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Acts 1:6-14
Psalm 68:1-10; 33-36
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
John 17:1-11
The Collect of the Day
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. (John 17:1-11)
Teacher and Nourisher
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
Have you ever been a teacher? I think all of us are teachers at some level. Some are professional teachers. But all of us serve as examples, and teach those around us either consciously or unconsciously. That is we are like sponges. We observe and soak up all sorts of things from those around us.
My mother, for example, taught me about genetics when she would say, “You are just like your father!” And when she came into my room, she had things to say about my heritage, “You weren’t born in a pig sty!”
One Easter Sunday, a family had gathered at the home of the Great Grandmother, and while the men folk were in the living room lying to one another about their fishing trips and talking about other guy stuff, the women were in the kitchen preparing supper. The youngest daughter watched as her mother cut off the end of the ham before she put it in the roasting pan.
“Mom, why do you always cut off the end of the ham like that?” she asked.
“Because my mother always did it that way” she explained.
“But why did she do that?” the daughter persisted.
“Why don’t you ask her when she comes back?” her mother replied.
When the girl’s Grandmother came in the girl asked her why she cut of the end of the ham before cooking it. The grandmother thought for a while and then said, “Well, because my mother always did it that way.”
Finally when the girl’s Great Grandmother came into the kitchen, the young girl asked her the question. “I don’t know why they cut off the end.” she answered, “I did it because I never had a roasting pan big enough!”
Do you remember learning something from your parents – perhaps like how to fry chicken or how to build a dog house – and then having them tell you that it was time for you to do it by yourself? Watching and helping a little was one thing; it was entirely another to do the whole thing by yourself, knowing that you would be judged by them and your family and friends. Remember your nervousness when you cooked that first Thanksgiving turkey for your parents and your in-laws?
In today’s Gospel lesson, we hear Jesus’ prayer and best wishes for his students, the disciples. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world.” Jesus says. “They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.” The disciples know everything! Put another way, Jesus is confident that they know how to cut the end off the ham, and how to build a dog house.
But I wonder how they felt?! Last Week the Church celebrated the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, and so today, we can imagine the disciples standing around on that hilltop, hearing Jesus’ words of confidence ringing in their ears that they are ready to go forth into the world and continue his teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God. I wonder if the disciples were like a bunch of Laurels and Hardys, standing around looking at one another saying, “Well, this is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into this time, Ollie!” An unkind image, perhaps, but one that begs the question: ”Oh my. Do we really know what to do now?”
Were they confident as they went forth from that hill to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? Did they really trust in their own knowledge enough to proclaim Jesus as the messiah?
Jesus apparently felt they had what they needed. In this chapter of John, John uses the word “known” ten times to refer to the knowledge given to the disciples through Jesus’ life and ministry. The Old Testament regularly uses the word “known” for personal intimacy. For example, Adam knew Eve, and bore Abel, their son. The conception of a child is not the important thing here, but rather the intimate knowledge shared between two people that can give rise to feelings of deep love, profound trust, great hope, and tremendous confidence.
The kind of knowledge Jesus prays about is not just intellectual knowledge of God, or a conceptual understanding of the relationship between Jesus and God. But rather, Jesus prays that his disciples will feel deep, intimate relationship with God, like the friendship and love Jesus has for his disciples. Jesus taught his disciples something very important about the real presence of God in their lives, and how life giving an intimate, personal relationship with God can be. And more than that, Jesus taught them the importance of relationship in supporting and nourishing the intimacy we have with God. In the Book of Acts, when the apostles gather as a group in Jerusalem and devote themselves to prayer together with a number of women and the brothers of Jesus, they don’t practice their faith in isolation, but rather in a network of relationships. Then, after the day of Pentecost, they share their possession with one another, worship together, and earn the good will of all the people. In three short years of Jesus’ ministry, he opened up the disciples’ eyes to a whole new inclusive and generous view of God’s infinite love. And day by day, their hearts were opened to all people – including the Gentiles.
I was video taping my daughter one time when she was at that cruising stage, just learning to walk. I watched her through the view finder tentatively taking those first few steps. From behind the camera, I was encouraging her to walk toward me. She took a few steps, only to end up on her bottom. And with each “plop” I would encourage her to try again. And then it happened. She took a half a dozen steps on her own, walking toward me and the camera. She was so pleased with herself and I whisked her up in the air and cheered and praised her for what she had done. It is in moments like this where we can truly feel a kind of deep intimacy and love that fosters achievement.
Our parents, grandparents, friends, school teachers, and our Sunday School teachers profoundly influence us in our lives. Their influence comes from the deep intimacy they share with us and that we can offer them. This is the kind of penetrating knowledge that Jesus referred to when he spoke of God’s love for him, and his love of the disciples. It is the kind of love that fosters achievement.
Today, we are honoring not only our youth, but the teachers and parents who have been so formative in our young people’s lives. For many of us, the intimacy we experience with our parents and Sunday School teachers provides us with our first glimpses of the kind of heavenly love and wholeness we can experience with God and in God. And that kind of intimacy is what makes possible a degree of teaching and learning that is not readily obtained in other learning situations or in other relationships. The knowledge obtained is more penetrating and pervasive than nearly any other. It is deeply personal.
The level of intimacy in the parent-child or Sunday School teacher-pupil relationship arises out of a sense of personal vocation. A vocation is something that is more than craft, art, career, or task. It is something that arises our of a personal sense of call, as any parent or Sunday School teacher will tell you. It is self sacrificing, nurturing, and giving. It is a vocation that at its very best understands the commandment to love one another with a profound and perhaps godly level of intensity and intimacy.
It is a vocation that indeed has the capacity to empower children and others to achieve things with confidence. It is a vocation that leads our young people to embrace the traditions of our church, and work toward the betterment of others and the very world itself, empowered by the knowledge and love of Jesus.
Jesus had taught the disciples all he could about being intimate with God, and, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, the disciples were alone. Were they confident, or were they scratching their heads, wondering what to do next? I think that in time, they knew exactly what to do. They recalled the intimate knowing of Jesus and God together in their very souls. They strengthened each other in community, and began to reach out to others. In time they went forth in confidence taking little steps at first followed by bigger and bolder ones and their spiritual trust grew. The nurturing, intimate, very maternal qualities of Jesus served to empower them, and the Holy Spirit sustained them after Jesus was no longer with them.
Our Sunday School teachers and their students build similar relationships with our youth. And the product of that labor of love is what you see around you today. Children empowered by the love of their teachers, and embraced by the Holy Spirit. Teachers empowered by their love of their vocation. And all of us in the community are enriched by it all. And for that I say, Thanks be to God!
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When he apostles had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is thisthe time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
Psalm 68:1-10; 33-36 Exsurgat Deus
1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; *
let those who hate him flee before him.
2 Let them vanish like smoke when the wind drives it away; *
as the wax melts at the fire, so let the wicked perish at
the presence of God.
3 But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; *
let them also be merry and joyful.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to his Name;
exalt him who rides upon the heavens; *
YAHWEH is his Name, rejoice before him!
5 Father of orphans, defender of widows, *
God in his holy habitation!
6 God gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners into freedom; *
but the rebels shall live in dry places.
7 O God, when you went forth before your people, *
when you marched through the wilderness,
8 The earth shook, and the skies poured down rain,
at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, *
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 You sent a gracious rain, O God, upon your inheritance; *
you refreshed the land when it was weary.
10 Your people found their home in it; *
in your goodness, O God, you have made provision for the poor.
33 Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; *
sing praises to the Lord.
34 He rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; *
he sends forth his voice, his mighty voice.
35 Ascribe power to God; *
his majesty is over Israel;
his strength is in the skies.
36 How wonderful is God in his holy places! *
the God of Israel giving strength and power to his people!
Blessed be God!
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
The Mission of Trinity Episcopal Church is to be an open and diverse Christian family dedicated to serving God and all creation by fostering spiritual growth through worship, prayer, education, service, stewardship, and celebration. |
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Copyright © 2008, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
1 May 2008
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