United we Stand

​The Venerable Joan Clark

John 17:11b-19

Today is Mother’s Day, a day when we honour our Mums. We learn many things from our Mums.
My mother taught me religion. She used to say things like, “You better pray that comes out of the carpet.”

My mother taught me medicine: “If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to freeze that way.”
My mother taught me how to be a contortionist: “Will you look at the dirt on the back of your jersey!”
My mother taught me to appreciate a job well done: “If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning!”

My mother taught me about genetics: “You are just like your father!”

My mother taught me logic: “Because I said so, that’s why.”

I don’t know if any of you had mothers like that. Maybe we all had a mother like that. But here’s a more profound question: Do you know anyone whose mother prays for them daily? Several of you maybe in that category. Let me tell you about a young woman who became one of the most important women in the history of the church simply because of her faithfulness as a mum who prayed.

Her name was Monica. Some of you may recognize that name and you already know who I’m talking about. Monica was born in 331 A.D. in North Africa in what is now Algeria. As a young girl, Monica converted to Christianity, still a relatively new faith. Her parents, who were not religious and not in sympathy with her new faith, married her off to a Roman pagan named Patricius.

Both Patricius and his mother, who lived with them, were hot-tempered people . . . and difficult to deal with. Nevertheless, Monica did her best to be a good wife and daughter-in-law. While Monica’s prayers and Christian deeds bothered Patricius, he respected her beliefs and not long before his death, both he and his mother converted to Christianity.

Monica and Patricius had three children, two of whom entered religious life as young adults. The third was a son named Augustine. Augustine was more of a challenge. By his own admission he was a wayward youth, giving in to most of the pleasures of his day. One writer describes him as lazy and uncouth. But Monica kept praying for her son. Her watchful, prayerful persistence paid off when Augustine finally became a Christian. Monica lived to see her son baptized into her faith. She died shortly thereafter. She could not know that Augustine would go on to become one of the towering figures of the church of his time whom we now generally refer to as St. Augustine. From a sinner to a saint--simply and solely because of the prayers and the influence of his mother.

Do mothers play an important role in society? Tell me who else is more important than a mother? St. Augustine was one of millions of people who have come to know Christ through their mother’s never-failing love and prayers. Some of us are here today because we had that kind of mother. And so, it is appropriate that we honour our mums this day, whether they are still with us or whether they are now with God.

In our text for today from the Gospel of John, Christ is praying for the church. Jesus loved the church like a mother loves her child. He offered this prayer shortly before his betrayal by Judas. Listen carefully to his words, for Christ is praying for you and me: “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one . . .”

It was important to Christ that the church, his body, remain unified after he was gone from them. Obviously, he knew that would be difficult. We enjoy singing, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; and we pray that all unity will one day be restored. And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” And that’s true in most churches, but all through history we have also been known by our squabbles.

In his book Let’s Quit Fighting about the Holy Spirit, Pete Gillquist tells a delightful tale about two men who lived in Jesus’ day. Both men were healed of blindness, and, when they compared notes, they discovered that Jesus was the healer in both cases.

They discussed the method and technique of the way in which Jesus healed them. To their dismay, they discovered that Jesus used two entirely different methods when he healed them. One of the men was healed almost instantly by Jesus merely saying to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” However, the other man was healed using a totally different approach. Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes and told him to go to a certain pool and wash the mud off.
And since this was church, they got into an argument over which was the authentic way to be healed. Both men were frustrated, but both were positive of one thing: Jesus could not possibly have used the “other” method to heal them than the way they were healed. In great disbelief, one man said to the other man, “There’s no way it could have happened like that!”

And then Pete Gilchrest adds: “And there you have it, folks. The start of the world’s first two denominations. The Mudites and the Anti-Mudites.”

Now, of course, such a silly argument couldn’t possibly happen in our church, or could it?

Conflict in most churches is not that bad, but it can happen. We know what happens when people turn against one another--relationships are broken. We are, after all, only human.

In John’s Gospel Jesus prays for the church. He prays that we will all be one. In other words, that we will be united. Considering the present fragmentation of the Christian community, Christ is probably still praying that same prayer today.

What is it that holds together the body of Jesus Christ? What is the source of our unity where it exists?
Obviously, we are united, first of all, by what we believe. We believe in God. And we believe that through Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit we can know God and experience God.

Some of us have experienced God in quite a profound way. Others of us are yearning for such an experience. Regardless, we are united in our belief that Christ is the way to God. And we gather here each week in the hope that God will make Himself known to us--that, if we have not already done so--we will one day experience God in our lives.

We are not perfect people. And no group of people is going to agree on every little matter. Sometimes there is conflict in the church. But when the dust settles, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us, there is a common bond that unites everyone who takes upon himself or herself the name Christian. That bond is this: We believe that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him shall have life everlasting. We believe that and that unites us with millions of believers around this planet. That is the first thing that unites us--our beliefs.

We are also united by our love for one another and for the one whom we serve.

Evangelist James Robinson once told of seeing a television interview with members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang. He was impressed by their creed. He says, “Do you know what they kept holding up as their great supreme virtue? They kept saying: ‘We’re a family. We’re together. We live together, fight together, die together. We stick together."

You would think that saints of God would at least be as committed to one another as the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang--and I believe we are.

I see people in our church doing little acts of kindness for one another all the time. The first thing that unites us is our beliefs. We are also united by our love for one another and for Christ.

We serve Christ. He is the inspiration of our lives. He is the living presence who works within us. He is the Lord and Master of all we are and hope to be. We are his. It is in his steps that we walk.

 St. Paul set the standard for us over 1900 years ago when he wrote that our job “whether at home or absent, is to be pleasing to God.” (II Corinthians 5:9). That is the test of service in our lives as believers in Him. Would it be pleasing to Christ?

We are united by what we believe. We are united by our love for one another and for the Christ we serve. Finally, we are united by our love for those whom we are trying to save--the world for which Christ died. The church can never be satisfied with protecting its own existence. We serve one who poured out his life for the world. That is our calling as well--to pour out our life for the world. We have no other purpose as the church of Jesus Christ.

Christ prayed that we would be united. United by what we believe. We believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and Lord. United by the one whom we serve. We seek to serve Christ in all we think, say and do. United by whom we are seeking to save--the world for which Christ died.

Our text for the day ends with these words:  I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. 19 I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.
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Jesus loved the church like a mother loves her child. Remember that this Mother’s Day. And what is it that he most wants for us? To be united. We are made holy by our faith, by our love for Christ and by our outreach to the world for whom Christ died.