May 21, 2023 – Easter +6A: John 17:1-11

After Jesus had spoken these words [to his disciples], he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
 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.” John 17:1-11

Do you know?  Do you know where or when or why? This has been the question asked by people for thousands of years – around the world, around our country – around our community. We are people who seek information, so we ask this question a lot.  We ask this question because we want to know – knowing is important in this world. Do you know where or when or why?

Do you know why – perhaps we should seek an answer to the question “Do you know why Jesus had to die on the cross?”  Look, how do we know anything? Where do we go to get answers to our questions “Do you know?”  How do we get to know G-d – or Jesus?  Or, better yet, how about this one – Do You Know Jesus?

We know that this world is a crazy world sometimes. Christians are persecuted because of their faith – people suffer for their faith. And yet we gather for worship, claiming our Christianity. Because when we claim our Christianity, we have some assurance of eternal life. This is one of the questions that Jesus appears to be answering in his prayer from John 17 – the prayer we know as his “High Priestly Prayer”. How can we know eternal life? Jesus says, “This is eternal life – that you know G-d and Jesus Christ.”  The problem, as I see it, is that over the millennia we have divided ourselves, as Christians, on just this issue – “How do we know G-d and have the assurance of eternal life?”  And we have even divided ourselves on how we are supposed to encounter Jesus?

Jesus knows that the world has an evil bent to it – that evil seeks to divide people – especially divide people on how they can know G-d. We all want more knowledge – more knowledge about G-d – more knowledge about how the world works. That is why we ask questions like “Do you know why, how, when, where, what…?”

It is here in this “church” we gather as the “One, Holy, catholic, Apostolic, Church” seeking a unity of faith that will be a witness to the community and to the world. We gather often so we can strengthen our relationship with Jesus, and with each other – so we will be One with G-d and One with each other. This is why we worship – this is why we offer faith formation – this is why we do mission, ministry, service, good works – why we give, serve, learn, teach, volunteer.

Pastor Dave

May 20, 2023 — Psalm 36 

“Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts; there is no fear of God before their eyes. For they flatter themselves in their own eyes that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit; they have ceased to act wisely and do good. They plot mischief while on their beds; they are set on a way that is not good; 

they do not reject evil. Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart! Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me, or the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the evildoers lie prostrate; they are thrust down, unable to rise.” Psalm 36 

“Take some time today to ponder the words of this Psalm. What does it mean to put your trust under the shadow of God’s wings? I like to think of a child who has no thought or worry about having a place to stay or food to eat. He looks to his parents to provide for him. Yet, how often we fret and stew and worry about having enough money.

Romans 8:15 says this, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. It is not natural for the believer to fear. Instead he should cry out to God saying Papa, Father! Abba is a word of endearment a child might use when speaking to their father. We are adopted by Christ and as such are sons of God!” (devotional-reflections-from-the-bible.com; Psalm 36)

Verses 5-9 express the heart of the psalm and our grounds for hope. In contrast to doom and gloom, we hear of G-d’s amazing grace and faithfulness. In contrast to hoping for the demise of our enemies, we hear of G-d’s righteousness which is high as the mountains and deep as the seas. This amazing grace is not limited to those of the Church — the suggestion here is that this wideness to G-d’s love extends to all peoples. The old hymn has it just right: 

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea; 

there’s a kindness in God’s justice which is more than liberty. 

Believers like to place G-d’s love and mercy and grace in a box — thinking it extends to just certain people. The Psalmist believed that the love and grace of G-d extended to the entire world — whether people recognize that love and grace or not. It is there for all to take hold of — to embrace. As such, our prayer should be like the prayer you will soon pray: “let the virtuous know your goodness and sinners feel your mercy, so that together they may drink from your river of delight.” 

Prayer: Lord God, source of light and life, by the light of your truth let the virtuous know your goodness and sinners feel your mercy, so that together they may drink from your river of delight and rejoice now and ever in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.