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

Threatened with Resurrection

April 26, 2009
Preached for the Third Sunday of Easter
Threatened with Resurrection
Reproached and rewritten from May 3, 1998 (there are other versions)
Revelation 7:9-17
Luke 24:36-48
For year B




It’s been what – 4 years now and I am still a Grey’s anatomy fan. It is my dream to one day write my sermons that way Shondra Rhymes writes her episodes. She always starts out with a theme in every day life, something that all of the characters are dealing with. They start their days off dealing with this issue, and then on to the hospital to see if come full blast. And at the end of the episode – there is always some resolution to the situation, but the issue still there. There is some comment about the issue and the introduction of some cool song – that everyone will go out and buy to think more about how that issue plays out in our lives.
The first episode this Thursday was a rerun – on how Izzy, one of the original medical students was recovering from an operation to remove a brain tumor - the whole cast – most of whom were her classmates stood around the operating room to see if she would be alright. The theme for the night was trauma – Trauma in our lives always leaves a scar no matter how much we heal – it follows us around in our lives. But the good thing is that it moves us forward. It edges us to go on, to move forward to something deeper in our lives.
That is the theme of my sermon this morning – trauma- and how it affects us and gets us going. That is the theme of Easter – the Sunday’s after Easter – dealing with the trauma of death, and betrayal, and misunderstanding. And yet still witnessing the beauty of God’s presence - and creating a beautiful life in the midst of it.
I am always amazed at how the writer of Grey’s anatomy is able to put all of life’s issues into one concise word – and then she says one or two sentences about that issue – and she has said all that needs to be said. How does she do that?
I am not there yet – I still have to preach a whole sermon to get my point across. But believe me I am working on it. But I also don’t have the luxury of thousands of actors to tell my story for me.
But anyway – back to the theme of trauma – and Easter. In the Luke passage for today – The disciples are devastated at the death of Jesus. They don’t know what they are going to do – until he appears to them and brings them peace and then sends them out into the world to witness to what they know about God. After the resurrection, there are several stories of Jesus appearance. They are so caught up in grief, they don’t recognize Jesus. But he doesn’t come to continue life as it has been, but to shake them up to realize this things have changed. Resurrection is the beauty of life, after the scars of trauma. Resurrection is the message that it is time to move forward.
The power of God came to earth- through the life of Jesus, but it was after the resurrection that power was let out into the world – to make an appearance at any time in any situation.
The Buddhist have reincarnation – which says that it it doesn’t matter if you die – because you will come back again to correct all of the mistakes that you made in this life. The Hindu’s have rebirth – which says that when you die, you will come back in another form based on the way that you lived your life. The Jews have stories of rescitation – there are even plenty of stories of people who have died, whom Jesus himself bought back to life – Resurrection the concept of experiencing death and decay – and then completely coming back to life as the person you always were - is a concept that is unique to Christianity . It is a special concept – because it stresses that we are all special and unique people to God. That life is precious and intended for a purpose. We only get one chance at life, and it is important for us to make the most of that one chance.
There is a human part of us and there is a divine part of us. There is a part of us that disappears when we die, and there is a part of us that lives on.
Resurrection acknowledges the trauma of life – and the push forward for us to heal and move on.
One of my most powerful examples of the definition of resurrection, and the power that it has for our lives – comes from a book that we had to read in seminary called - Threatened with Resurrection.
That seems like a strange title - threatened with resurrection. Threatened – resurrection is a promise not a threat. It is what Jesus promises us if we are good and we behave nicely. At the end of the world – we too will be resurrected like him.
Actually resurrection is not a promise of the future - but it is a promise of now. Of dealing with the trauma that we experience in our lives.
Threatened with Resurrection is a poem written by Julia Esquivel from Guatamala. In the 1950’s Guatamala was a country which was very oppressive and apparently very paranoid. They killed hundreds of thousands of their own people – because they thought they were conspiring against them. Soldiers would go through whole neighborhoods and ill everybody – even 3 month old babies. For many years – people were afraid of speaking out of this injustice.
Why do I tell you that story for Easter – because these people have one of the most powerful Easter faiths that have ever heard of. They realized that the soldiers and this dire situation had just threatened them with resurrection. They realized that no matter how many of them were killed that the soldiers could not kill the spirit of the community. They realized that no matter how much devastation that they had to face, that they would not become resentful. They would continue to love peace, to love God, and to love their enemies. They truly came to represent what it means to be resurrected. It means that you cannot destroy their soul – which was never a part of this world. What the world did not give them, the world could not take away. They came to realize that they were children of God – who would always prevail.

I tell you that story because there are still many communities which are being devastated in much that same way – every day. And we never hear about it, it we hear romantic stories about it. We hear the stories of pirates in Somalia – because it is romantic for Americans to hear that our Navy are protecting people from the bad guys – but we never hear that their country Somalia has been lawless and without proper government for years. We never hear about all of the people in Darfur who are still being persecuted, or that the Congo and Liberia have been in a civil war for years.

Even the missionary Janet Lehr Lewis talks of the Palestinians who are depending on their faith in an oppressive situation. There are many times when she will send an email to tell us the real story behind what we hear about in the news. There are many times when she will say in her email – that it is not safe for her to tell the truth about what she is going through - because she is not safe yet.

I tell you that story – because I am grateful to groups like the United Methodist Women – who are willing to uncover the truth about the world that we live in. Every year, they provide studies for us to look at a country or situation in a new and different way. The School of Christian Mission has been a profound part of my faith development. This year they are doing a study on Darfur – to tell people what it really going on. They tell us what we can do to help and to pray even when we are far removed from the situation. I had someone from another denomination, say that the United Methodist Women are the best kept secret of the denomination. If people were aware of what they were doing, they would definitely listen.

I tell you that story - because if they can be threatened with resurrection in such dire circumstance – that surely we too can become awakened to realize the role that resurrection plays in our lives.

A man went to a psychologist to complain about his brother in law who thought he was a chicken. The psychologist said it should be no problem to cure the brother in law of his delusion. The man refused, said no I don’t think I will be bringing him in – we really need the eggs.

There is a story that the disciple Peter was able to heal a man of his blindness. After being healed, the man gouged his eyes out-he had been making a lot of money as a blind man, and he wanted to continue to play his game.

In life, Jesus realized that many of us are just like that. The resurrection shows us that there is a better way of doing things, a healthier way to live. And want to go back to the old way of doing things. It makes sense to us. And in a lot of ways – we were so glad to have the eggs- they pay off – that we were no willing to think differently. Resurrection is truly a threat to us.

Things can change – things will change- things are intended to change. We have to accept it- but we also have to have faith that God will give us the strength to adapt to new ways. In spite of our resistance. We can give up bad habits, we can think about the future.

It is usually our fear of death that keeps us locked in our lives before resurrection. It is the fear of death that forces others to be oppressive and to kill others, it is fear of death that keeps us thinking about scarcity instead of abundance.

Jesus made a point to come to us to show us that death does indeed happen, but so does resurrection. Always. So there is nothing that we have to be afraid of.

The poem threatened with resurrection is a very long poem – not suitable for reading the whole thing in worship. But I wanted to read some lines of it.

There is something here within us, which doesn’t let us sleep, which doesn’t let us rest, which doesn’t stop pounding deep inside, it is the silent, warm weeping Indian woman without her husband, it is the sad gaze of the children, fixed there beyond memory, in the very pupil of our eyes which during sleep, though closed, keep watch, with each contraction of the heart in every wakening, what keeps us from sleeping is they have threatened us with resurrection. Because at each nightfall, though exhausted from the endless inventory of killings since 1954, yet we continue to love life, and do not accept death. Because in this marathon of hope, there is always others to relieve us, in bearing the courage necessary to arrive at the goal which lies beyond death.. Accompany us then on this vigil and you will know what it is to dream. You will then know how marvelous it is to live threatened with resurrection, to dream awake, to keep watch asleep, to live while dying, and to already know oneself resurrected. (reread the last paragraph)

None of us probably will ever know the feeling of living as persecuted people. That is not the point. That all of us should know the significance of living as resurrected people. People with the power to go on and move forward. People with the power to heal and to be healed. People with the power to know that life will always go on in any circumstance.

Trauma – trauma always leaves a scar on us- But it is that scar that can either hold us down – or move us forward. Depending on what we believe about the resurrection. God’s power to overcome it all.

Finally the quatamalan have a national bird – the quetzal – it looks like a small parrot. When caged – it dies. But when allowed to be free it lives for a very long time. But he is special, because even in the toughest of circumstances – it rises above and recreated itself and flies away to a new life.

What will the power of resurrection do for us?