Sunday, May 20, 2012

"Completely Sent"


(A Sermon for our Senior Recognition Sunday)

GOSPEL READING: JOHN 17:6-19
6“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. 7Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8for 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.

9I 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. 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11And 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. 12While 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.

13But 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. 14 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. 15I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

SERMON: “Completely Sent”
My high school graduation was memorable for one reason.  It was not because of all the family and friends gathered there.  It was not memorable because of the hideously unattractive geometric hats we all had to wear.  It was not memorable because I managed to walk across the stage without tripping or sneezing.  It was memorable because of the Salutatorian’s speech.  After reminding us that we were young and so should “make as many mistakes as possible”, she proudly announced to her Father that she had recently had her belly button pierced.    No one remembered the Valedictorian’s speech after that. 

Now, I’m not sure what little pearls of wisdom Natalie and Taylor will receive at their graduation ceremonies, but just in case it veers in the direction of a candid confession that makes a whole crowd of people fidget uncomfortably, I’d like to take time this morning to say a few words to them myself as we explore this other Lord’s prayer found in John.

Jesus, preparing to leave this earth, did not gather a huge crowd around him and confess his deepest, darkest secrets to them and then disappear into heaven in a puff of smoke.  He had a small dinner with his buddies and then he prayed this prayer.

Walter Wink, that great theologian and activist who sadly passed away last week, paraphrases this prayer well, speaking from Jesus’ perspective as he prays for his followers (including us).  He says,

“All mine are yours, and yours are mine. They are yours, I am yours, you are ours. As I have humanized your divinity, so you are divinizing our humanity. The qualitative distinction between you and us dissolves.  Enfold them in your very being. You cannot surround them with a perfect providence that prevents their suffering the normal outrages of physical illness or rejection and persecution by the Powers. You certainly haven't done that for me! But in that enfolding you can make them one with you and with me and with each other.  You can give them the peace that passes understanding.

But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. They do not yet understand that my leaving them will complete their joy. Right now they are content with theophanies, disclosures of divine love and power, signs and wonders. But the thing they lack is completion in themselves. Like a catalyst I have opened them to their utmost possibilities, but they have persisted in identifying them with me. In my absence they will be thrown on your power within them. When they discover that power, their joy will be boundless.

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. God, deliver them from misunderstanding me as preaching heaven when they die! Theirs is not a flight to the world beyond, but the creation of a new world in the shell of the old.

This rendering of John 17 opens us up to hear what this prayer is really saying.  “In the world but not of it” – it does not really say this.  Understanding that the Greek word for “world” used here means more systems and powers, it says instead that we in the church are in the world, but not defined by it.  In the world…but not belonging to the destructive powers within it. 

Belonging instead to the creative power of God.  Belonging to one another so completely that we become “one” and God and Jesus are one, and that we are sent into the world just as Jesus was sent.  Belonging to ourselves to such an extent that we know that, no matter what we face, we are complete just as we are, and discovering deep joy in our own skin.

And so this prayer of Jesus is for each of us, but this morning, Taylor and Natalie, it is for you.

You already know what it is to be confronted with systems that try to define you as someone you’re not: who want to label you in one fixed category and who fail to see all of the dimensions of your identity.  You already know how overwhelming the pressure to conform can be and how resisting that pressure can often bring pain and judgment.  You already know the demands of making your place in the world, studying what makes you feel most alive and preparing to part from some of your closest friends as you go off to college.  As you leave the familiar and bravely go where God is calling you next, those voices and pressures will only get louder: telling you that you are only “complete” when you have this technology or that relationship, when you are at this party or get that grade. 

As your church family, as your pastor, as the place where you can always come “home” again, I want to tell you this:
You are already complete.

All of the strength to cope with the changes this year will bring, all of the proof of God guiding you, all of the courage to continue being your own person, lies within you.  You are in this world in creative, talented, giving ways.  You are already bringing compassion, acceptance and joy where the systems of this world insist on competition, judgment and fear.  But while being in this world, you are not defined by it.  The God who flung the stars into the heavens and made your dog’s ears so furry breathes through you, making you out of that same divine stuff.  You belong to the God who made you just exactly as you are (and who did a pretty good job of it, I might add).

And so my prayer for both of you, echoing this ancient prayer of Jesus,  is that you would never forget how complete you are.  Never allow those worldly voices of status and criticism to become louder than the voice of God within you.  Never allow a new environment or new people around you to keep you from being the vibrant, joyful young women that you are.  Never allow the labels placed on you or others keep you from reaching out to everyone, as Jesus did.

God is sending you out from this place and has already filled you with all you need for that journey.  You will impact this world in beautiful, extraordinary ways.  God will use your words, Natalie, and your art, Taylor, to build a new world of hope and light.  All of this means change. And if ever all that change becomes too overwhelming, or if you just need to remember who you are, we are always here for you.  We will keep praying for you, as Jesus did, that you will discover the power of God we already see within you and that your joy will be boundless.  We love you!  Amen.

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