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“All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.” John 17:10
During these days of quarantine, the campus of St. John’s has become a place for morning walks, afternoon recess, resting on a bench in the garden. It a holy and beautiful place for our neighbors to retreat to while still remaining safe. Over the past month, I’ve noticed a young girl riding her bicycle. Wearing a helmet, she peddled away with training wheels helping to her stayed balance. Her mother was nearby, but not hovering. Last Sunday, there she was again, but this time no training wheels. She swayed this way and that, almost falling, then finding her balance and riding on all by herself. Perhaps you remember when your training wheels came off and a parent, running along-side of you, holding onto the back of the bike seat, then they let go and you rode free. Such glory. And as you did, they prayed “God keep him, keep her, safe.”
In our Gospel today, the training wheels come off. The long conversation Jesus has with his disciples on the night of his betrayal comes to an end. Just as we in this community of faith, end our meetings with prayer, most often the prayer Jesus taught us, so does Jesus end this meeting with prayer. And even though the cross of suffering is before him, he prays of glory. New Testament scholar Raymond Brown called glory “a visible manifestation of God’s majesty.” He said, “Since Jesus is the incarnate word of God, he is an embodiment of divine glory.”[i] The cross is on the horizon. Death is coming soon. Yet, Jesus speaks of glory and eternal life which he will give through the cross to the ones that God gave to him — including you and me.
Jesus talks about this to God, and does so out loud for his disciples to hear. Like a teacher he reviews the curriculum: 1. I taught them about you. 2. They paid attention and completed their assignments. 3. They were my students, but now they’re prepared to follow you. 4. I’m proud of them. 5. It’s time to send them out into the world. They’re ready for the training wheels to come off.
As was my sister Stephanie, only she wasn’t quite so sure and some days still isn’t. She worked in insurance, then had children and as they were growing into young adults, decided to go back to school to become a nurse. She worked hard – most of her classmates were half her age, but she persistent. Graduated. Passed the exams. Got a job in a VA hospital and about nine months ago a new position in a community hospital. And then came COVID-19, something no one was prepared for. There wasn’t time for training wheels, just for coping, for trying one thing, then another and another, for fighting the battle, sometimes losing, sometimes winning, always praying. Yet when I read her posts, visit with her in our family ZOOMS, and talk on the phone with her, even though she is often completely exhausted, glory surrounds her.
Jesus knows that even when we’re ready for the training wheels to come off, we need protection. It’s not just that we’ll make wrong turns and get lost. Or that we fail and fall and are so very, very fragile. It’s also that the world is a really hard place, full of sorrow and despair, anger and frustration, hatred and downright evil. There are threats that are obvious and ones we can’t even see. That’s why Jesus goes to the cross. There he defeats the power of death in all of its many forms. He knows we need protection as so he prays that we may be one, as he and God are one. We are in this together, we are one.
Our unity in will and mission is modeled after the unity of God and Christ in will and mission. This isn’t something we muster up on our own, but is a gift from God.[ii] It happens in all sorts of ways as we live, grow and share in God’ love. Last Tuesday, a team met via ZOOM to plan how and when our building will be re-opened for worship. Lots of things need to be thought through and carefully considered. COVID-19 changed the world. There is no going back to the time before it. All we can do is go forward through it. As a congregation we face many challenges. How do we now share God’s love in word and deed in ways that are safe for everyone? What about those who are physically separated from us, some of them across town and others hundreds of miles away. What does it mean to be the body of Christ in the world now? Yet we can have confidence in facing the challenges of being church in these days, because Jesus prays for us. He asks his Holy Father to protect us so that we may be of one heart and mind as he and the Father are of one heart and mind. Not only that, Jesus promises the gift of glory he’s received from God will be given to us. Glory – the visible manifestation of God’s majesty.
Look for it – it’s all around us. The young girl riding her bicycle round and round the Circle. Scientists developing a vaccine. A socially distant wedding in the Jane Kunsch Garden. An orderly pushing a patient out of ICU to a step-down unit while doctors and nurses applaud. The grieving being supported by family and friends. Neighbors checking in with each other. Phone calls made to the isolated. Meals distributed. Horns honking as a car parade of High School Seniors weaves it way through town in a most unusual graduation procession ending at the high school. Rejoicing even in this time of pandemic and by God’s grace and glory, they are ready to embrace the future. Amen.
[i] Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John (i-xii), Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1966, 503.
[ii] Robert Kysar, Preaching John, Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2002, 211-214.