Being A Part of the
Family Business
By Rev Steven R
Mitchell
Mountain View
United Church, Aurora, CO 6/1/2014
Based on John 17:
1-11
This
morning’s text comes on the evening of Jesus’ arrest. It is the end of four chapters of a farewell
speech that Jesus gave to his disciples over their Passover meal. The evening highlights are reported by John
as unfolding in this manor, “It was just before the Passover
Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go
to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the
end. He poured water into a basin and began
to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around
him.
The
evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son
of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. And Jesus told
them, “Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me.
You know the way to the place where
I am going.” Thomas said to him,
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the
truth and the life. If you really know
me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen
him.” “I am the true vine, and my Father
is the gardener. “I am the vine; you are
the branches. “All this I have told you
so that you will not fall away.
They will put you out of the
synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think
they are offering a service to God. Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you
will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” “I came from the Father and entered the
world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” “I have told you these things, so that in me
you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world.”
Then in Chapter 17, after all these
instructions, John writes: After
Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed. Jesus then begins to pray a public
prayer much in the same way that we as a congregation lift up our prayers to
God, so that all might be able to hear our petitions. Jesus’ prayer was not for the world and all of
its troubles, but rather was a prayer for his disciples and for those who knew
and followed him.
The title for this morning’s
reflection came out of an earlier discussion this week with Meredith Ryan. Meredith mentioned something about Billy
Graham, which lead me to think about Robert Schuller. We both commented on how their ministries
were carried on by their sons, and in Robert Schuller’s case, even his daughter
stepped in to try and save the financially troubled Crystal Cathedral. Growing up in the Midwest, I had ample opportunity
to watch and listen to Billy Graham on T.V..
Although I was rarely on the same page theologically with Dr Graham, I
have to say that I have always respected him and his message, for it was one of
honesty and I have always felt it came out of a commitment to God.
Dr Schuller on the other hand, I had
a great deal of issues with when I would watch his program, The Hour of Power. I appreciated the fact that he would have
people up at the pulpit sharing their testimonies of how God had and continued
to work in their lives. What bothered me
about this was it was always someone who had millions of dollars associated
with their name – I often felt this was a subtle message about “prosperity”
Christianity. Then there was Dr
Schuller’s messages of grace and mercy, which generally sounded a lot like
cheap grace to me. Then one day I found
a book about his life and discovered that Dr Schuller originally preached a
very strong Hell, Fire, and Damned Nation message as he was developing his
congregation in Orange County, CA. It
wasn’t until he had his colleague from New York City, Norman Vincent Peale come
and speak to his congregation did Dr Schuller become challenged to think about
the message of Jesus in a differing light.
After hearing Dr Peale share with hundreds of people who were attending worship
at that drive-in theater that morning, that Jesus never condemned anyone, Dr
Schuller was compelled to show Dr Peale the error of his statement. After much re-reading of scripture, Dr
Schuller realized that there was no record of Jesus condemning anyone, which
was the seed of what became known as positive thinking. What he came to realized is that throughout
the week people were consistently confronted with negativity and being
emotionally beat up. Dr Schuller began to
realize it was then the job of the church to provide an environment that
encouraged and uplifted people on Sunday morning.
For many years now, both Dr Graham
and Dr Schuller have been retired, yet the organizations that they build still
went on with the son’s stepping in and preaching the word that their father’s
had proclaimed. Yet, we don’t hear much
about the Graham crusades these days and the Crystal Cathedral has been sold
with the “Hour of Power” no longer being presented. These are two examples of religious dynasties
that no longer exist. In my opinion the
reason for this is simply, the sons were carrying on their father’s work as an obligation
to the family business, not out of a call from God.
This morning the Presbyterian Church
of Bennett has held its final worship service after 60 years of serving that
community. Last Fall the Calvary
Presbyterian church moved out of its building and has redirected its resources toward
community action projects. What is the
difference between these two congregations?
In part, I believe it is vision.
One congregation had difficulty in redefining their minister in their
community, while the other took bold steps to redefine how they are to use
their resources for ministry.
Have you ever thought of yourself as
a member of this congregation as being a part of God’s family business? You are you know. Jesus too was a part of the family
business. The scriptures are full of
stories about members of the family business and of their struggles in carrying
on the business. Throughout Jesus’
farewell speech, Jesus is giving his disciples direction and encouragement to
carry on his work. In his prayer, we
learn that his work was not for himself, but for the one who sent him,
God. And what is the product of the family
business? Jesus says it is “eternal
life.” “Now this is eternal life: that
they know you, the only true God…”
Many
a church sermon has limited the understanding of “eternal life” to mean life
after this world. Yet Jesus is using
this phrase as another way of thinking about God’s earthly kingdom as it
includes life in the present. Eternal
life comes in knowing God. Ultimately,
as we read the bible from beginning to end, the overall description of God is
that of “love.” The kingdom of God is
based on love and out of love comes justice for all of creation. Justice in the understanding of God is
equality, is respect, and inter-relationship of all creation. In last week’s reflection, Pastor Wayne spoke
about each act of goodness, each act of justice, each act of compassion is
representative of Jesus’ return.
Mountain
View is a part of the family business.
We might be small, but we are a very busy people, with our hands
involved in many aspects of ministry.
Yet I think it is important for us to stop from time to time and ask
ourselves, “why are we doing these
things?” Are we doing these
activities because it is out of a commitment to carry on a dynasty? Or are we doing these things because it comes
out of a call to continue to bring “eternal life”, to bring knowledge of God to
a world that much of the time has forgotten who God is?
Jesus
was praying not for his continuation, but rather for the continuation of the
disciples and of the continuation of all those who have eternal life, so that
they may help show this gift to all who are willing to listen. As we come to this table this morning, we
hear the words of comfort, the words of encouragement, the words of love that
Jesus has for all who know God and for those who will come to know God. This table is an ongoing symbol of God’s
eternal life for those who are a part of the family business. Amen
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