May 12, 2013 7th Sunday of Easter

John 17:20-26

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

 “One-ness And Change”

One-ness is not a matter of theory or theology - it is a matter of experience.  It is not sameness, it is respect for differentness in the unity of love.

It is to be an individual who trusts and hopes with others.  It does not mean we are to be all alike; it means we are to be together in being loved by Jesus and our love for one another.

“The Gospel for Easter 7 is a prayer for change.”

Yet change often brings conflict, separation, disagreement, even alienation and disunity; the opposite of what Jesus is praying for.

This is a call for us to be open to the movement of the Spirit and have our attitudes and motives changed by His Spirit into His likeness, day by day.

Change is a sign that the spirit is at work in our lives, and in the life of the church.
Unity comes as we change into His likeness and love as we have been loved.

“Consecrated To The Word”

The Church is the result OF the Word of God.
The Church lives IN the Word of God.
The Church is consecrated TO the Word of God.

We are the Church!

For the Word to get into the world, someone has to speak it, live it, be it.
This is our task as the Church.

What ever else this means, it does mean we have a word of love to carry to a world of hate.

Bertrand Russell, a very vocal opponent of Christianity said it well:

“There are certain things that our age needs...The root of the matter is a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words.  The thing I mean - please forgive me for mentioning it - is love, Christian love, or compassion.  If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide in action, a reason for courage, and imperative necessity for intellectual honesty.”

To be the Church in the world is to be caught by the Word of love and be compelled to ‘meddle” in the world’s affairs because of this Word.
Even as we love to tell the story, we must love to live the story.