"You’re In Good Hands With The Almighty"

This Memorial Day holiday is a reminder of what community is about. Many people will gather together this weekend, or on Memorial Day itself, to honor those who gave their all for the protection of their communities. The twenty-one gun salute, the speeches, the reading of the names of the honored dead, the patriotic music and the prayers (especially the prayers) are meant to comfort and strengthen those who fought in a war and those who lost loved ones to war.

It’s always helpful when a community gathers around those who suffer a loss. This past week community supported the Mitchell’s as they grieved the loss of Danielle. As in most such occurrences, food was taken to the family, words of comfort were spoken, and promises of prayer were made.

And even before the needs of a grieving family needed to be met, the community gave support as Danielle and her family coped with her awful illness. In part out of Christian charity and in part because of her relationship to members of our congregation, we at St. Paul’s gave financial help and included Danielle in our prayers.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus takes this theme to a holy high. In these last days before Jesus was betrayed, arrested and killed, He has tried to prepare those who will be left behind. Like a member of the military about to go to war or a person facing death from a lingering illness, Jesus tried to offer words of encouragement, comfort and guidance. He assured the disciples that there was a plan and that the Holy Spirit would take care of them in His absence.

And then, Jesus prayed. He prayed for Himself as He looked forward to the sacrifice He would make. He prayed for the disciples then and in the future, that the Almighty would support and protect this community that had grown through its relationship with Him. And finally, as recorded in verses after our lesson, He prayed for those to whom the community was to evangelize.

It must have been hard for the disciples. They were just ordinary people like us - blue collar workers mostly, a few with less physical jobs perhaps. Most hadn’t had time for a lot of advanced religious study and they all demonstrated that what Jesus was trying to teach them was often beyond their understanding. Nonetheless, they had formed a community around Jesus and He had become the center of their lives.

Now, He was talking about leaving them. He was going to allow His enemies to kill Him and as a result His community would be vulnerable on every side.

The community would be vulnerable, but it would not be alone and it would not be destroyed. By allowing the disciples (then and now) to listen in on His prayer, Jesus gave assurance that even if He was not physically present, you’re in good hands with the Almighty.

Jesus knew that the Father listened to His prayers and would preserve the community so long as it continued in relationship with God and fulfilled its mission. God has continued to answer Jesus prayer for over 2000 years - through persecution, war, oppression, disease, attacks from without and conflict from within. So long as the community of believers comes together in Jesus name and endeavors to do God’s will, God preserves it.

God preserves the community because He knew that discipleship is a difficult vocation - a vocation to which we are all called in baptism. It is difficult whether the disciple lives under threat of persecution from fellow Jews and Roman oppressors or from a near godless culture and lives so busy the disciple hardly has time for God in the midst of trying to make a living.

This community God created was and is intended to give support to each believer. It is meant to be a gathering where the people can come together as they are, with all their wounds, weaknesses and guilts exposed so that they can receive healing. It is gifted with Word and Sacrament that give guidance, strength and purpose. It is entrusted with the same mission that Jesus left for the original twelve - to share God’s love in word and deed with all the world.

People sometimes say that they can worship and serve God without being part of a church, but God created community because He knew that we could not carry out His mission alone. He knew that we would need each other, each helping to bear his or her share of the burden.

It is like a story told by Pr. Tim Zingale:

"One day a small boy was trying to lift a heavy stone, but he couldn't budge it. His father passing by, stopped to watch his efforts. Finally the father asked his son, "Are you using all your strength?"

"Yes, I am," the boy yelled,"I am using every last bit of energy and strength I have. As the boy talked he sounded exasperated and worn out."

The father turned to the boy and said, "No, you are not using all of your strength, you haven't asked me to help you.

So the boy asked the father to help, but still that stone couldn't be moved. So, the father asked his older son to help, but still they couldn't move it. Then a neighbor was asked to help, then another neighbor, and another, and finally with each one giving all their energy and strength to the project, the stone was moved!

After everyone had left, the father turned to his son and said, "You see, when we all work together, when we use our strength together, then we can accomplish some things that any of us by ourselves could not accomplish.

Christians continue to work together, using all their strength and God’s Spirit to accomplish the tasks God formed community to do. And God has continued to answer Jesus’ prayer and to be with every community gathered in Jesus name, led by the Spirit, so long as they accept the gift and responsibility of being in a relationship with God and of bearing their shared burden. We can be sure also that Jesus continues to pray for these communities.

As we celebrate this Memorial Day and remember the sacrifices of those who gave so much to their earthly communities, let’s reflect on a question posed by Scripture scholar Gail O’Day about our faith communities: How would our Christian community’s self-definition be changed if we took as our beginning point, ‘We are a community for whom Jesus prays.’"

Let’s not just reflect on this question once either. Let’s make it the central question of our life together as the community of believers serving God in this place. And as we seek to answer that question remember, "You’re in good hands with the Almighty". Amen.