Being one with Christ
Acts 16.16-34
Revelation 22.12-14, 16-17, 20-end
John 17.20-end
The Revd Catherine Edenborough
What a week it’s been in the news! Aside from the horrors of Ukraine and the shooting in Texas, closer to home, just when we thought Partygate couldn’t get any worse, it sank to new depths with the release of the long-awaited Sue Gray report into the parties at No 10 Downing Street during lockdown. I am sure you will have heard the details… drinking to excess, karaoke machines, red wine on the walls, people vomiting… and seen the photos. We ask ourselves ‘How could these gatherings possibly have been allowed to happen while the rest of the country was obeying strict lockdown laws put in place by this very Prime Minister – with very many often isolated and even unable to be with family members as they were ill or dying?’ The main reason for people’s anger is that there seems to have been one set of rules for the country and another set that applied to Boris Johnson and his team. It seems he felt himself to be above the people he is supposed to be serving.
Any book on leadership theory will tell us that good leaders take their people along with them. And one way they do this is by walking the talk. By being willing to be in the trenches with their people, so to speak. Showing solidarity rather than superiority. They say that when someone is unhappy at work and leaves, the chances are they are not leaving the company or organisation; they are leaving a bad manager. Sadly we often remember these managers more vividly than the good ones. I recall a manager in my last company, who was brilliant at keeping the chief executive happy with new strategies and plans, but not good at valuing their team. There was scant appreciation for the team’s successes and a constant focus on what could have gone better or should be done differently next time. It wasn’t long before I was looking for my next move and I left the company – or rather I left that manager – shortly afterwards.
So ‘what has all this got to do with today’s Bible readings?’ you ask! We’d all agree that the type of behaviour I have described is poor and does not serve anyone well. And it’s all pretty obvious. That’s true. It also contrasts hugely with the words of Jesus in this morning’s gospel passage. The verses we heard from John’s gospel come right at the end of what some call Jesus’ farewell discourse. He’s spent the last few chapters talking to his disciples, explaining what is to come, that the Holy Spirit will come upon them, that they will be put out of the synagogues and threatened with death, but that God will be with them through everything. Then he prays to God for protection for his disciples before finally in today’s passage, praying for those who will believe in him through their word. And that means us. Directly after this we have Judas’ betrayal of him and Jesus’ arrest. So these are his final words – his final words to the team, if you like.
And what is his message? That we might be one in him - that everyone might know that God has sent him and that God loves them even as he has loved him. He asks that these new believers may be in God and Christ, so that the world may believe that God has sent him. It’s hard to get our heads around but the bottom line is that firstly Jesus wants to be in his people. The God who created the world and all around us wants to be in us. He wants to be right there with us, even when he’s no longer physically present. This feels like the ultimate in solidarity with your people. The ultimate in walking the talk. The ultimate in bringing your people with you. And of course we are not talking about a work situation any longer – this goes far beyond that. The thrilling thing is Jesus’ desire is to be right there with us, in all we do and all we are.
The other part is that once Christ is in us, we may all be one. This is more challenging. This call to unity is one that we often agree to in our heads as an aspiration, but in reality we get rather depressed when we look around the Christian church and see all the division within it: breakaway groups, differing views on LGBTQ issues, the place of women in the church, and so it goes on. How on earth are we to be one when there is so much difference? How do we marry up the words of Jesus with the reality we see around us?
I think one way to look at this is to remember the order that things happen in: that the more we are open to God’s indwelling, the more we are able to be open to others and connect with them, even if we disagree with them. Our own hearts are stony without Christ and we have created walls around us to protect ourselves, keep others out and keep God out. As we let Christ into our lives, gradually those walls can come down and we find ourselves able to welcome others and love as Jesus does.
That’s not to say it will be easy. We still struggle to welcome others, we struggle to love people we dislike and it will continue to be hard, but the more we let God in, the more, little by little, we are able to love. And so this oneness comes gradually and is a given thing. It doesn’t come from external sources - organisational structures or laws or certain ways of worshipping. It comes only from relationship with Christ.
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, puts it like this: “I would go so far as to say that the more we can connect, the more of a saint we are. The less we can connect, the less transformed we are. If we can’t connect with people of other religions, classes or with our enemies, we are not very converted. Truly transformed individuals see that everything is one.”
So as we continue on our journey of faith, let’s seek that oneness with Christ and receive it as a gift. As we begin the season of Thy Kingdom Come – a time when we focus on our mission and witness to those around us - let’s ask God to give us grace to open ourselves more fully to his work in us, trusting his promise to be with us, that world will see it and believe in him too. Amen.