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Some of you may remember me.

What Jesus Is Praying For You - John 17: 6-19 - May 24, 2009 - Cicero United

Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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Some of you may remember me. I used to stand up here and talk once in a while. But now I've been quiet for three months. As I e-mailed to Jack and Nancy, three months of preaching stored up. So, I hope no one has made any plans for the rest of the day.

It is so good to be back home. Sharon and I have had some amazing adventures. I suppose the normal way to tell you about that would be to show you the pictures. And we do have a few - a lot - hundreds and hundreds of pictures. We visited some amazing places, made some beautiful friends, and drove past thousands of miles of scenery. Those were a great part of the trip.

But the most important part of the trip we can't show you in pictures. They were the spiritual moments, and they were deep and many. I want you to know that I took very seriously the purpose of this Spiritual Growth leave. And I want to say that there were many moments I was aware that God was preparing me to be back here in effective ministry at Cicero, with renewed energy and ideas. There's no slide show for that, but I hope those are pictures that will come as time goes on.

What is really exciting is what you all have been doing. Clearly in the last three months this church has been under a God-spell. I am so thankful for the pastoral leadership of Jack Keating and Nancy Rehkugler, even though they have put the challenge to me by finishing the Confirmation service before noon! But what a blessing to be away and to know that the pastoral ministry of the church is in such capable hands. And yet I know Jack and Nancy would agree with me - this church goes way beyond pastoral leadership. The lay ministry here is phenomenal. The faithful ministry of our paid staff, and our lay leadership rose to the occasion in powerful ways. We are blessed by such talent and leadership. Since I got back, I've been looking at some of the pictures of that. I've seen the tape of Godspell- wow! I've seen the improvements to the Welcome Center, and heard about Holy Week, and Confirmation, and the presentations to our Lay Person of the Year, and other people lifted up and thanked, and mission trips developing, and operation Vision Quest continuing to unfold toward the purchase of the Conference Center, and more other joys than I could possibly list. God has led this church ahead in the last three months, and Sharon and I need to take some time to get to know the lay of the land again.

And again, the most important part of that is the spiritual part - the pictures you can't show us. What seed of faith has been planted in somebody's heart? Who is encouraged to face the challenge of another day? What child is embraced in God's love? What healing touch has mended a heart? These are the things that are going on here. They are beautiful pictures, whether we see them with our eyes, or deep within our souls. And I believe those things are happening here all the time. I am more convinced than ever that God has put us together - all of us -- for a significant purpose. God has great plans for us -- not so people will see what we're doing here at Cicero UMC and say, "Wow! What a great church!" But rather so this is a place where people will experience some little seed of faith that will lead them to say, "Wow! What a great God! What a beautiful Savior Jesus. I have experienced a new kind of love. I have been shown a new joy, a new hope, a new redeemed and healed life." That's what we're called to announce to the world, and I believe we have everything we need right now to do that in powerful, powerful ways.

I believe that, in part, because Jesus is praying for us. That's what this morning's gospel lesson from John 17 is all about. So let's look at what is happening in those verses. The scene is the Last Supper - Jesus and his disciples gathered for what we commemorate when we celebrate Holy Communion. The first three Gospels -- Matthew Mark and Luke - describe that supper in just a few verses. But John, the Fourth Gospel, devotes five chapters to that meal. And the last chapter of that section, chapter 17, is a prayer lifted by Jesus for his disciples - and, through them, for the church. We may not think about that enough. We talk about prayers for each other, and how important they are - we say, 'I will pray for you' -- as a source of power and healing and hope.

But the most essential person we have praying for us is Jesus. He began it that night just before he knew he would be taken away from his disciples. And as I read this chapter, it strikes me that Jesus lifts - for us - at least four significant prayers. I'd like to quickly lift those up for us today. The first one is in verse 11 of John 17, which ends with these words: "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one." In other words, Jesus' first prayer for us is for unity. Jesus wants his loved ones to be unified.

I imagine his heart must break when he looks at the state of the church and the world today. That prayer is a long ways from being answered. There are such deep divisions in the world. And the church is tom asunder by issue after issue. Why are there so many denominations, so many splinter groups, so many arguing factions in the body of Christ?

I was shamed by an analysis of religious violence on a TV report I watched. An 'expert' on religious violence was answering questions about all the religious wars. And one of the questioners asked him to propose what he believed was the most bloody religious rivalry in all of history: Was it Christians fighting Jews? Moslems fighting Hindus? Christians against Moslems? And so on. His response was that so much as he could estimate, the bloodiest religious rivalry in the history of the world is Christians fighting among themselves. We are a long way from the unity Jesus prayed for.

But there is another side of the coin that complicates this prayer. It should be pointed out that Jesus prayed for unity - not uniformity. That's a huge difference. One of the divisive issues in the church today is that many Christians interpret Jesus' prayer that we all be one as his wanting us to all be identical - to have the same creed, the same lifestyle, the same interpretation of scripture, and so on. That certainly would make life in the church easier for some. I know I'd feel much better if everyone would just think like me. We could all watch Mets games and eat donuts together. Jesus didn't want that kind of uniformity even in his band of twelve disciples. There was diversity, created and celebrated by God, in that group. Just as there is great diversity here. We don't all think alike; we don't all pursue faith the same way. But we are one in the spirit of serving God; and we are one in the spirit of "loving Jesus, sharing his love with a needy world.

A second prayer Jesus made is in verse 13. Jesus prayed to God, "But now 1 am coming to you, and 1 speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves." The second thing Jesus prays for us is joy.

Now, again, you have to wonder is those were just empty words. Did those disciples experience joy in the next few hours when they saw their Savior and friend Jesus arrested, tried, and crucified? Did they experience joy in the remaining journey of their lives when they and so many others were persecuted and martyred in terrible ways for their faith? Have Christians through the ages experienced joy in the sufferings and hardships that have had to be faced in the service of the kingdom? And today, with some of the shattering things that happen in peoples' lives -loss of loved ones, loss of jobs and homes, loss of dreams, sickness and sorrow - is the prayer for joy even close to being answered?

I believe it is. And I believe that is intertwined with a third thing Jesus is praying for us. It is in verse 15, where Jesus prays for his disciples: "I am not asking you to take them out of this world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one." Or, some manuscripts simply say, "Protect them from evil." What is Jesus saying there? As near as I can tell, it is something like this:

When someone becomes a disciple of Jesus, he or she is not simply whisked off to heaven. Life doesn't just become rosy and free from suffering and sorrow. We are part of this world, same as Jesus was; by definition a disciple is someone who is following Jesus here and now in this life. And life can be a pretty tough way to spend your time. Certainly Memorial Day weekend points that out vividly. People died defending life. And people are serving in difficult places today because the world is a demanding and difficult place. Jesus knew that; he knew where his followers had to live. And so he prayed realistically, "1 am not asking you to take them out of this world ..."

"But," he prayed, "I ask you to protect them from evil." We could talk about that verse for a long time, and we don't have that time now. So, I am going to offer what I think is a faithful interpretation from this one preacher's understanding. Jesus seems to me to be saying, "My brothers and sisters will suffer some difficult and trying times. But in the midst of those trying times, don't let them turn away to evil. Protect them from hatred and bitterness in their hearts." And this is the great hope. Evil assails us in this world, just as it did Jesus. But, like Jesus, we don't have to succumb to evil- we can keep a goodness in our hearts that defeats evil from within. I so appreciated the prayer that Sharon and I heard every week in the church we attended in California. Every week they prayed for those serving in the military, especially those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the prayer was always, "Keep them from hatred." I believe that is what Jesus prayed for all of us, wherever we're serving, whatever distress or painful circumstances lie before us - may our hearts and actions continue to reflect the goodness and love we've been shown. May we be strong against the 'evil one' -- whatever that means - and may we feel blessed in even the trials of life, because our Savior Jesus is praying for our joy! The deepest possible joy that assures us that nothing in this life is stronger than God's love for you and me. And that means that life is not just suffering - there are great blessings held out to us.

And so, fourthly, prayed Jesus for his disciples, "Sanctify them in your truth; your word is truth." And what he prayed for us, he also pledged for himself: " ... for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth."

What did it mean for Jesus to be sanctified? It meant he would live his life as close to purity as possible. It meant he would be dedicated to carrying out his destiny before God, to bring hope to hopeless people. It meant he would face an earthly judge without lying; he would carry a hard cross without cursing; he would die without bitterness toward his murderers. And by keeping a sanctified spirit, fueled by the truth of God's unflinching love, Jesus transformed the world. And he prayed that you and I would be just as dedicated to the truth of God's love, because great things would happen if we were. The world is still being transformed, and you and I have a vital part of that in God's plan.

So, as always is the case, Jesus holds up to you and to me this morning an amazing possibility - that if we join together in the circle of his disciples, we can experience unity despite our diversity; joy despite our hardships; goodness of heart despite the abiding reality of evil; and sanctified lives, dedicated to the truth of God's love, despite all the other things that want to pull our focus away.

The concluding words of our church mission statement hold that our reason for being a church is to 'discover, teach, and carry out God's will.' That's what we are called to do as a church, and as individuals. I joked, at the beginning of this sermon, that since I have three months of preaching juice stored up, this message could take all day. Well, it will. The sermon is about to end. But the message of God's truth, God's love for you and all the world - goes on for the rest of the day, and then tomorrow, and then every day beyond that we turn to God and realize this great possibility. It is how we find our destiny; it is hope and healing and salvation; it is a dream that is there waiting to be fully realized. And I have no doubt we will find it.

Because Jesus is praying for us.