Overhearing Jesus' Prayer

7^th Sunday of Easter 2017

John 17:1-11; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sometimes, things we say are meant to be overheard by others. 
 

I think of the times when my children were small, and I would walk into a room and begin talking not to my child, but with the full expectation and intention that they would overhear me:

·         “Where is Billy? I can’t find him anywhere – he must have left the house! We had better send a search party to find him!” I knew of course that Billy was hiding safely behind the drapes, the toes of his sneakers poking out from beneath the fabric. I meant for him to hear me. Another example from those days:

·         “I think I heard noise coming from upstairs, but I am sure that can’t be any of our children! Because they know what’s good for them, so I know that when I go up there right now, I am going to find everyone sound asleep in their beds!” Again I spoke, intending for them to hear me, and hoping they got the message!

In our gospel lesson today, it is Jesus himself who speaks, intending his followers to overhear what he says and what he prays – to get the message.

As the time grows close for Jesus to be arrested and taken away, Jesus appeals to God on behalf of all those who will follow him, who will carry on in his name after he is gone. And so, on the occasion of Jesus’s last evening with his disciples, Jesus engages in what has been called a “heavenly family conversation” between himself and God.

We only hear one-half of this conversation between the Father and the Son, a conversation in which Jesus repeats what he has already told his disciples – that he will soon be leaving them; that he will be returning to his father in heaven; yet he will continue to love these whom he leaves behind, and he will not leave them either unprepared nor alone.

  His meant-to-be-overheard communication with God is a message full of hope, love, promise and truth for his followers. Jesus reveals those things that are closest to his heart – his care and concern for them, his love for them, and his determination that they continue to be united in belief and purpose. Not only united with one another but most assuredly, united with him.

Despite what they will soon witness and endure, through this prayer, Jesus wants his disciples to believe that God will be with them, working on their behalf.

Jesus repeats what he has already told them, just as a good parent repeats ad nauseum the messages their children need to remember for a good life or for safety: you are loved; you are worthy; work hard; tell the truth; be honest in all your doings; wear your seat

belt.

Jesus will soon be leaving his disciples, but they will never be left alone, because God has ensured that after Jesus has been “glorified on the cross” and returns to his father in heaven, an advocate, his own Holy Spirit, will continue to protect, teach, guide, strengthen and inspire them.

So on this pivotal night, Jesus, who has so often modeled prayer for his disciples gives them this gift of overheard prayer.

His previous prayers to God have often been for guidance or strength for himself, but here is a wonderful example of intercessory prayer: Jesus prays for them, for us, for all who will follow.  

Despite all the other things that must have been taking up head-space for Jesus that night, his thoughts and concerns were for those he was leaving behind: “I am asking on their behalf,” he says. “I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me because they are yours.” What a beautiful gift!

Intercessory prayer is powerful. It is pure gift and blessing for those who pray and for those being prayed for. How often have you heard someone say that knowing someone was praying for them helped them through a difficult situation? It happens all the time. Maybe it’s even been your own experience.

It is not unusual when I visit with someone who has been going through a difficult time of illness or loss, and tell them that the congregation has been praying for them and in fact we had prayed for them together, aloud, during worship, the response I receive is that in some way the person felt the prayer, and that it made all the difference.

So, what does it feel like, today, to know that Jesus is praying for you? What difference does it make in your life that not only are you being prayed for, but that our Lord Jesus is one who is doing the praying, and that the Holy spirit prays for you, in sighs too deep for words? How does it feel to know that no matter what your circumstance, Jesus knows it well and intercedes for you? How does it impact the work that we do in the name of Our Lord, to overhear this prayer and know that Jesus prays for this community?

There are many things for which Jesus prays on our behalf. Jesus prays for peace. On that night, Jesus prayed that people might continue to know God through knowing him, even after he would be gone from their sight.

Jesus prays for the healing of the world. And in today’s gospel text, Jesus prays specifically that these brothers and sisters, who believe in God and have become disciples of Jesus, will continue in relationship with the God and with one another, following the way of Christ.

Finally, Jesus prays for the unity of those who believe in him. He prays for those who will continue in his ministry, the ones who will share his name as he himself shares in the name of God. Jesus prays that we will be one.  

At the beginning of worship this morning, we remembered and gave thanks for Baptism. In a few moments, as we receive new members into our congregation, we once again recall and affirm that we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that this faith, a gift given to us, binds us together and makes us one.

We will confess how, through water and the Word, through prayer and meal, the Holy Spirit draws us together, the Body of Christ in the Priesthood of all believers, and those for whom Jesus prays this prayer.

As Jesus brings us together he blesses us with different gifts, and joins us as one despite our different backgrounds and varied stories.  At the table, Jesus feeds us as disciples and apostles, joined together through the grace of God, and trusting more in the power of the Holy Spirit than in human willpower. “Protect them,” Jesus prays, so that they may be one as we are one.”

Think of all the significant and silly differences we experience in our life together – debates about war and peace, human sexuality, economic justice, the color of the carpet in the chancel, whether we worship God in one service or two. In every age, people have chosen to remove themselves from community over these and other matters. But Jesus prays for us – “may they be one as we are one.”

Think of all the not-so-silly struggles and challenges that the followers of Jesus face. The letter from 1 Peter is a reminder that there are many struggles that we will encounter. The apostle in fact calls this the fiery ordeal that confronts us coming from the world within and around us.

This week once again in very stark circumstances, Christians in Egypt were targeted for violence and death. We look around and we fear death of another kind may one day face our community as we see shrinking numbers in worship and experience a loss of cultural support and respect for religion.

In the prayer of the day today, we expressed the same kind of yearning reflected in Jesus’ prayer: “Unite us with Christ and each other in suffering and in joy, that all the world may be drawn into your bountiful presence.”

How powerful it is to know that Jesus has prayed to God on our behalf! There is no one for whom Jesus did not pray on that last night. Like the prayer of a parent overheard by the child for whom one intercedes, what this prayer reveals, is Jesus’ deep love for us all.

The great prayer contained in this gospel text today evokes longing in us to be fully “one” with Jesus, in the mystical communion of prayer so that his prayer of love for us becomes not a farewell but rather a homecoming.

Jesus prays that his followers, as diverse as we are will be one, not that they will all be the same. Unity is not the same as uniformity.

Our diversity of background and thought brings beauty to the tapestry of our faith communities. Finally, Jesus demonstrates, through this overheard message, what it means to cast all our concerns on God, because God indeed cares for us.

So here is the thing, and I look to the second reading for this where, the seventh verse reads, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” I think that along with the assurance that he himself cares and is constantly advocating for us, this is part of Jesus’ message to us as well.

When Jesus was troubled, what did you do? Pray. When Jesus was thankful, what did he do? Pray. When Jesus was weary, or frightened, or tired, he prayed. And when Jesus was preparing to leave his disciples to go to the cross, he showed them what it meant to cast all his concerns, all his anxiety, all his desires on God, knowing how much God cares for us all.

It’s a good message for the disciples. It is an essential message to us today. Whatever troubles you, whatever gives you joy, whatever it is that you need to be united as one with God’s purpose and in God’s love, trust the faithfulness of God, who loved us into being, to love you with the power that is God’s alone.

Amen.

Quilts and Knitting Needles

John 17:1-11

A few years ago, when a friend of mine heard about some struggles I was having, she gifted me with this shawl. This isn’t just any shawl. It may look in construction like certain other knitted creations. I’m sure there may even be other shawls out there that look similar to this one. Perhaps there are scarves or small blankets knitted with the same kind of yarn from the same dye lot, with the same colors and patterns and texture. What sets this shawl apart is that it is a prayer shawl. With each stitch that went into the making of this shawl, came a prayer. The friend who made it knitted it in love, with thoughts and prayers constantly ascending, constantly floating heavenward, constantly encircling me as the yarn encircled the knitting needles. Those prayers connected us even as the yarn was knitted and purled in patterns of three, reflective of the Holy Trinity, row after row across the length of this shawl.

Many churches have prayer shawl ministries in which women and men lovingly and prayerfully knit together tangles of threads to form beautiful shawls or lap robes that are dedicated and blessed for the recipients. What I love about these ministries and about my shawl, is that long after the knitting needles have fallen silent, long after the last knot is tightened and the trailing yarns are woven into the finished shawl, the prayers and the thoughts that took place during their making continue to bless the recipient – in this case me – serving as a concrete, tangible manifestation of God’s care and the love of an individual or community who embody God’s healing grace for one in need. In the case of prayer shawl ministries, prayer shawls may be knitted, stitch after prayerful stitch, with the knitter never knowing who will receive the finished product or what that person’s particular need is. It doesn’t matter. God knows.

The gift of love contained in this shawl is reinforced visually. It is also tactile. It offers warmth. I feel wrapped in love when I drape the shawl across my shoulders. It serves as a reminder that I am not alone, that God cares for and accompanies me through each and every good day and bad day. It reassures me that healing comes in many forms, not the least of which, is compassionate prayer from another person for me – or from me for another person – or, as we see in today’s gospel, from Jesus – for all of us.

This is what we call intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer reminds us that healing also comes through accompaniment – when we walk with another in and through prayer. Because prayer was at the core of all that is incorporated into the design and creation of this shawl, I know that faith in Jesus and trust in his care and healing were knit into it as well.

I have since moved a distance from my friend. Yet even though I don’t get to see her anymore, her love and care stay with me through this gift. Her heart and her prayers continue to warm me. Her faith in Jesus continues to give me strength whenever I see the tangled loops and threads of this shawl.

You are sitting in pews surrounded by quilts this morning, and in just a few moments we will bless and dedicate the quilts you see scattered throughout the nave. These quilts, like the shawl I have here, are created works of love. The fabric has been measured and cut, and sewn and assembled to make these beautiful quilts through the quilting ministry here at Grace. Distributed by Lutheran World Relief, these quilts will warm not only the bodies but also the hearts of those who receive them wherever in the world they go. They will remain tangible signs of God’s love and compassion for those who receive them. They will go with our prayers, held together by stitches of unifying grace. Through them, God’s comfort and protection will reach out and touch hearts.

Those who have contributed materials, those who have given of their resources, and the hands that made these quilts have worked together in a ministry of love and care, embodying God’s mercy and love and grace. They didn’t know who would receive these quilts. We don’t know the recipients’ stories. That’s okay. It doesn’t’ matter. God knows.

Prayer is powerful. As we enter into conversation with our Lord, we enter into the very presence of the divine. As we pray over these quilts and dedicate them to the use of God’s children, we remember that through this gift people see and experience Jesus. They may not even know Jesus. Yet they will experience him just the same.

In our text today, we read some of the last words Jesus spoke in the presence of his disciples. They are not spoken to his disciples. Rather, they are words that Jesus delivers as he is preparing to leave his disciples, words directed to God, perhaps with the intention of the disciples hearing them as well.  Jesus speaks these words, words of intercessory prayer, on behalf of his own beloved disciples – and us. They are words knit together as Jesus’ compassion wraps the disciples in the tender embrace of Jesus’ love.

Jesus often turns to prayer in the gospels. As in the scriptures of old, as with the fathers and mothers of our faith, as with the prophets and evangelists, as with the psalmists, as with kings and princes, blind men and sinners, prayer is the primary way to communicate with God. In our gospel text today, Jesus models once again what it means to be in constant conversation with God. Jesus shows us what it is to take to God with all his thoughts, concerns, joys, sorrows, needs, fears, and desires.

And you know, I think Jesus must have been Lutheran. Because as Martin Luther once said we should “sin boldly” always, Jesus prays boldly – and invites us to do the same. In this text Jesus boldly begins by first declaring and establishing for those within hearing, his unity with the father. Then he prays on behalf of his disciples. Jesus prays fervently on behalf of those he leaves behind for now. He prays for those who remain in the world.

We hear Jesus ask for protection on behalf “of the ones God gave him” and, in verse 20, on behalf of the ones who believe on their account—Jesus is praying and asking for us, on our behalf. Jesus is also praying and asking with us. Know always and forever, when we pray, we do not pray alone.  Even when we don’t pray, don’t know how to pray, to put into words what it is we need to pray for, Jesus is praying for us. Because, Jesus knows. Jesus always knows, even better than we, what to pray for on our behalf. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a fairly powerful truth. To know that wherever we are, whatever we’re doing…whatever we are experiencing Jesus is there praying “Holy Father, protect them in your name”.

Each week in our announcements, we list the names of those we know to be in need of prayer, and we lift up many of those names in our worship. I know that many of you pray for one another regularly. Our intercessory prayers, the ones prayed for each other, for our country, and even for people you may not personally be acquainted with, unite us one with the other. United in this way, we are covered with God’s grace and care, to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is glorified when we come together in community to pray. Jesus is glorified when we turn to him in the dark of the night and pray. Jesus is glorified when we sit and silence and let the Holy Spirit wash over us in prayer. Jesus is glorified when we pray over yarns and threads and fabric, when those things are put together to make beautiful and warm and then serve to convey Jesus’ love and care for years to come. And just as the prayer shawl and these quilts are tangible witness to the love and prayers that went into their making long after the makers themselves have let them go, Jesus’ prayer in this text, stays with us.

May the Holy Spirit guide us as a community and as individuals, steeped in prayer through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we be strengthened through this ministry of love, and in daily devotion to the one who was, who is, and who is to come. Amen.