Guided in Prayer -- A Message for May 16, 2021

 

This is the last Sunday before the festival of Pentecost.  And, on Thursday of this past week, 40 days after Easter, we marked another Ascension Day on our calendars.  On Ascension Day, we remember the moment when the Resurrected Jesus transitioned from living in the earthly realm to the heavenly realm.  The Disciples who were with Jesus described Jesus as floating up into heaven – he drifted out of sight.  And, they were left alone.

            Before Jesus left them, he spoke the prayer we read today.  Listen to Jesus’ words where he prays that his followers will be protected from the evils of the world.  We read the prayer as it is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 17, verses six through nineteen:

Scripture Reading                                    John 17:6-19

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 

Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 

For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 

I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 

All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  

For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer for Understanding

By the power of your Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts to receive your Word, O God, so that we may recognize your call to serve in the name of Jesus Christ, the Living Word. Amen.      

             In January of 2005, on a very cold morning, I drove to the Amtrak station in Harrisburg and dropped off my father.  He was travelling back to Missouri on the train.  In the preceding week, I drove with my dad from Missouri to Hamburg, Pennsylvania.  When we arrived, I rented an old farmhouse sight unseen.  We slept on the floor of the farmhouse that night.  The next day, we went to Walmart and bought cleaning supplies and potato chips and cleaned the farmhouse – we had to prep it before the moving truck arrived with my furniture.  The next day, we drove to Harrisburg.  After a difficult lunch, we drove to the train station.  When we pulled up, I couldn’t hold back my tears.  My dad was leaving me….leaving me in Pennsylvania (of all places) and was returning to Missouri.  I was all on my own.

            The Disciples struggled with being alone, struggled with becoming like orphans, when Jesus was crucified.  They were in shock as they comforted each other in their grief…..  But, then the Easter Miracle happened.  Jesus resurrected from the dead.  He appeared to Mary Magdalene.  He appeared to the Disciples walking on the Road to Emmaus.  He appeared to the Disciples who were gathered in a room together.  He appeared to the Disciples and Doubting Thomas.  For the 40 days after Easter, Jesus kept showing up.

            So, the initial grief the Disciples felt after Good Friday was cooled.  They didn’t need to grieve because Jesus was back.   But, even though Jesus was resurrected, he kept telling his disciples that he wasn’t going to stay on earth forever.  He was going to leave them again. And, they were going to be the people who had to carry on his ministry in the world.

            Before Jesus Ascended to Heaven, and went to be in the Heavenly realm with God, he prayed for his disciples.  He asked God to watch over and protect his friends.  He asked God to give them strength and guidance.  He asked God to help them stay unified in their mission, unified in their work.  He asked God to sanctify them – this means to be filled to the brim with the Spirit of God and emboldened to do God’s work in the world.

            Jesus told his Disciples, before he left them, that they were not going to be left as Orphans.  God was not going to forget them. And, we know the end of the story.  We know that Ascension Day comes 40 days after Easter.  On the 50^th day after Easter, we arrive at the Pentecost celebration.  On the Pentecost Sunday, God’s Holy Spirit came to Earth.  God’s Holy Spirit poured into the Disciples.  God was among them. God was in them.  And, with that little bit of God in them, the Disciples were able to become wonderful communicators (they could even speak in formerly unknown languages). They became wonderful preachers. They became healers. They became church organizers and church starters.  They became missionaries. With just a little bit of the Holy Spirit, they could do amazing things.

            When we read Jesus’ prayer this morning, we are reminded that Jesus makes sure we are watched after.  We are not left alone.  God is with us.  God’s Holy Spirit, the part of God that is here on earth all the time, is with us now.  Sometimes we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit a little – it is gentle.  Sometimes, we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit a lot – it nags us to do the right thing, it emboldens us, it helps us gather up our courage. 

            We have spent 14 months in a very strange, lonely, season.  We are finally starting to get back to normal after months of lock-downs and restrictions and masks and social distancing.  People have stayed at home and not visited loved ones or gone on trips.  More people are working from home since pre-industrial times.  More kids are doing school at home than ever in the history of public education.  Our dependable support network, the friends, co-workers, and family members we rely on, have become people we talk to more over texts and phone calls than we see or talk to in-person.  Everything suddenly and radically changed when we went into pandemic mode.

            And, in this midst of all of this Covid-time, God has been with us.  God has protected us. God’s Holy Spirit has been among us, to help us when we have become ill, to strengthen us as we have cared for each other. God has been with is to alleviate our anxiety and fears.  God has been with us to reassure us that we will develop treatments and vaccines….we will develop strategies to protect us from the virus.  God has been with us to comfort us when we have been lonely, when we have missed our people. 

            Jesus’ prayer is a reminder that we are God’s beloved children.  We will never be alone. God is watching over us and God’s Holy Spirit is here among us. Today, tomorrow and always. Thanks be to God. Amen.