Sermons

May 20 - The Rev. Brian C. Taylor

Listen to audio version of this sermon.

May 20, 2007
The Seventh Sunday of Easter
We are one
John 17:20-26

During Chanuka in the last winter of his life, Jesus was in the temple. The authorities were alarmed about this teacher from Galilee, for they had heard about extraordinary things he had done, and they had heard incredible claims about who he was. So they asked him, right there in the temple, point blank: How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly (John 10:24).

Jesus didn’t give a straight answer. He didn’t say yes or no. He said The Father and I are one. Well, the Father and you are one? Blasphemy! So they took up rocks to stone him. Even though Jesus talked his way out of this situation, it was the beginning of the end. The authorities began making plans to arrest him the next chance they got, which would be Passover.

We can understand why the temple authorities were shocked, even outraged. It just isn’t a common thing to hear anyone - other than schizophrenics wandering down Central Avenue - claiming to be one with God. Do you consider yourself one with God? This week we are told that we are, in fact.

On Thursday, we celebrated the ascension of the resurrected Jesus into heaven, his glorification as he became one with God. But in the Collect for today, we pray that we also may be exalted to that same place with God. And in our gospel for today, Jesus speaks of our glorification, our unity with God and one another. It seems that the ascension and glorification aren’t just about Jesus. They are about us being raised up out of the limitations of our humanity, into the divine.

Jesus prayed for his disciples and all who would eventually come to believe; he prayed for you and for me. He asked that we may be one as he and the Father are one. Now the way we usually hear this astounding prayer is that Jesus and the Father are one, over there, and we are supposed to be one with each other, over here. Never the twain shall meet.

But that’s not what Jesus prays. He says As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us...the glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me…That’s pretty strong stuff.

In the Middle Ages, monks and nuns and the clergy of the church tried to take the power of this prayer away from people like you and me. They said that ordinary folk could never hope to know union with God; to even imagine such a thing would be the height of presumption. Only contemplatives who spend long years in silence might ascend the ladder of spiritual growth, and maybe someday they might reach the heights where they might be given the rarest of graces, union with God.

We have been taught that union with God is some exalted state of mind: total enlightenment. We imagine that in this state we would always filled with light and love, perceive the world as a sparkling miracle, and see God face to face. We have been taught to tell ourselves Well maybe that’s for the saints, but I’ll never get there.

I don’t think that this is what Jesus had in mind at all. I think it was much simpler, much more ordinary. I think he just knew that there was no separation between him and the Father, and he really expected you and me to know that, too.

It’s not as if God is somewhere other than right here. It’s not as if we have to go somewhere to get to God. It’s not as if we have to work and work through the spiritual ranks, like in martial arts, where we start out with a white belt in conversion, then get a yellow belt in good works, a green one in Bible study, a brown one in daily prayer, and finally a black belt in mystical union.

We’re already completely one with God, just as we are one with all creation and with one another. This isn’t so hard to understand. Biology and physics tell us that the whole universe is one integrated system of life. Psychology tells us that how we are with one another shapes our identity, our emotional life. Politics and economics tell us that every action by any social group affects the whole human community. And our own experience - here at this altar, in a hospital room of a loved one, in the quiet of the night when we’re all alone – our own experience tells us that God is always right here, within and around us.

Next week we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the feast of Pentecost. We will remember that the whole of life is infused with Spirit, with sacred energy. Everything is spiritually alive and interconnected. So we are already one with God, with all creation, and with every other human being. We already have our black belt in mystical union.

However, there is a problem. Not all is well. We live in disharmony, brokenness, and alienation from God, creation, and one another. It’s not enough to just say that we’re all one. Perhaps you’ve seen the new slogan of the National Basketball Association during the playoffs. It used to be I love this game! Now it is It’s all good! It’s all good has become a trendy phrase that rappers put into their songs and marketers print on popular T-shirts and ball caps.

Well, it isn’t all good. One look at the world around you, one look within will tell you that not all is well. But the problem is not that we haven’t yet discovered some esoteric spiritual understanding or complex social-economic theory that will tell us how to make it all good. The problem is that we’re in denial that we are already one with God, one with all creation, one with every human being. It’s that simple.

Many of us are in denial that we are one with creation. As a nation, we are one of very few countries that stand against 169 others who have ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. We pretend that we can live as if we are not one with our environment.

Every bomb, every bullet that sheds human blood is a denial of our unity as children of God. The debate over immigration reform is about much more than our economy. It is fueled by fear of the stranger, fear that stems from a denial of the oneness of our human family. When you and I live in ways that are destructive, when we refuse to love ourselves and the people who surround us, we are in denial that God is in our hearts, always ready to guide us and show us the way of life.

Well, the fact of our unity and our denial of it may be quite simple. But to end our denial, to live as if we are really one with God, with creation, and with one another? That’s not so easy.

But at least we can begin with the assumption, with the deep spiritual conviction that God is always within us, among us, never far away. At least we can begin with the conviction that we are part of one living organism called life, that we are part of a vast human family. To begin with these assumptions is quite different from beginning with the belief that God is far away and unaccessible, that we are free to exploit and abuse anything and anyone as long as it is legal, that it is every man, woman, tribe, and nation for itself in this cold, hard, competitive world.

We may not know how to end war, poverty, environmental destruction, or the problems of immigration. We may not know how to really love our neighbor as ourselves, or how to experience an intimate connection with God at all times. But at least we can begin in reality, not in denial. At least we can start with the simple knowledge that we are one.

This knowledge will lead us, however imperfectly, to live and act in ways that are consistent with that conviction. It will lead us in prayer to a simple, trusting, and frequent opening of the heart to the One who is already close at hand. It will lead us to seek understanding and reconciliation with our neighbor. And it will lead us to try our best to live in harmony with this beautiful and fragile world that God has given us.

Jesus prayed that you and I might be one with God, with life, with one another. The only question is, are you ready to believe that this prayer has already been answered?