The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
May 27, 2001

So the World May Know
John 17: 20-26

Queen Elizabeth II of England is always seen in public with a handbag. The bags vary with each of her outfits, but it seems that the Queen and her handbag are rarely parted. I don’t remember who the comedian was anymore, but I remember hearing a comedian wondering what is in the purse. After all, what does the Queen need in her handbag? Does she carry keys to the castle? With the stony faced guards all around, its unlikely that the castles are locked at all. Even if the castle was locked, do you think the Queen would really stand at the door fishing around in her purse for the keys? With chauffeurs a plenty, Elizabeth hardly needs car keys. She probably doesn’t need cash for the drive through or even a credit card for lunch. Queen Elizabeth simply doesn’t need to carry many of the items most of us mere mortals need.

Jesus’ prayer life is a little like Queen Elizabeth’s purse—at first glance, it seems a bit unnecessary. Jesus is God, right? Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus is God made flesh. Exactly why and for what would Jesus pray?

Scripture makes it clear that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. The disciples knew that Jesus’ was human. They never doubted his humanity, understanding his divinity took longer. The disciples came to learn through his word and actions Jesus was also God made flesh. Understanding that Jesus was divine took longer. Why? Because Jesus was indeed God made human, and in becoming human, God emptied God’s own self to take on human flesh. Jesus as a human communicated to God in prayer as we do.

Time and again, the Gospels tell us of Jesus taking some time away from the crowds for prayer. Jesus is in prayer before his baptism, before many miracles, and on the night before his death. Prayer was as much an essential of Jesus’ life as food and water.

Everything Jesus did was done through prayer. But often times we don’t get a glimpse of his inner life. Most of the time we read that Jesus prayed, but we don’t get to listen in on Jesus’ private prayers. Today’s Gospel reading is an exception. Through the prayer in today’s Gospel, we get to find out what is on God’s own heart.

Our reading is part of a longer prayer in the 17^th chapter of John. Jesus has already prayed for the strength for his coming crucifixion. Next Jesus prayed for his disciples. Now at the end of the prayer, Jesus broadens the group for whom he prays. Jesus says, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word.” That means us. We have come to believe in Jesus because of the word of the first disciples. Had they never gone out and told Jesus’ story, we never would have heard it. We believe today because of an unbroken chain of believers back to the time of those first disciples. So when Jesus prays for “those who will believe in me through their word,” Jesus is praying for those of us gathered here today and for all the Christians around the world.

Jesus prays, “that they (meaning we or us) may be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they (Jesus means us again) also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Jesus prays for unity among all Christians. Jesus’ heart’s desire is that we may be one with God and through that oneness with the triune God we may be one with one another. The logical conclusion of this unity is Jesus’ true desire, that through this unity, the world may see and know that Jesus is God’s own Son, the savior of the world.

Jesus’ desire was that all of us Christians around the world could be one. How are we doing on Christian unity? If you look to Church history, the answer doesn’t look so good.

The Christian Church in the East and West split apart in theological disagreements in the ninth century that pitted the Eastern Church, called Orthodox (meaning “proper belief” or “those who believe rightly”) against the Catholics (meaning “universal” as they held themselves to be the one true universal church). The Orthodox and Catholics argued religion in church councils and later on the battlefield as the Catholic armies sacked the Christian Constantinople in the Crusades.

That is just one example of the ways we Christians have abused one another. The wars between Protestants and Roman Catholics that raged across the continent of Europe in the 16^th century are just one painful example of the ways we have blown it. Jesus prayed that we Christians would be one and disagreements over what it means to be a faithful Christian sent Christians of differing beliefs into battle year after to year to fight their own brothers in Christ to the death. To be sure, there was a lot of political aspiration tied up with the religious goals of the age, but many thousands died at the hand of their fellow Christians.

Of course, looking back at church history is just a safe way to look at divisions among Christians. When non-Christians in America today look to those who live and work with them, do they see unity? Oftentimes, what they see and hear is Christians of various denominations upholding some doctrine or another as the reason why their own brand of Christianity is the only true way to hold the Christian faith or at least the better if not the best way to believe. For a non-Christian looking in from the outside, it seems that we Christians can’t even get our act together. If Christians can’t even agree on what to believe, why should a non-Christian even bother?

There’s the joke that I have heard told with several different denominations inserted into the punch line. A person dies and goes to heaven. On the first day in heaven tour, they see a high wall surrounding a portion of paradise. The person asks St. Peter, who is always the tour guide in jokes like this, why the wall is there. St. Peter motions the person off into the distance and then says, “That’s the area for the [insert name of denomination here]. They think they are the only ones here.”

It’s as if you can’t get into heaven if you don’t believe exactly what I believe. Will there really be an entrance exam on matters of doctrine given at the gates of heaven? Is that what Jesus was all about? I think that Jesus was more concerned about love than doctrine. So what’s the answer? The end of denominations? A stop to all distinctions among Christian groups? If that were to happen, which denomination would we be? What exactly would we believe, and more importantly, how would we worship and act? What would a newly unified Christianity look like?

I believe the answer is in Jesus’ own prayer. Jesus prayed, “Father make them one as you and I are one that the world may believe.” If we are to be one as Jesus and the Father are one, then how are Jesus and the Father one? Clearly, they are not so unified that there is no distinction between them, or among them and the Holy Spirit. If they were one with no distinction, then Jesus would never need to pray. Instead, we know that God is a Trinity of persons—one being, yet three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one and yet each unique. We too are to be unique persons, separate from one another and yet in communion with each other. The goal is not to lose yourself into a group so fully that there is no “you” left. That’s what happens with a cult. The cult wants you to lose your identity into a group identity. Christianity teaches that God made you unique, with unique gifts to offer. Jesus’ prayer for unity leaves open this diversity within unity as we Christians are not to merely be one, but to be one as Jesus and the Father are one.

We are not all created just alike and so we will each approach God a little differently. Denominations allow this diversity. Our various churches allow us each to find the best way for us to approach God within a loving community of fellow Christians. There is no need to break down the uniqueness found within various branches of the Christian faith. But we should find some ways to show that in our diversity, we remain essentially one.

Christians hold most beliefs in common. We believe in one Trinitarian God who is best known through Jesus, the Son. Christians around the world still hold to the faith affirmed by that church council that met in Nicea in the year 325. That creed of faith, known as the Nicene Creed, contains a basic outline of Christian beliefs that the vast majority of Christians affirm to this day.

The solution is not to squish all Christians into a one-sized-fits-all faith. The solution is to present an outward face that shows the world that we know that our similarities matter more than our differences. That we Christians do not view the various churches that dot our town as competition, but allies in the cause of spreading the Christian Gospel. The Bible does not teach that all heaven rejoices when a person or family changes from one church to another. All heaven rejoices when someone trapped in a life of sin learns that God loves her or him, God wants what’s best for them, and God desires a relationship with them. Someone coming to that life changing knowledge is what makes all heaven rejoice.

Sometimes switching from one church to another can help you find a church where you are most at home and that’s fine, great even. One church may be better for you than another may. King of Peace, for example, is not for everyone and that’s fine by me. But King of Peace will be perfect for some.

Nevertheless, King of Peace can be a better member of the community of the faithful here in Camden County by finding ways to outwardly show our unity with other Christians. We have done a good job of this within our own Episcopal denomination. In the past year, we have had three combined services with Christ Church in St. Marys and St. Marks in Woodbine. We have also advertised together in the newspaper twice. The greatest sign of Episcopal unity is the van out front today, which Christ Church bought and paid for and then lettered “Episcopal Churches of Camden County.” We are welcome to use the van for King of Peace events and do so with some regularity. But Jesus did not pray that Episcopalians would be one so that others would see and believe. Jesus prayed that all Christians would be one. That’s why we, as a church, need to look for public ways to show that we know that we are on the same team as other churches in our area. The other churches in Camden County are not our competition. The ungodly influences within our area that pull people away from a relationship with their loving creator are the competition. Other churches are our allies.

That’s what we can do as a church. As an individual, look for ways to live out Christian unity in your own life. Don’t worry about inviting Christians who are happy with church home to visit King of Peace. Reach out to the people you know who have no godly influences in their lives. Because while Jesus was praying for those of us who believe, Jesus was doing not just for us, but for those who could come to believe through our belief. Jesus was always looking outside the circle of the faithful to invite new people into a relationship with him. We should join Jesus in that task.

Amen.