A Love Prayer

May 23, 2004 (Seventh Sunday of Easter)

  by The Rev. Linda Yeager, Deacon

- Acts 16:16-34
- Psalm 47
- Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20
- John 17:20-26

(From The Lectionary Page)

Today's gospel reading is a prayer, the last prayer, according to John, that Jesus utters before going into the garden where he is betrayed by Judas. It is a prayer that he offers for the disciples and for all those who will become disciples throughout the ages, including you and me: "I ask not only on behalf of these (the disciples), but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one." This is a prayer for unity if ever there was one. And Jesus has a strong reason for desiring this unity: " . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." It is a prayer about love.

Jesus knows that his time with the disciples is drawing to a close, and he speaks to his Father about the future of his followers: "I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which youhave loved me may be in them, and I in them." Who they were and who we are depends on this intimate indwelling of Christ -- he in us and we in him.

Once we accept that bond of love and unity, we have no choice but to reveal our faith in all that we do. "Man is what he believes," the great Russian writer Anton Chekhov stated. Man -- and I assume he means woman, too--is what he or she believes. We see this in the lives of all people. We see it in the lives of Silas and Paul in today's reading from Acts. The owners of a young slave girl were using her to make money for themselves through her fortune telling. Paul recognized that her gift was not from God and exorcised the slave girl. The owners, obviously displeased with the loss of income, dragged Paul and Silas before the civil authorities, accusing them of disturbing the city. They were thrown into prison, and the jailer who had been instructed to keep them securely, put them far away into a corner and placed their feet in stocks. During the night, however, an earthquake shook the prison enough to jar the doors open and dislodge the chains. When the jailer discovered this situation, he was ready to take his life, assuming that Paul and Silas had escaped. Instead, the pair had remained in the prison, and they evangelized the jailer and his family. Paul and Silas could have justified their actions in escaping; they had a mission to share the gospel message. Because they were united to Christ in love, they acted as Christ would have and reached out to the jailer and to his family.

I read a couple of articles in the paper last week that speak of those who are what they believe. The first article was about Steve Palermo, the major league baseball umpire who was shot in 1991 while attempting to assist two women who were being mugged. The bullet entered Palermo's right side, and he suffered a spinal cord injury. Palermo could have, understandably, been obsessed with only his own recovery. Instead, while receiving therapy, he became acquainted with a young boy who was paralyzed and was also receiving therapy. But one day the boy wasn't there. Palermo learned that the boy's insurance had run out. Inspired by the futility of this young boy's situation, Palermo and his wife decided to form a foundation which has raised millions of dollars for spinal cord injury research. Recently the University of Kansas has joined with Palermo's foundation to establish a facility for paralysis research. "Man is what he believes."

Another article tells about Frank Blacknall, a Kansas City dentist, who runs the Indian Springs Dental Clinic. He does not see patients who have private insurance, but treats only families on Health-Wave or Medicaid, or cash patients who have no insurance and little ability to pay. The facility employs four dentists, 14 dental assistants and two oral hygienists; some of the staff is bilingual. Fewer private-practice dentists are seeing patients who are on HealthWave or Medicaid, citing lower reimbursement and slow payment. Dr. Blacknall, who was five when his father died and was reared by a disabled mother, understands what it means to have no dental care.  Instead of opening a lucrative practice, Dr. Blacknall has set up a practice that is on a bus line and accessible to those with low or no incomes. "Man is what he believes."

When we are bound to Christ in love, we are unified one to another. We feel a kinship with all people because we are Christ's representatives in this place at this time. What does that mean? How can we carry such a heavy burden? Who are we to portray Christ to the world? What do we do?

The beauty of being unified with Christ and one another is that we don't really have to do anything. We simply are. We are motivated in both our thoughts and actions by love. Therefore, while we will make mistakes, and while our best intentions may fail miserably, and while people will misunderstand our motives, we will be unified with the one who has already overcome the world. And that unity brings peace to our lives.

Have you ever had an experience when you knew you were at one with Christ?  Have you ever listened to someone without judging and without interrupting and without competing internally, and suddenly you felt a peace come over you and you were freed from petty emotions? Have you ever let someone else take the credit without feeling martyred or without carrying resentment?  Have you ever forgiven someone for a misunderstanding without a sense of self-righteousness or without a bit of self-congratulation?

These feelings of union with Christ encourage us to move even closer to the freedom that comes with giving ourselves to love. While the experiences that we encounter may seem small and insignificant, they encompass our lives and who we are. What this means in the larger sense is symbolized by Paul and Silas's experience when the jailer and his entire household became believers. Our lives mirror our faith and others want the peace that we exhibit when we are free in Christ. It's the best kind of evangelizing because others move toward the unity they see within us.

Will we always succeed? Of course not. Will we avoid tragedy and pain?  I'm afraid not. Will we suffer at the hands of humankind? Perhaps. But in a world where nations brutalize one another, where it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, where no candidate seems like the right candidate, where poverty is growing and the ultra-rich keep consuming more goods and building larger houses, where children are abandoned and we can't save them all, where does healing start if not with the us, with the Church?

Karl Barth said, "The Church exists to set up in the world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to the world's own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise."

Jesus is the "bright morning star," as we read in the passage from Revelation in today's scripture. "Let anyone who is thirsty come," we read.  "Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift . . . ." Each of us thirsts for the bond of love that joins us to Christ, that frees us from the bond of hatred that exists around us, that unites us to one another. Christ prayed that we would all be one.

If we who are the Church do not strive to live this unity, who will?