“The glory you have given me I have given them, so
that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:22)
Don’t
you love being part of a family? Not just a family that swims in the same gene
pool, mind you, but a group of people with common goals and interests who love
and trust one another and have each other’s backs. I’ll bet Jesus’ first
disciples were that kind of family, and the early church must’ve felt much the
same way.
Lately
I’ve been reminiscing about my old seminary buddies. Thanks to the miracle of
social media (which didn’t even exist the year we graduated from the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia![i]) I’ve been able to keep up
with some of them. One has become the bishop of Upstate New York Synod, one is
on the synod staff down in Florida, one is now a seminary professor in
California, and one is a hospice chaplain in South Dakota. Some have changed
denominations, some have retired (one retiree lives on a boat with her husband
and sails the Caribbean), and a few—alas!—have gone home to the Lord. The
Church and the Holy Spirit have sent us each on our own journeys, but I like to
think there’s a common bond between us which, should we ever sail into each
other’s lane again, will make us feel like we’ve never been apart.
I’m
grateful to my “Pastor School” classmates for many things and many sweet and
wacky memories, but one thing I recall today is the way we promised to pray for
one another. In our last semester each of us, in order to be ordained, had to
appear before his or her home synod’s Approval Panel—an experience we
acquainted with answering to the Spanish Inquisition. Each day, as we sat at
lunch in the seminary refectory, we’d ask, “Who’s got an Approval today?” and
we’d say a prayer for that fellow student. My home synod was Southwest
California, which necessitated I fly back to LA in order to be grilled by the
wise potentates who would decide my fate. My appointment was at 9:00 AM, just
the same time, given the three-hour time difference, when my buddies in Philly would
be sitting down to lunch. I remember feeling strangely calm (which is really
strange, since I’m almost never calm) and at peace about the whole
business. I felt safe and wrapped in a blanket of prayers coming my way from
those who cared about me and wanted me to succeed.
In
the Gospel lesson for Easter 7, Year C (John 17:20-26) Jesus is praying for his
little family which he’s about to leave. Not only is he praying for them, but
he’s praying for us too:
“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf
of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.”
This
is Jesus’ great prayer for his followers, that we become a family as tight with
one another as he is with his dad. I’ll admit, that’s a pretty tall order. From
the very first Christians have had some family dysfunction. Our egos and jealousies
have made it hard for us to sit down together at the Thanksgiving dinner table
and rejoice as siblings should. We love to bicker over details about what the
Trinity means and the nature of sin and the right way to worship. We’re all set
to be martyrs for our own opinions and burn heretics at the stake for
disagreeing with us. Let’s just face it: being a family is hard. But here we
are, all the same.
I
think what Jesus was trying to do on that night in which he had his last supper
with this little family was give them a master class on how to be the Church.
He got down on hands and knees and washed their feet, demonstrating how we are
to be present to help and serve each other. Then he prayed for them like a
parent would pray for his or her children, asking God to keep them safe and
help them get along.
Jesus
is praying for us. He’s asking that God’s love would be in us so we can love
one another. Maybe the best way to access this love is to be in regular and
disciplined prayer for one another. I think there is something amazingly
comforting in knowing that another is actively, lovingly praying for you.
Perhaps our discipline should be spending a few minutes each morning in
intercessory prayer for someone whom the Holy Spirit is putting on your heart.
If you’re praying for that person, you might then want to reach out and contact
them. Who knows? Your connection might be just the thing someone else needs at
this very moment.
Christian
legends tell us those first disciples were swept by the Holy Spirit to distant
lands from which they never returned. They didn’t have Facebook or Instagram or
smart phones to keep up with each other. But I’ll bet they prayed for one
another all the same.
Somebody
you know needs a prayer today. Send on up for that person, won’t you?
[i]
Now part of the United Lutheran Seminary, a merger between the Lutheran
seminaries in Philly and Gettysburg.
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