That They All May Be One

John 17: 20-26

One of the most precious parts of our weekly Sunday worship service is the time when we lift up our celebrations and our concerns after the senior choir anthem. Some weeks we have a few requests; however there are some weeks where many are shared. Although it sometimes takes a goodly amount of time for us to share all of our celebrations and concerns, the time that we do take is important to our community because it is during the time of celebrations and concerns that we give our testimonies of faith. Celebrations such as, “I am grateful for being able to help my parents move from one state to another safely.” testifies to the feeling of God’s power throughout the daily activities of life. Concerns such as, “I want to lift up in prayer the birth of my friend’s pre-mature twins.” testifies to the helplessness that we feel and faith in a power that is greater than oneself that can make a way out of no way.

Then for a few moments we bow our heads and begin to pray for the people who were just named from within our community of faith. Sure I speak the words aloud but the prayers that are lifted up to God comes from all our hearts. However, how does it feel when you are the one that is being prayed for? How does it feel when you hear someone praying out loud for you? Some of you might say you feel comforted, vulnerable, grateful, honored, humbled, maybe awkward yet grateful that a group of people care for you. When we are being prayed for, “we are not in control as we listen to people prayer for us. They, not we, are the ones doing the asking, and God not we, is the one answering the prayer.” (1)

In this morning’s gospel reading we hear Jesus praying out loud for his disciples in front of them. This scripture comes from the farewell speech that Jesus gave to his disciples just after the last supper and before he is about to be arrested and killed by those who feared him. Imagine if you will how the disciples were feeling at that moment. Maybe they were feeling awkward, vulnerable, even grateful yet frightened. After all, the leader whom they had given up their lives to has just told them that he will be leaving them. Yes Jesus did promise them that the Holy Spirit would come after he has left, yet the disciples had no idea what this would look like. Instead I imagine, they stare at Jesus with wet eyes wondering what Jesus wants them to do.

However Jesus is done giving them instructions. He’s already given them their “to-do” list. Instead he prays to God on their behalf and really on our behalf too. He wants all of us to experience God just as he does. Jesus had a close and abiding relationship with God. God was not a distant other presence up in the sky someplace, but someone whom Jesus held close to his heart, so close that he called God abba (daddy). Jesus prayed that the disciples and by extension us, that we could have that same close relationship with God. But the prayer isn’t just about our relationship with God, it is also our relationship with each other as believers in Jesus.

Listen again to the words of Jesus’ prayer:

"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. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17: 20-21)

That they may all be one. In order for us to understand the poignancy of these words, we have to understand the audience to whom this text is directed. As I stated earlier in this sermon, this morning’s text is the beginning of Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples after the last supper and before he is about to be killed by those who feared him. So why is this Good Friday text being read after Easter? So that we can hear this text in the same way that the original audience of this gospel story heard it. The early Christians whom the evangelist John writes to were part of the Jewish community but in conflict with them because of their belief that Jesus was the messiah sent by God to be the embodiment of God’s grace and love. They were expelled from their church home, the synagogue and so they had to carve a new church home for themselves. They already knew that this farewell speech comes before the drama of the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus however they hear it knowing the victory of Jesus’ resurrection over the power of death. For this community who are trying to make a new way, the words “that they all may be one” are of great comfort to them and when they hear, “As you Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that they may believe that you have sent me.” they are hearing Jesus’ great desire for all to be one in him and in God.

“That they all may be one” is the motto of the United Church of Christ. In 1957 leaders from the Congregational Christian denomination gathered with leaders from the Evangelical and Reformed denomination to form a new denomination, the United Church of Christ. They sought to heal the divisions of the church by being a “united and uniting church seeking renewal through the vision of Christ’s prayer ‘that they may all be one that the world might believe’” (2)

Ever since the founding of the United Church of Christ, we have sometimes struggled to articulate our identity. Some have perceived us as not having a strong theological stance because the United Church of Christ believes in testimonies of faith rather than tests of faith such as doctrines or creeds. Others feel that we are too loose on our interpretation of scripture because we recognize the Bible as written in a specific historical time and place yet it speaks to us in our present condition however the interpretation of scripture is not limited by past interpretations. As one of our forebears states, “There is more truth and light to break forth from God’s holy word.” Some wonder at how we can remain one denomination when “each congregation or local church is free to act in accordance with the collective decision of its members, guided by the working of the Holy Spirit in the light of scriptures.” (3)  We are a denomination that believes people of faith can be able to live together with their differences and yet find unity in the Christian message which comes down to the greatest commandment, the love of God and the love of neighbor. Unity does not demand conformity rather it demands love.

In the cottage meetings we participated in two weeks ago, many have shared that what makes us strong as a faith community is that we have a diversity of theological views within our community. We range in views from liberal to conservative and everything in between. All the while this church has not tried be all things to all people. There are some that we have made that have been uncomfortable for some; yet in spite of our difference, we continue to be united because we are a church that seeks to live into the building of the kingdom of God here on earth, where all may know the grace and mercy of God through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and the victory of God through Jesus’ resurrection and the promise of new life that it brings.

May it be so. Amen.

1. Mary Hinkle Shore, “John 17: 20-26: Commentary on the Gospel.” http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?tab=4
2.  John Thomas, “Our Core Identity – Third Sunday after Pentecost June 2004” http://www.ucc.org/about-us/our-core-identity.html
3.  http://i.ucc.org/StretchYourMind/UCC101/BriefHistoryoftheUCC/tabid/93/Default.aspx