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May 4, 2008
John 17:1-11Rev. Dr. David A. Davis
“One”
Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed…. “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” And he prayed “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” And he prayed “All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.” And he prayed “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” And he prayed “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” And he prayed, “the glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one.” And he prayed “I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one.” And he prayed “so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed….that they may be one. One.
There in the Upper Room after Jesus shared those lasting words with the disciples: words like “Do not let your hearts be troubled….and in my Father’s house are many mansions….and I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life….and if you love me, you will keep my commandments…..and the Advocate, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything….and peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you….and I am the vine you are the branches….and this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you….after all those words, and before Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley to the garden of Gethsemane, he looked up to heaven and he prayed for the unity of the church; that they may be one. One.
It is not readily obvious what that means: One. By most any reasonable standard of assessment, the church of Jesus Christ is far from a picture of unity. Reformation. Tradition. Denomination. First Church. Second Church. Third Church. Spin-offs. Split-offs. Schisms. Congregations leaving. New associations forming. Court cases. Assembly votes that are 51% to 49%. Church families torn apart by conflict. Factions for or against. Pastor. Issue. Worship Style. Politics. Theology. Money. Perhaps we should take comfort in being reminded that not all of Jesus’ prayers were answered either: “that they may be one”
Many years ago I was a guest at a wedding and we were sitting on the groom’s side of the church. Communion was being celebrated as part of the ceremony and when it came time for the congregation to receive the worship leader made it very clear who was invited to come to the table and who was not. In the language of history and liturgy, the pastor “fenced the table”, making it clear who was in and who was out. At the appointed time, almost everyone on the bride’s side came forward and almost no one on the groom’s side left their seats. Not a great symbol for “the families becoming one, and the making of a new family.” Far from a great picture of the unity of the church. The irony is so obvious, but it still has to be said, the one meal, the one promise, the one feast, the one sacrament that ought to unite the church because of Christ and him alone, is the meal that most divides the church.
The unity of the church. For some it comes from signing on to a clear list or statement of right doctrine. For some it is finding a fellowship where everyone believes the same and votes the same and thinks the same. For some it means driving a congregation by a set of core values that are crystal clear and fit on a business card and chart the course forward. For some it is going to a church that will only worship the way you like or want, which means of course that everyone else likes the same hymns and songs and movement and dress and instruments that you do; everyone does the sacraments that way you want them done. Not that long ago in the literature of the church growth movement, it was said over and over again that the best way to grow a congregation was to nurture “homogenius units”; folks who look the same, families defined the same, socio-economic status the same. You understand the theory. People flock to be around folks just like them. It may, in fact, be true, part of our humanity. But that’s not the unity of the church.
“That they may be one,” Jesus prayed, “I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Our unity, our oneness, is in Christ and him alone. It is not about worship or doctrine or institution or agreeing with everybody, or even frankly, liking everybody. It is about Christ among us, Christ within us. As Professor Dan Migliore puts it, “The unity of the church is a fragmentary and provisional participation in the costly love of the triune God.” A passing glimpse. A momentary event. Even an instant; when you and I get just a taste of the love God has for Jesus, the love Jesus has for God the Father, the love shared in the power of the Holy Spirit, just an instant where that love is real among us, between us. So that our relationship, our life together, is just a fragment, just a little itty bitty reflection of God and Jesus and the Spirit. God the Three in One. The unity of the church. It is not something you figure out. It’s not something you wrap your head around or even write about. It is something you experience, something you live, something you crave.
Last summer in Israel our group went into many, many churches. Galilee. Nazareth. Bethlehem. Jerusalem. Most of the historic sites, the famous spots, the holy places; Annunication, Nativity, Holy Sepulchre….they are churches out of the Orthodox tradition, or the Roman Tradition….lots of candles, and incense, and icons, and ornate things…..lots of things foreign to my Protestant upbringing. One afternoon we had some free time in the Old City of Jerusalem. A few of us found our way into the Lutheran Church. It was so beautifully simple. There were just a few banners. The paraments were green for ordinary time. There was a table and a fount and a pulpit and pews. I sat down in the simple silence of it all and breathed a heavy sigh. It felt like home--almost. I say almost because it was still an empty room.
One pastor described the routine of sermon preparation; the study and the prayer and the writing. Long about Wednesday morning early, he would go into the sanctuary and sit by himself to be quiet and to pray and think about the sermon. He would always sit somewhere different. Some mornings he would move around to different places. He would sit in Mrs. Wickerham’s pew and try to count how many years she had been there. He would sit where Mr Shew sits. Mr Shew always arrives for worship 45 minutes early. He’s always in the room all by himself when the pastor walks in. “I have to get my game face on” Mr. Shew says every Sunday morning with a wave. The pastor calls back“Pray for me this morning” as he walks by. On Wednesday morning, there in the sanctuary, the pastor prays for Mr. Shew. The Kraft family, they sit over there. One less since a son went off to college last fall. And Tina McWilliams, she’s the teenager who sits here most Sundays after her mom drops her off. “Every week,” the pastor said referring to the mid-week ritual “the congregation joins me in writing the sermon. Every time I’m in that room (the sanctuary), I can see them”.
The Christian Century published an article about the ritual of the pastor shaking hands at the church door after worship. The author commented that in seminary he learned so much about almost everything that is done in worship and why. But no one ever told him why he had to stand at the door. Well, no one has ever explained to me another very fundamental church practice. No one has ever told me why so many people sit in the same general spot week after week after week when it comes to church. Sure, it’s about habit, and there’s the awkward moment when a visitor takes the favorite spot, and people always seemed surprised when the preacher notices that you’ve been in a different place one Sunday. But no one has ever really said why this room looks so familiar week in and week out.
When you close your eyes and imagine this room, the sanctuary of Nassau Presbyterian Church, there’s this canvas, this tableau. Yes, there’s the simple beauty, and there’s the sight lines, and the choir loft and organ, and the table and the font and the pulpit. But when you close your eyes and imagine the room, there are these faces. They sit here. He sits there. And that little one, she’s always over here. And they like it way back there. He’s always up here. Even when you’re feeling like a stranger and no one greets you, there are these faces. When Trumpet Voluntary plays, or we’re singing “Abide with Me”, in joy or in grief, there are these faces. Even when the room is empty, there are these faces. It must be part of the reason why so many sit in the same place. Because the landscape of faces that forms around you, the landscape is etched into your experience of worship, into your experience of this room. The faces. It’s part of what it means to be the church.
Yes, the church is reformed, always reforming according to the Word of God and the call of the Spirit (Book of Order) Yes “wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists (John Calvin, Book IV). Yes, Jesus said where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them (The Gospel of Matthew).
But when you and I, when we can look at those faces, when we close our eyes and know ourselves in this place to be surrounded by such a cloud of witness, these faces, when we can look around here and see in one another the very presence of Christ, these faces, with all the bumps and bruises and sins and hurt and disagreement and rough edges, the very presence of Christ Jesus, if only a glimpse, a fleeting moment, a provisional participation, a fragment, when you and I, when we can look around and see the face of Christ Jesus looking back at us….well, that’s the unity of the church.
Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed for the unity of the church, that they may be one. One.
Come. Taste. Taste and SEE.
© 2008, Property of Nassau Presbyterian Church
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