The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 17th Chapter
Jesus continued to pray, ‘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.
While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
We missed something. We missed the Ascension. We missed the celebration... it’s technically a Feast, really... a Principal Feast at that, and that puts it up there in importance with Easter and Christmas and yet we missed it! We’re not alone though. Lots of people miss the Ascension, mostly because it always falls on a Thursday… that's not a good excuse to miss it, but it does fall on Thursday.
The Ascension is the day after the resurrection where we remember Jesus telling his disciples that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit and they would be his witnesses, starting where they were and then reaching out to everywhere in the earth. Then Jesus was lifted up and carried away in a cloud. The disciples stood there staring up at the sky with their mouths hanging open catching flies in shock, which I suppose is fairly understandable. But soon, two angels came and told them, “Men of Galilee, SNAP OUT OF IT! Jesus will come in the same way you saw him go! SO GET ON WITH THE MISSION!”
That’s where we are. We’re in this IN-BETWEEN time between Ascension and the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost, remembering the disciples left alone and God feeling... distant. Maybe not quite as distant as it felt between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but still, Jesus was gone... God felt distant and their future had again become uncertain. It’s here in that middle, waiting, uncertain time that we hear today’s Gospel. I can almost imagine the disciples standing there in the field looking up to where Jesus had just been, thinking… “Now what? Does anyone remember what he said the last time he left?”
Well, the LAST time Jesus had left was Good Friday and in THAT in-between time they hadn’t yet experienced the Resurrection. THIS time they KNEW that not even DEATH could keep God away forever... but HOW God would transform this most recent ending into a glorious new beginning was anyone’s guess and in the mean time, Jesus was still gone and God still felt distant.
I think remembering those times in Scripture when Jesus was absent... when God felt distant... the time in-between the ending of one thing and the new beginning of another... I think remembering those times helps us understand our own experiences when God feels distant. It doesn’t FIX those confusing, painful, in-between times, but I think it helps to hear that we are not the first disciples to ever live in-between one of God’s endings and one of God’s new beginnings. It helps, I think, to remember that we’re not the first AND it also helps to look back at what Jesus prayed as they headed into that first in-between time... Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, PROTECT them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be ONE, as we are ONE.”
Prince of Peace, St. Mark’s... the whole K-6... the New England Synod, the Diocese of Maine... really all of the Christian Church to be completely honest... is standing in one of God’s great in-between times. The Church as we have known it for the last 500 years has ended and we have been left, very much like the original disciples, staring up at the sky with our mouths gapping open looking at the spot where the Church as we knew it was... just a minute ago! We’ve all been left here, mouths hanging open, in-between what God was doing before and what God is planning to do next. It happened in-between Good Friday and Easter. It happened in-between Ascension and Pentecost. It happened as the Church moved from being persecuted by the Roman Empire to becoming the official religion of the Empire. It happened when the Eastern Church and the Western Church split, it happened in the Reformation and it’s happening now.
So here we are. Just like those disciples... standing on the hillside staring at the sky with our mouths gapping open... Staring at the place where the Church we grew up with, loved, trusted and followed....our Church... WAS... just a minute ago! And like Jesus after the Ascension... it’s now just... GONE! So here we are... in-between the Church as it WAS, but not quite yet to the time when God will bring the new thing into being.
I’m sure it felt horrible for the disciples in between Good Friday and Easter. I'm sure the time in-between the Ascension and Pentecost was hard too. But regardless of how those IN-BETWEEN times felt for the disciples... THIS in-between time FEELS HARD for us NOW! It is hard. But perhaps the thing to do is to take our cue from the disciples at the Ascension as we face OUR in-between times. Perhaps the thing to do, is to first look back and REMEMBER the prayer Jesus prayed. REMEMBER that Jesus prayed for our protection so that we could all be ONE.
But then do more than simply REMEMBER. I also think we are being told, like those first disciples, to “GO” into the world and LIVE THAT PRAYER of unity INTO BEING! We’re being called to both remember Jesus praying for us to be ONE… but also to GO and LIVE INTO BEING ONE… to stick together, not bury our heads in the sand in denial or spin apart trying to find someone to blame AND BRING that unity into the world!
I think we’ve made a pretty good start here, living together into being ONE, but the work is really just beginning. We’ve made a good start locally, but as Jesus said, we're not to stop until we reach the ends of the earth! These in between times are neither comfortable nor easy and there is not a pre-planned program to see us through to the other side. There is, however, Good News! Resurrection always follows death, Pentecost always comes after Ascension, and God is bringing something amazing into being on the other side of OUR in-between time too!
So just as the angels said to the disciples back then… they are speaking again to us now saying, "People! Snap out of it! It’s time to stop staring at the place on the horizon where the Church used to be! It’s time now to instead remember that we have God's protection for whatever lies ahead in the in-between. It's time to remember that we have been called to be ONE with each other and it is time to actively work to BECOME ONE with our brothers and sisters, near to home and to the ends of the earth! May we be ONE with each other as we wait in this in-between time to be amazed once again by the God who brings hope out of despair, joy out of pain and life out of death. Amen.
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