"One In Christ"

(John 17:20-26)

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

INTRODUCTION:

A man went to visit a psychiatrist. He said, "Doc, I've got two problems." The psychiatrist said, "Okay, tell me all about it." The man began, "Well, first of all, I think I am a Coke Machine . . . "

The psychiatrist sat the man down and started therapy. For weeks, he gave it his best shot but nothing seemed to help. Finally, out of exasperation, the psychiatrist jumped up one day, took two quarters out of his pocket, shoved them in the man's mouth, grabbed him by the ears and shook him till he swallowed them. Then he hollered, "Okay, now give me a Coke." That's when the man said, "I can't, Doc. That's my second problem, I'm out of order." (1)

We all know what it's like to have our lives out of order. Sometimes life is like a roller coaster. It's filled with ups, downs, twists, and turns. There are days when babies are born and baptized, wedding bells ring, and anniversaries are celebrated. But there are also days when children bring home bad grades, divorces happen, cancer is diagnosed, jobs are lost or someone dies.

No one is immune. We walk out on a normal day and suddenly we are flushed, rushed, and razzle-dazzled by the ups, downs, twists, turns, ins, outs, and roundabouts of life. The roller coaster threatens our wholeness, happiness, joy, and security.

Jesus faced those same ups and downs in life. There was no deeper plunge than that which Jesus took from the height of the Palm Sunday parade to the depths of degradation on the cross. He knew we would face the same things in our walks of faith. That's why he offers this prayer for us and the disciples just before going to the garden of Gethsemane where he will be betrayed. It is a prayer for unity and strength. It's a prayer that God's glory and love might be seen through the way we love one another.

I. UNITY:

A. Here, in one of the very last prayers of his ministry, Jesus prays for us. He prays for our unity. He prays that just as God is in Him and He is in God that He and God might be in us and that we might be "brought to complete unity,"

I believe that's why we are here and why we have chosen to work together. To express that unity for the world to see. There is so much in life that separates us, location, language, culture. But there is much more that makes us one.

How many of you have a mother? How many of you have a father? How many married? How many of you love to eat? Do you always understand what your spouse wants? Do you always understand what your children want? Or what they do? How many of you worry about the future of your children or your parents?

You know the agonies of raising children in today's society. A society filled with so many temptations; a society filled with violence and drugs. A society filled with so much that would rob the spirit and kill the soul. It's frightening, every time one of the Television News shows comes on and reports another school shooting, I cringe, wondering whether it will be in my hometown or one that I know and love.

B. There are a lot of things that divide us and a lot more that unites us. But there is one thing above all things that unites us. But there is one thing that binds us together forever, that breaks down all the walls and barriers built by our doing, not God's. The one thing that binds us and unites us is really a person, the person of Jesus. Through Jesus, we experience the love and the forgiveness of God. He died for everyone. Not just the short people, not just the tall people, not just for white or brown or black or red. Jesus died for everyone. That's what unites us. Our faith in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

C. Through Christ, we can be united in spite of our differences. You might compare us to a choir or a Handbell choir or a band. Person sings or plays a specific instrument. Each musician comes with their own gifts and personalities. And yet each musician gives themselves to this group.

Through their efforts and the leadership of the director, they pull together all the fragments of harmony and dissonance, beat and counter beat. They synthesize the individual notes, sounds and personalities and weave them into a multi-leveled, multicolored tapestry of sound and beauty. The music lives in them and is brought to life through their unity of mind and spirit.

That's what Jesus was talking about here, that unity of mind and spirit with the mind and spirit of God in Christ. When we weave our personalities, gifts, abilities and ideas into the greater life of faith we are fulfilling Christ's prayer for us.

Sometimes the children express their love for the church and God by giving me notes or drawings they've done during worship. I keep them all. They're special offerings of love that I cherish. One of the notes I received in carefully written letters, read, "I like Church."

That child was experiencing the truth of this passage. Christ is in us. God is in us and what we do. People see God's glory through our efforts. Sometimes we do this unity thing well.

II. SEE CHRIST:

A. Ben Kingsley starred as the main character in the motion picture GANDHI. He spent months preparing for the role, visiting the various Indian locales Gandhi had frequented. He even learned to spin cotton thread on a wooden wheel while holding conversations as Gandhi did. The physical resemblance between Gandhi and Kingsley was almost startling. After filming a scene in a village south of Delhi, Kingsley stepped out of a car, and an elderly peasant knelt to touch his feet. Embarrassed, Kingsley explained that he was merely an actor playing Gandhi. "We know," replied the villager, "but through you he will surely live again." (2) The question this raises is, "Does the Son of God live again through us?

You see, that's also part of Jesus' prayer for us. That the world will see Christ in us; through our unity and through our love.

The Gospel isn't meant to dominate the World. That's an issue of power, not an issue of faith and relationship. The Gospel is meant to permeate, not dominate. It is meant to permeate the same way that the smell of fresh baked bread or fresh baked cookies or the smell of popcorn popping permeates the kitchen and the house. That smell makes us long to taste the bread or cookies or popcorn.

The Gospel is meant to permeate like the smell and the taste. It is meant to make us want more and more. It touches everyone who enters the room. And even when we don't taste the cookies, bread or popcorn, if we stay in the room long enough, we leave smelling like cookies bread or popcorn. The smell travels with us.

Jesus' prayer for us is that the world will see Christ in us; through our unity and through our love for each other. Sometimes we do it very well.

III. FORGIVENESS:

A. And sometimes we don't. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try or how hard we work, we just seem get in each other's way.

My wife Mary is a big Royals fan so we watch them as well as the Rangers. One of our favorite teams to hate is the Yankees. A couple of years ago, the Yankees were leading by one run. It was the bottom of the ninth. The Royals had runners on first and second with two outs. The batter was the number 8 hitter, a man whose batting average was only slightly higher than his IQ. He was behind in the count. And the relief pitcher had the power of Goose Gossage.

He wound up and delivered his pitch. It looked like the batter swung in desperation. As much to his surprise and everyone else's, he connected and the ball went sailing into right center field. It didn't come anywhere near the fence and was easily catchable.

Yankee Center fielder Mickey Rivers ran to his left and gloved the ball. Right fielder Reggie Jackson ran to his right and plowed into Rivers. Jackson was winded; Rivers was dazed and dropped the ball. The two men on base scored and the Royals won. (3)

Sometimes in the Church, we try hard. We give it our best, we work toward unity and the team spirit but like the Yankees we wind up running into each other. We don't mean to, it just happens. Believe it or not, that's part of life. Those things happen. We're no different than anyone else. Roller coasters spring up for everyone.

B. Collisions are inevitable. It happens to professionals, it will happen to us. But what sets US apart is how we react to the roller coaster and how we react to each other when we do collide.

David Holstrom, a tough-minded reporter, tells of watching a Boston TV program about a woman in her 40's who described an extremely brutal childhood in which her father and mother abused her in every conceivable way.

He writes: "Her face, slightly boyish and dusted with freckles, filled the television screen… Although she admitted that she still carried scars and sometimes struggled with terrible memories, she said her triumph was evidenced in a successful eleven-year marriage with a good man along with her ability to hold a responsible professional job. When asked why she thought she had not only survived but triumphed, she answered, `I had more love than they had hate.' She said it just that way: direct, firm, and with chin tilted up just a little. `I had more love than they had hate.'" (4)

It's that love, the love of Christ living in us, helping us, guiding us, empowering us to forgive and offer the hand of forgiveness that SETS US APART. The words of the song are true, "They'll know we are Christians by our love." That's the only way the world will ever know; not by our words but "by our LOVE."

Our group isn't bringing anything more than that. We don't come with any answers. We come with more questions than we do answers. Many of our youth have never worked with or even been around very many Hispanics. we're not here to teach or show you how it's done. On the contrary, we're here to learn.

So, please be patience with us. Teach us about you. Teach us about your culture, your language, your hopes and dreams. And mostly, teach us about your love for God. We've come simply show and share our love for God through our fellowship with you and through working side by side as brothers and sisters.

CONCLUSION:

It's the giving of ourselves to Christ and the work of Christ within our lives that gives us life. Christ fills our lives with love. That love touches our life and the lives of others. And that love brings us to complete unity.

There is an old story about two brothers. They were likable young men but they had a little bit of a wild streak. It got so wild that they began earning their money by stealing sheep from the local farmers. As happens to all thieves, one day they were caught.

Rather than kill them, the villagers decided to brand the two brothers on the forehead with the letters S. T. for "Sheep Thief." The action so embarrassed the one young man that he ran off, never to be heard from again. The other brother was so filled with remorse and repentance that he chose to stay and try to reconcile himself to the villagers whom he had wronged.

At first the villagers were skeptical. Most of them wouldn't have anything to do with him. But he was determined to make reparation for his offenses. Whenever there was sickness, the sheep thief was there to help care for the sick person. Whenever there was work that needed to be done, the sheep thief showed up to help. It made no difference whether the person was rich or poor, the sheep thief was there to lend a helping hand. Soon he was an integral part of the community, never accepting pay for anything he did. His life was totally lived for others. As a consequence, he was a friend of all and became very well respected.

Years later, a traveler came through the town. As he sat at the sidewalk cafe' eating his lunch, he noticed the well respected old man with the strange brand on his forehead, sitting at a table nearby. It seemed that everybody in town stopped to pay their respects or share a kind word. Even the children stopped to play or give and receive an affectionate hug. The stranger's curiosity was peaked and he asked the cafe' owner about the old man. "What does the strange brand on his forehead stand for?"

The cafe' owner, a contemporary of the old man, thought for a moment then said, "It happened so long ago that I don't rightly remember. But I think it stands for 'Saint'." (5)

It's not what we do, it is what Christ does in us and through us when we put our lives in his hands. We might be out of order. We might think we are something we are not. Or we might not have a clue at all about what we are. In any case. Our Savior can take our lives and glorify God. Christ can change sheep thieves into Saints. All Christ asks is that we let him in, that we allow him to love us and forgive us and make us one with God and one with each other.

Our challenge is to let people see Christ in us? Our challenge is to let others know we are Christians by our love?

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

____________________________________________________

1. Parables, Etc. Nov. 86 Submitted by Ed Rutherford, Cerritos Assembly, Cerritos, California.

2. Dr. William P. Barker, TARBELL'S TEACHER'S MANUAL, (Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook Church Ministries, 1994).

3. N. Larry Baker, "Unfinished Agenda"; Preaching Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 5; March-April 1995, p. 65.

4. Arthur J. Landwehr, GRACE CHURCH PULPIT,( Naperville, IL, 1990).

5. As told by Rev. Ruth Huber Rohlfs