Goodbye Prayer

In one church I served, I once had a woman tell me that she and her husband were going away on a much-anticipated trip. I think it was a cruise somewhere, just the two of them, very romantic. Sounded great. However, there was just one detail. They were leaving their sixteen-year-old daughter at home to be supervised by her twenty-something-year-old sister. I laughed and asked, "Do you want me to go ahead and put you on the prayer chain?" I also teased the girl and said, "You know, if the party gets too rowdy, I’m willing to come visit you in jail (it’s in the job description, you know), but I’d rather not need to go." As far as I know, the trip went off without a hitch. I did not receive any calls from the police. But I imagine there was also some serious praying going on.

Now let me ask you a serious question. If you were going away for a long time, say for the rest of your earthly life, and you were leaving your children or other loved ones behind, what prayer would you pray? What would you ask God to do for your loved ones? What would you ask God to do for you? Would you pray, "O God, keep them safe."? Would you pray, "O Lord, make them happy."? Would you pray, "Gracious One, give them faith in you."? Or would you pray, "Please don’t let them ever forget me."? What would you pray?

This morning we heard Jesus as he neared the end of his goodbye prayer for his disciples. Jesus knew he was going to die, and his disciples knew it too. Pretty soon, Judas and the soldiers were going to show up and take Jesus away to be crucified. So this was his last chance to talk to the disciples he loved so dearly. Jesus left them and us with a prayer. He said, "Father, it’s time. Glorify your Son, so your Son can glorify you. You’ve given me these people (your church) and they’ve kept your word. I’m leaving this world and coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you’ve given me, so that they may be one, just as we are one."

Did you notice what Jesus prayed for? Of all the things he could have prayed for, Jesus prayed for God to protect the church’s unity, the church’s oneness. Isn’t that amazing? Why did he pray for unity instead of something else?

Part of me thinks, "Jesus, why didn’t you just pray for the church to be protected from suffering and persecution? Wouldn’t that be better?" But then I remember the early church Father Tertullian said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." And that’s true. Usually, if a church goes through suffering and persecution from a source outside the church, it just makes the church stronger. It often brings Christians together and makes them strong and steadfast like some weed you can’t get to stop growing in your manicured lawn. In the 1930s, a couple of our missionaries to China were beheaded. In 1949, the Communist Chinese government outlawed Christianity and expelled all missionaries. The church’s missionary efforts seemed to have failed. But the Chinese church had simply gone underground. And now there are probably between 70 and 100 million Christians in that country. It’s hard to kill the church with suffering and persecution.

You want to know what kills a church? Pettiness and lack of forgiveness. You get folks battling over what food to serve at a church dinner or having a big fuss over the style of music in worship or what color the carpet should be, that sort of stuff. And then you get a few people who refuse to forgive others. They hold grudges. And they murmur and complain behind the scenes. Those are the kinds of things that kill a church.

Jesus prayed, "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one." We can understand why Jesus prayed that, can’t we?

The risen Christ still prays that prayer for the church. And that prayer is answered in remarkable ways. For example, you can walk around this church and, oddly enough, you’ll see people who’ve gotten hurt by each other from time to time. You’ll see people who’ve even gotten angry at each other from time to time. And you know what’s happened? Folks have forgiven each other. So you see people who could’ve pouted and held grudges. Instead, they give each other handshakes and hugs. They share meals and Holy Communion. And they treat each other kindly and laugh together.

And if you walk around this church, oddly enough, you’ll also run into people who hold strong opinions about how things ought to be done here and in the world. And they could have insisted on their own way. To hell with what others think. But instead they’ve been patient and compromised and listened and practiced Christian courtesy. Are these little things? Are these little things? No. In this "road rage," snarling pit bull, "my way or the highway" world these are miracles. I think these are miracles that come because Christ prays, "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."

And something else comes from that prayer and that oneness too. Writer Elizabeth Green says, "When I told a recently widowed friend that I was thinking about her, I was surprised by her testimony to the palpable comfort of even this minimal level of silent solidarity. ‘That really helps,’ she said. ‘At a time like this, all you can do is put one foot in front of the other and hope that the ground will be there. When you know other people are caring about you, it’s like you don’t have to worry about the ground being there.’" (Elizabeth Green, "Bearing Our Burdens: The Practice of Substituted Love," Weavings, July/August 2007, 28.)

"Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one." Our oneness causes us to bear each other’s burdens. Our oneness causes us to support each other through all sorts of hard times. Have you ever felt your burdens borne by somebody in the church? Have you ever borne somebody else’s burden for a while?

Jesus said a goodbye prayer for the church. He asked that we would be protected in our unity, just as there is unity within the very being of God, the Triune God. And despite all appearances to the contrary, God’s church is one in all its differences and diversity. God’s church is protected by the prayer of the risen Christ until the kingdom comes.

Several of you in the church’s book club, have read Marilynne Robinson’s lovely novel entitled Gilead . Set in 1956, the story is told by a minister named John Ames. Ames is growing quite old and knows he’s going to die soon. So the book is the long letter he writes to his young son, a son he knows he will not live to see grow up. We read Ames memories and thoughts about life as he leaves a final gift to his son. In one scene in the book, Ames goes to meet the son of his best friend. And this son, named in honor of Ames , has been a difficult child all his life. Now he is going away, running away from responsibility once again. Ames goes to say goodbye. He meets the young man at the bus stop. He gives him some money, and then asks if he can bless him. The young man agrees. And there, with people walking by, Ames places his hand on the young man’s head and offers that traditional blessing from the Book of Numbers. "The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Then he adds, "Lord, bless John Ames Boughton, this beloved son and brother and husband and father." The young man thanks him and gives him a long last look. The bus comes. And the minister says, "We all love you, you know." The young man laughs and says, "You’re all saints." He steps into the bus, lifts his hat, and is gone. (Marilynne Robinson, Gilead , 241-242.)

A goodbye prayer. "We all love you, you know." "You’re all saints." "Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one." Amen.

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