Thoughts – Action – Prayers

Sermon on John 17:20-26

Dear Saints!

This past week has been heavy with thoughts and prayers. With tears and despair, with grief and horror. So many lives have been lost. So many lives have been changed forever. So many hearts have been broken.

And so, yet again, we offer our thoughts and prayers. It always surprises me how many people suddenly start using religious language when there is a tragedy. On Facebook, I saw a post that had “thoughts and prayers” crossed out and “policy and change” instead. The post resonated with me. Not, because I don’t believe in prayers. But because so often “thoughts and prayers” have turned into empty words, freeing us from doing anything, changing anything. So, it’s totally understandable that many of our non-religious friends start making fun of the phrase “thoughts and prayers” or grow cynical towards it. Even I start getting tired of hearing those compassionate pleas when they don’t seem to lead to action.

Which is really not what Jesus’ prayers were like.

Today’s Gospel is a prayer that calls to action. Jesus prays to God the Father on behalf of his friends, on behalf of all of us. He prays for the people closest to him as he prepares for his death.

In John’s poetic words and rhythms, the deepness of Jesus’ prayer can easily get lost as we let ourselves fall into the sounds of believing, glory, unity, and love. Which feels like clouds and sun and cotton candy on a day off. One can easily fall asleep on those words and dream away to a future where kids and teacher won’t have to be scared to go to school anymore. Where people will know that they won’t be killed while shopping or going to church. A future we all long for and that feels far away.

Jesus prays for our unity as Christians, as believers in God’s words. Seeing Christians united, the world will believe that God sent Jesus and that Jesus sent us. And that all of this is true because we are united in our faith and action. Which we are obviously not at this point. Jesus’ prayer for our unity continues to be a call to action. This unity is described with words that surpass any kind of individualism, any kind of boundaries. In this kind of desired unity your well-being is my well-being, my pain is your pain. Jesus envisions a world where his disciples share everything because they feel deeply connected to one another. Because they can’t distance themselves from a shooting that happens in a different part of the country. Because those kids are their kids, because anybody’s kids are everybody’s kids. Anybody’s kids are your kids. Because the 18-year-old who shot everyone is also everybody’s kid. Is also your kid.

It’s an exhausting vision Jesus has for us, his friends. A vision that is 100% compassion. A vision that doesn’t give us a break from feeling for the world and for ourselves. A vision that will lead to knowledge about God by example. Note, how the word “word” is only mentioned once in the beginning of the text? As much as I love to preach and you hopefully enjoy some of my sermons, preaching doesn’t seem to be the main way of teaching the world about Jesus. Instead, Jesus talks about unity, about love, about glory to God. All of which is wrapped in a prayer.

As we know from Jesus’ example, that kind of life will most likely not be appreciated by many around us. For Jesus it ended on the cross. No wonder, most Christians haven’t been eager to follow Jesus’ 100% compassion model. Including me, obviously.

And yet, we try. We try hard to extend our hearts and our compassion. Every day I know that you all show up for the people around you. Spreading the truth that God loves them through your own love towards them.

In the past 2 years, we have talked a lot about what it means to reimagine being church. To reframe what it means to be one in Christ. To be members of a church that is larger than our congregation, larger than even then ELCA presence.

Here, at CTK, we started out with our stewardship team that is really quite an unusual stewardship group. Because we didn’t focus on money in the first place. We looked at our congregation in a holistic way, trying to figure out where our resources are, where our boundaries are, what we still love to do, and what might be too much to take on. We looked beyond members and buildings and searched for ways to connect. And we found many! Obviously, our sister churches Holy Redeemer and Holy Trinity! It was easy to see the parallels in our mission and hopes for Tri-City. It has been wonderful to get to know you, to worship with you, to listen to your choirs and bells and soloists.

Which really led to the ACTS work that has been so meaningful and amazing for our churches. A place where we started dreaming about a future of a growing, diverse and vital ELCA in Tri-City that doesn’t have to constantly worry about how to fund our ministries. Where we can do God’s work and show God’s love through our acts and lives abundantly. The dreams are real and so is the future. I can’t wait to hear what will happen in the future!

We found connections through Compassionate Network that helped us distribute our backpacks while getting help with the administrative end of things. It’s such an amazing network to contribute to. We build relationships with other faith leaders through the work towards Safe Parking which also connected us to the Jesus and Justice Collective. We built relationships with our neighbors, some of whom will volunteer with the Safe Parking.

Now, all this sounds great. Like great activism and community organizing in some ways. But that’s not all it is. Our work is nothing if it’s not grounded in prayer. And if we don’t give our successes as glory to God.

Today’s Gospel shows also signs of Jesus’ frustration with the world God so loved that God sent God’s only Son. Jesus walked in the world, showing love to everyone. And didn’t receive the same love at all. He was killed for loving the world. Which really is frustrating. It helps understand why Jesus prays: “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The world doesn’t know God. But we should. Because Jesus made God known to us. It’s the hard truth that many of us have felt these past days. That the world doesn’t know God. Otherwise, it would treat people differently, it would keep our kids safe, it would help young men like the 18-year-old who had nothing to lose and therefore killed people who had everything to lose. It’s a world that talks about thoughts and prayers when we have failed yet again.

Yet, that same world doesn’t care to turn those thoughts and prayers into action towards peace and justice and spaces to be for everyone. Thoughts and prayers without actions aren’t Christlike. They are hollow phrases, not worthy of being called prayers. At least not in the sense Jesus taught us. Jesus’ prayers always had consequences. Life-giving consequences in most cases. Deadly consequences for himself.

Today’s Gospel stands in that void – between life and death, between unity and a divided world that doesn’t know God. Today’s Gospel also fills that void. With the body of Christ. With the crucified Lord who died for loving the world unconditionally when the world didn’t love him back. We as the body of Christ are called to fill that void. With our prayers that will change us, will change how we look at the world and how we respond to the pain around us. With God’s help, we will be the love in the void. Giving glory to God every time we succeed. Because we couldn’t do it without God. Amen.