That we all may be one...

Brad Sullivan

7th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 47
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26

“…so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus’ prayer offers us a rather beatific vision of the Church. We are one. We are without conflict. We are at peace with one another, giving and receiving love to one another as freely as the air we breathe. We have something of this vision in Revelation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”

In John’s vision the Church is one, and at peace forever, freely drinking from the water of life. His vision of the church, like the vision we get from Jesus’ prayer is beautiful and comforting. His vision is of us as we will be and as we truly are. We look around and we don’t see such a heavenly vision. We look around and we see things looking very plain and ordinary, and this is exactly what the adversary wants.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes as a demon, Screwtape, giving instruction to his nephew, Wormwood, about how best to tempt and torment a human being. Screwtape is a senior temptor, very skilled at his craft and was very disappointed to find that his nephew’s charge, an unnamed human being, had joined the church. So, he wrote to his nephew, giving instruction for how best to deal with the most unfortunate situation of this human becoming a Christian. Screwtape writes:

One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we [demons] see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to Our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous…Work hard…on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman.
C. S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters

Perhaps when we hear Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one, even as the Father and he are one, and we think of the beautiful vision which comes with that prayer, we too might become somewhat disappointed. On the one hand, I find Jesus’ prayer deeply comforting, the fact that he prays for us so lovingly, and yet on the other hand, I look around and notice that all too often, we certainly don’t act as though we are one. The church worldwide with our denominations, we fight with one another over who’s right. Within denominations, we struggle with each other if not over contentious issues, then over membership, competing with each other. Within each local church, we tend to struggle over any number of thing: people that upset us, our imperfections as a community, differences in our preferences about worship. We struggle over our building and property and all sorts of things. Sometimes our boots do squeak, some do sing out of tune, and these struggles are nothing new.

Thinking about the beginning of the church at Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week, I’m guessing there was about a fifteen minute honeymoon period before the first fighting of any kind took place within the church. We struggle over things; we’re human; it’s something we do, and I’m guessing Jesus knew how much we struggle over things when he prayed that all of his disciples through the centuries would be one.

Jesus prayed that we would be one just as the father and he are one, and even so, I’m guessing Jesus had some idea that we would still struggle with one another. Perhaps that’s part of why he prayed this prayer in the presence of the disciples. Perhaps Jesus wanted not only his Father to hear his prayer but his disciples to hear the prayer as well that even in hearing the prayer they would be one with the Father. Perhaps Jesus wanted the disciples to hear his prayer so that they would remember his prayer and continue praying themselves that we all may be one.

Perhaps Jesus knew that his disciples would still continue to struggle over things, just as they did when he was with them. Perhaps without any illusions of perfection in his disciples, Jesus prayed that they would be one. Think of what happens in weddings. We pray and even proclaim that the two people become one. Further, we say that the bond and covenant of marriage “signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church.” In the same marriage service, we also pray, “give them grace, when they hurt each other, to recognize and acknowledge their fault, and to seek each others forgiveness and yours.”

We don’t believe that any marriage will be without conflict. We do, however, pray and believe that couples become one. In the same way, we’d be rather foolish to believe, that the unity of the Church means a church without any conflict. Of course we’re going to fight over things of greater and lesser importance. We are one with the Father, and we are human beings. As human beings, we fight with each other, and as human beings, we recognize and acknowledge our faults and seek each other’s forgiveness. As human beings, we remain as one even when we don’t necessarily want to be.

As one with the Father, we are also one, and as one with the Father, we might need to take a note from our good old uncle Screwtape. Remember what he said about he Church as the demons see us, “spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners”? As one with the Father, we are rooted in eternity. As one with the Father, we are a part of the beatific vision of the Church in Revelation. As one with the Father, we are also the collection of very ordinary people we find gathered here today.

Perhaps we need not be disillusioned we remember Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one and then see the very ordinary, human, conflict ridden church we find around us. Perhaps we simply need a change of perception. Perhaps we could remember that the very ordinary, human, conflict ridden church we find around us also is the glorious, peaceful, beautiful church spread throughout eternity. Perhaps we can realize that as each of us, imperfect as we are also one with the Father, then so too is the rest of the church, imperfect as it is, one with the Father. Therein lies the beauty of the Church. We are beloved of God with our imperfections and all of us one with each other and with God. Amen.