A Prayer For Unity

May 29, 2022

Hope Lutheran Church

Rev. Mary Erickson

John 17:20-26

A Prayer for Unity

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

“I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one.”

Every year on this seventh Sunday of Easter, we read a portion of Jesus’ prayer from John 17. Just before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus prays for his church. It’s a perfect Sunday for this because last week Thursday marked Ascension Day. Following his resurrection from the dead, Jesus walked among his disciples for 40 days. So there was a gap between when Jesus ascended into heaven and the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the young church. This Sunday, the 7th Sunday of Easter, falls in that “gap week.”

So it’s appropriate on this day to hear Jesus’ prayer for his friends whom he will soon leave.

Jesus prays for his new church to be one. He prays this prayer on the evening just before he will be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knows that everything is about to change. The day to day fellowship he enjoys with his disciples will very shortly come to an end. He’s about to face the culmination of his mission and ministry: his death on the cross.

It will be the moment of his agony, but it will also be his highest revelation of the Father’s love. Only on the cross can he perfectly manifest the divine will and compassionate grace. The cross will be the epitome of Jesus’ revelation of God. His crucifixion is where he will most clearly reflect the unquenchable love of the heavenly Father.

This perfect oneness between Jesus and the Father: this is what he desires for his followers, his church. “I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one.”

When we look at the Christian church on earth, we seem far from one. We’re fractured and divided. Our many denominations are suspicious of each another. Sometimes we even question one another’s faith, if “they” are really Christians. We judge one another in regards to orthodoxy, for piety, for biblical purity, on whom we admit into our fellowship and on whom we exclude.

The Christian church is so very broad and diverse. We sing different hymns, we adorn our sanctuaries differently, we baptize with varying amounts of water. Are you still praying for us, Jesus?

“I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one.”

We can talk a very fine line about Christian unity. It’s one thing to talk about it; it’s a very different thing to live it. Even within the Lutheran home, we have a track record of fracturing whenever we come together:

• In 1988, when three Lutheran bodies came together to form the ELCA, there were congregations that either left or split apart over the merger.

• Then in 2000 the ELCA entered into full pulpit and altar fellowship with the Episcopal church. Lutheran pastors could serve in Episcopal congregations and vice versa. It helped tremendously to provide clergy coverage for small parishes in remote areas. But once again, this coming together in the name of Christ caused division and separation. There was fracturing.

So we Lutherans are very good at dividing whenever we come together.

“I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one.”

Frequently when we talk about unity, what we really mean is, “I want us to be one. I want you to become just like me. Adopt our ways, our beliefs. If you all would just become like us, then we could all be one.”

But unity doesn’t mean uniformity. St. Paul spoke of the human body. It’s one body comprised of many parts. You need all of the diverse parts for the body to function as a unified whole. It’s our diversity that allows us to fulfill our purpose.

Consider a basketball team. Each team consists of five separate players. They function in five different positions, but they work together as one unit. They are five players, each one highly capable. But when you watch a team that’s really got it going on, it’s like they’re of one mind. They feed the ball to each other; they make blocks so that someone else can shoot. They move and weave and act as one.

What happens is they all have a common purpose. They have a singular aim: to outscore the other team. To do that, each one of them has to let go of their individual egos. They have to make sacrifices so that their teammates can flourish.

If you’ve ever been on a team or part of an organization where all the parts are humming, it’s a really incredible experience. You really do become one! You become part of something bigger than yourself. On a sports team, as part of a choir or a band, on a volunteer crew, at your job as part of a work team. Or maybe you’ve felt it here at church, when we’re all singing a beloved hymn or during communion or the sharing of the peace.