Jesus Prayer for Our Success (Threatened with Resurrection)

7th Sunday of Easter – Ascension John 17:1-11 May 21, 2023 Jesus Prayer for our success Year A Prelude Welcome Introit Call to Worship L: Today is Ascension Sunday when we celebrate Christ’s return to God. P: We look up in wonder as he is lifted from us into heaven! L: But this is not a time to gaze upward. There is work to be done. P: Jesus has entrusted the ministry of God’s love to us. L: Let’s get to work! P: Let’s make our hearts ready for the task ahead with prayer and praise! L: Amen P: AMEN! (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer God of incredible surprises, as we gaze into the clouds, remind us that we are standing on holy ground. Place our feet on the pathways of peace and hope. Draw our attention from the vision of the Lord rising to the heavens to be with you and help us to focus on the ministries that you would have us do. Keep us ready and willing always to serve you all our days. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Song All Hail the Power of Jesus Name UMH 155 Children’s Sermon Good morning! Today we are going to talk about a very special event that took place in the Bible. First, though, I want to show you a little trick. Have you ever seen a raisin dance?? It might sound strange, but let me show you what I mean. Here are my raisins, ready to party (show a handful of raisins). Now, do you know what a raisin used to be? That’s right, a grape! You’d think the grapes might want to dance, so maybe we’ll try it out with them too… Okay, here’s my dancing juice (pour enough fizzy soda to fill about half a glass or jar). Let’s see, do the grapes want to dance? (Drop in a grape or two…nothing happens). Well, the raisins look a little shriveled up here, but watch what happens when I drop them in the bubbles… (wait a few moments, and observe the raisins float up to the top of the glass). Wow, those raisins got excited about being in that glass, didn’t they? They might have seemed like all the juicy grape life was drained away, but they got new power and rose back up! So, the reason we watched raisins is because today we are looking at what happened when Jesus ascended into Heaven. Have you ever heard the word “ascend”? It means something goes up, like an elevator or a person going upstairs. In our lesson today, we are looking at the last time Jesus was on earth. We’ve been talking about how He showed up to His disciples a few times after His resurrection, and spoke with them about things or gave them encouraging words. Well, He had one final special meeting with them…Jesus took His disciples out of the town a little ways, and He reminded them again of who He was, and how He suffered and died to fulfill the prophecies. He told His friends that He was going to send them an exciting present, and that they should wait for that present to get an amazing sort of power…then He gave them a blessing, and then do you know what happened? Well, have you ever had a balloon, the kind with helium, and let it go? What happens? It just floats all the way up into the sky, right? That’s what happened to Jesus! He floated up, ascending into the sky just like those raisins. But He didn’t come back down. (At this point, you may use your stuffed animal to demonstrate the “lift off”; or for extra effect, hoist one of the kids—safely—and lift them up for the others to see). The disciples were left open-mouthed, starting into the sky and wondering when He would return…an angel let them know that Jesus would be coming back, though they didn’t realize it would take such a long time. In the meantime, the disciples were excited about what Jesus had said. They went to Jerusalem and hung out in the church, giving praise to God and telling people about what they had seen. They were all stirred up with energy and excitement, just like those raisins were stirred up and started dancing! How do you think you might have felt if you saw Jesus go up into the clouds like that?? It might have been shocking or confusing or exciting. One thing we can know is that we should be eager to share God’s love and good news with one another. And do you want to know something else? This story about ascending has a sequel! Jesus told the disciples to wait for a special power that would be sent, remember? Do you want to know how that power came? You’ll have to stay tuned, because in our next lesson we will get to hear all about it! For now, let’s say a prayer and ask God for patient hope, and for enthusiasm to share His news with others: Prayer: (Have kids repeat each line, if desired) Dear God, Thank you for who you are Thank you for resurrection joy Help us to be excited about your story So we can share the good news with others Thank you for your love Thank you for Jesus! (Ministry to children, Kristin Schmidt) Affirmation of Faith UMH 888 Anthem Scripture John 17:1-11 Sermon Jesus’ Prayer for our Success This is the last Sunday of the Easter season. Next Sunday is Pentecost, and the Sunday after that is the beginning of ordinary time. Ordinary time is the longest and the most boring season of the church year. The first six months of the Christian year, which starts in December is dictated by the holidays and festivals- advent, Christmas, epiphany, lent Easter. The last six months of the year the church is silent. That silence is intended to challenge us to take the lessons that we have learned and become better Christians, delve deeper in our faith, get closer to God, have a clearer understanding of our purpose, to become more determined to fulfill our mission. Our mission is to fulfill Jesus mission, Jesus mission is to fulfill God’s mission of love for all people. On the last Sunday of Easter, we remember the culmination of Jesus ministry on earth. The culmination is not Easter. After Easter, Jesus hangs around a little bit and encourages the disciples. Until one day he returns to heaven and leaves the mission in their hands. All week I have been seeing a Facebook meme which says that Ascension is the day Jesus decided to work from home. Ascension happens in the middle of the week – and has its own scriptures to talk about it. Our scripture for today is john 17. Our songs are Ascension songs, but I chose the gospel for the last Sunday of Easter. I felt that it was a nice combination of both thoughts. John 17 is Jesus final prayer for his mission, for the mission of the disciples and for the mission of all future Christians who will read and hear these words. Now to give you a little background on this prayer. In Matthew, Mark and Luke – Jesus gives a final prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is alone, and his is very worried and concerned and he prays the God will take this cup away from him, so that he doesn’t have to go through even more pain and passion. John always tells things a little differently. For John – Jesus is at the last supper with his disciples. He is not upset, he just accepts what is to happen next as a part of the plan. So he prays this his disciples will have strength, solidarity and steadfast hope. He prays that all who fulfill his mission will have eternal life. In this prayer, eternal life is not something in the sweet by and by. Eternal life is always there for us to use – when we know the power of Jesus in life and we know that power comes from God and is available to us – we are living eternally her today. John’s point in his gospel is to teach us that heaven and earth are always connected, Jesus is always fully human and fully divine. We always have access to God through Jesus. When we follow Jesus, we follow God. Heaven is not a place up in the sky – heaven is a place in our hearts. Heaven is how we live, how we treat people, how we pray, how we fulfill God’s mission for love and unity for all people. If God can resurrect Jesus from the dead, then the challenges that we face are no match for God. On this last Sunday of Easter, I want to share with you a poem that we studied in seminary – 30 years ago. This poem has stuck with me all of these years because it reminds me of the power of resurrection. The poem is called “They have Threatened us with Resurrection” It was written in the 80’s by Julia Esquivel. She is a survivor of a massacre of indigenous people in Guatemala by the military. Whole villages were destroyed and people felt helpless to defend themselves and their families against their own government. And yet rather than give up on life, they chose to stand on their faith. They knew that evil had the power to destroy their body, but not their spirit. For them, tough times had threatened them with resurrection. It made their faith stronger and they were more determined to survive. The quetzal is Guatemala’s official bird. Legend has it that if caged the bird will die of sadness. But when it is on freedom, it has the power to overcome any circumstance. Even in deadly circumstances, it will always come back to life and thrive. The poem says that it is the internal cyclone of struggle that heals the wounds of the quetzal. The power within is the earthquake soon to come that will shake the world and put everything in its place. Jesus is the earthquake that puts everything back in its place. I wont share with you the whole poem, as a matter of fact her book is a series of poems. But I will share some of the important parts It isn’t the noise in the streets that keeps us from resting, my friend, nor is it the shouts of the young people It is something within us that doesn’t let us sleep, that doesn’t let us rest, that won’t stop pounding deep inside, it is the silent, warm weeping of Indian women without their husbands, it is the sad gaze of the children fixed somewhere beyond memory, precious in our eyes which during sleep, though closed, keep watch, What keeps us from sleeping is that they have threatened us with Resurrection! Because every evening though weary of killings, an endless inventory since 1954,** yet we go on loving life and do not accept their death! They have threatened us with Resurrection because they are more alive than ever before, because they transform our agonies and fertilize our struggle, because they pick us up when we fall, because they loom like giants before the crazed gorillas’ fear. This poem has stuck with me all of these years because I think that at some point we have all been threatened with resurrection. Out faith has been tested. We have become discouraged, we have felt that it was no use, we have not seen results, we have seen evil prevail, we have lived in darkness, we have felt that there is nothing that we can do, we have stared death in the eye. It is in that moment that we cannot hold onto the things going on around us – we have to look inside and hold onto our faith. We have to realize that it was at that moment in the life of our saviour that he did not cry – but he prayed. He prayed for us as we face our darkest moment. John 17 says I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I am coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me that they will be one just as we are one. It is the moment that we see resurrection as life in the midst of death, light in the midst of darkness, and eternity as the power of God right now in this situation that we learn the power of our faith. The poem, Threatened with Resurrection ends by saying… Join us in this vigil and you will know what it is to dream! Then you will know how marvelous it is to live threatened with Resurrection! To dream awake, to keep watch asleep, to live while dying, and to know ourselves already resurrected! When we are able to see resurrection clearly- the mission of Jesus has been fulfilled and God has been glorified. God’s mission is in our hands now, we just have to keep the faith. Amen. Song I’ll Fly Away TFWS 2282 Pastoral Prayer Lord, we sometimes wonder why you bother with us. Throughout history, you have called to humankind to be your witnesses. You have given to each a special blessing. But the historical record reveals the stubborn, selfish responses of your people. We think that we deserve your blessing and don’t have to do your will. We have acted in wicked ways far too often. Today you have called us together to hear the words of Jesus as he prayed for his disciples, telling you that his love for them is complete and that he believes in them. We would like to think that we are included in that number, that Jesus prays for us and loves us. And, indeed, he does. He has given his life for us. Now we are called to give our lives for him, to offer to all the good news that God’s love is real and powerful. God’s healing mercy is for all people. We offer our prayers for our families and our friends who are in situations of need, asking God’s blessings upon them. We raise our voices in choruses of pleading for you to be present to all your people, creating pathways of peace. Be with us, gracious Lord. Help us to witness to the world, not only by our words and our thoughts, but by our actions that your peace may be known. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Stewardship Moment Offertory Prayer Our kind Heavenly Father, we rejoice in your faithfulness! As you promised, your glorious Spirit inspires a new way of life through the church of Jesus Christ. We trust that as we continue to devote ourselves to prayer, you will strengthen our congregation in mission outreach. Direct all our gifts and offerings for the purposes of your kingdom, O God. We pray through Christ, who ascended on high to your eternal throne in the heavens. Amen. (Acts 1:6-14) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Easter people, God has done great things for you! Go, now, carrying the story of God’s work in your lives that in all things, good and difficult, you can ask with confidence, “How will God show up now?” knowing all the while that God will, indeed, take all our caring and point us toward joy. Amen.( Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, October 2022.) Joys and Concerns Benediction The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen! (Aaronic Blessing) Additional Illustrations