for the dying ...
On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color, and creed
On Tuesday they were all holding hands ...
Remember, the front of all U.S. coins say ... In God We Trust
***
It's well known that the official seal of Harvard University includes an open book, and the motto, Veritas -- Latin for "Truth." What is not so well known is that this is not the seal Harvard has always had. The original university crest showed three open books -- one of them face-down, to show the limitations of human knowledge. The motto underneath was not simply Veritas, or "Truth," but Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae -- "Truth for Christ and the Church." It is interesting to note how one of the greatest universities in our land, founded originally for the purpose of training young men for the ministry, has strayed so far from its roots. Is there such a thing as independent truth, unmoored from the divine truth in which truth is meant to be grounded? The Gospel of John would say, "No."
***
What is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true but because it might prove useful.... To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion.... It is not enthusiasm, but dogma, that differentiates a Christian from a pagan society.
-- T. S. Eliot
***
The inspirational writer Robert Fulghum tells the story of how he once traveled to Greece, to attend a seminar. On the last day of the conference, the teacher walked over to the bright light of an open window and looked out. Then, he asked if there were any questions. Fulghum, as anyone who's read any of his books knows, is something of a jokester. He laughingly asked the seminar leader what was the meaning of life. Everyone laughed and got ready to leave. But then the leader held up his hand, to ask for silence. He responded, "I will answer your question."
Then, he took his wallet out of his pocket, and removed from it a small round mirror about the size of a quarter. "When I was a small child during World War II," he explained, "we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place. I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun could never shine. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places that I could find. I kept the little mirror, and as I grew up, I would take it out at idle moments and continue the challenge of the game.
"As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game, but a metaphor of what I could do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of the light. But light -- be it truth or understanding or knowledge -- is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world -- into the dark places of human hearts -- and change some things in some people. Perhaps others seeing it happen will do likewise.
"This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."
