It sure does not seem like it has been seven whole weeks since we gathered here together for Easter Sunday, with all its pomp and circumstance and beautiful flowers and returning alleluias. And yet, today is the seventh Sunday of Easter which is also the last Sunday of the liturgical season, and we will soon look ahead to Pentecost next week.
Because we are still in the Easter season, it admittedly struck me as slightly odd upon first reading that today’s gospel lesson comes from the part of the book of John where Jesus is getting ready to be handed over to the Romans. It’s kind of like, “wait now, are we going back and doing Holy Week all over again?” And yet, when we start to think about what is to come as we move forward into the soon to come season of Pentecost and the start of the Christian church, it actually makes perfect sense that this is the final passage that tees us up, so to speak, for all that is to come and all that the Holy Spirit is soon to do.
In his final hours, Jesus prays for unity, for connections amongst all God’s beloved children and for the rejection of the human created divisions that we create to separate us from one another. Just as is so often true still today, during the life of Jesus, social divisions were strong. Your citizenship, who you worshiped, to what Empire you gave your allegiance, where you called home were the things that that defined you. But, Jesus brings something new. Jesus shares love, a desire for beloved and radical community, and a new way of being, a new way of loving and caring for others. He prayed to God for connections and nearness, that God’s love which is embodied and enfleshed in Jesus will continue to be made known.
Did you know that Jesus prayed for you? That in these last days of his life, amidst his betrayal, he prayed for all of his disciples yet to come and he prayed for unity. We fall under that category. We, along with generations past and those yet to come are all part of this prayer.
Many of you know that I returned from a travel course through western Turkey on Friday night. (I’m only a tiny bit jet lagged.) And, because I knew I would be preaching on this text shortly after returning, I had these verses from today rolling around in my head for much of the trip. Jesus praying for his disciples to come is just so incredibly striking to me in general. And, then so many layers got added as I was immersed in the early years of the Christian church and the first gatherings of Christians. Jesus prayers today’s set the stage for Pentecost and for all that is soon to come.
It just happens that the day we arrived was actually the 1700th anniversary of the ecumenical council at Nicea, and though we did not go to Nicea on this trip, it was still incredibly neat to realize that I was in the country where it happened on that anniversary. The council of Nicea was an ecumenial gathering of bishops in Nicea, now modern day Iznik, Turkey, meant to generate consensus on doctrines of the Christian faith. A few hundred years after the death of Jesus, many churches had been established throughout these far flung corners of the world, and Emperor Constantine decided it was time to come to some shared understanding of what it meant to be a Christian in the early centuries of the church.
One of the main outcomes of the Council of Nicea was the Nicene Creed, the development and finalization of was hotly debated and contested and we still say that creed together all these years later as a way of affirming our faith and acknowledging these vital foundations of our church.
Another main outcome of the gathering was a consensus on the trinity, an affirmation that God is three beings, creator, son, and holy spirit, all working both together and independently. The Holy Spirit coming alive on Pentecost, moving through and among the followers of Jesus, is a continuation of this Easter celebration of love, justice, and unity. But, we’ll dig more into Pentecost next week.
In the meantime, it is amazing to take note of all of these Christian foundations which people of faith have continued to build upon and sometimes deviate from throughout these rough two thousand years of Christian history.
There is something comforting to be about realizing that we are not the first to question and wander- our Christian ancestors who came before us have been doing the same thing this whole time. And, amidst all of that wondering, wandering, and questioning, Jesus reminds us that he desires unity for us. That as a communion of all dearly loved children of God we celebrate that there is so much that connects us.
In his final hours with his first disciples, when he was so close to being handed over to the Romans to be executed, Jesus prioritized praying for his followers and friends in the present and all those yet to come, and he prayed that they, which does include us, would all be united together in God’s abundant and expansive love that is enfleshed through Jesus’ ministry and life.
The foundations of the early church remain with us today, which serves as a reminder that our faith is both ancient and always being made new through our God of the Trinity.
As we go out into this week, I invite you to think about a few things:
Where are the places in your life where you have felt yourself stand atop a strong foundation? And, where are the places where you have built a foundation which those who come after you will stand on what you have built and then create beyond it? Who are the people, both anticipated and unexpected who you have had to work with, whether by choice or necessity, to create that foundation? What are your hopes for all who will come after you?
In these last days of this Easter season, may we remember that through Christ we are always made anew. That we stand on structures established by the great cloud of witnesses who came before us and we leave. May we be emboldened to continue to work together to make God’s unity, love, and grace known to all. Amen.
Vicar Karla Leitzman