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St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
May 12, 2024
Year B: The Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17: 6-10
Jesus Is Praying Beside Us
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Here in church, especially when things really click, we get a little glimpse, a small foretaste, of heaven.
Last Sunday’s 10:00 service was one of those times.
We baptized a beautiful and happy baby, radiant little Phoebe, with a church full of people serving as her witnesses, promising to be her spiritual supporters, celebrating as she was grafted onto the True Vine of Jesus, forever.
I mean, a Baptism alone would have been enough, right?
But there were also so many people here, people we’ve known forever, people we only recently met, and people here for the first time.
The music was gorgeous as always.
We acknowledged our impressive young people who are graduating this year.
We celebrated the goodness of creation - yes, even the rainy days that spoil our plans.
We grieved with those who’ve lost a loved one.
We gathered at the Table, receiving the Bread and the Wine, becoming one with Jesus.
We had cake to celebrate our grads – and it was delicious!
And, of course, we prayed.
We prayed a lot, actually.
We prayed for the sick and the dead, and we prayed for peace, peace in our broken and bloodstained world, peace in our own communities and homes.
Last Sunday really gave us a glimpse, a foretaste of heaven - all of us together, singing, one with Jesus, eating dessert, and praying.
Then, a few days after our Sunday celebrations, we had another near-heavenly encounter.
This one was smaller and quieter. It was just five of us gathered in the Old School Building on Thursday morning to celebrate Ascension Day.
According to St. Luke, forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus gathered one last time with his disciples and he was then “lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
And so, every year, forty days after Easter, the Church remembers and celebrates this mysterious event that is depicted in the beautiful stained glass behind me.
As Jesus vanished from their sight, the still-traumatized disciples must have felt abandoned yet again.
But it’s not true. They – we – are not abandoned.
We are given the Holy Spirit to guide us.
But we’ll talk about that next week.
And we’re also not abandoned because we still have Jesus.
Jesus prayed a lot during his earthly lifetime – we heard one of his most intense prayers in today’s gospel lesson – and Jesus is still praying.
You know, I’m just like you. I don’t always remember the sermons that I’ve heard.
Sometimes I don’t even remember my own sermons!
But one sermon – or at least one part of a sermon – that I do remember is the one preached by the bishop when I was ordained a deacon.
He spoke directly to the four of us being ordained that day and he said:
“We pay you to pray.”
Honestly, in the moment, I wasn’t sure what I thought about that statement.
“We pay you to pray.”
And all these years later, I’m still not sure.
But obviously, I’ve never forgotten it.
In fact, I’ve thought about those words many times over the years, especially when, probably like a lot of you and, I bet, if they’re being honest, like a lot of other clergy, too, I haven’t carved out enough time to pray – there’s always so much stuff to do!
I’ve thought about the bishop’s words – “We pay you to pray” - when my prayers have seemed weak or halfhearted - when I’ve been distracted or anxious, just not paying as much attention as I should.
I think, “They’re really not getting their money’s worth.”
Sometimes, I just throw in the towel and say to myself, oh, I’ll get back to praying later, when things have quieted down – although, in my heart, and as the wardens and church staff and anyone who reads the announcements knows, things around here never seem to really quiet down.
But, fortunately, sometimes I remember that it’s not all about me, it’s not all on me.
God already knows what’s in my heart, knows me better than I know myself.
And, not only that, but Jesus in heaven is praying – praying with more power and honesty and insight than I’ll ever be able to muster.
And so, when my prayers seem to be going nowhere, I try to imagine Jesus praying beside me.
And sometimes, I sort of hand things over to Jesus, asking him to take the prayers that I want to say, that I wish I could say, and offer them on my behalf.
We pray to Jesus.
Jesus prays for us.
And Jesus even prays beside us.
Which is a very good thing because, especially these days, we certainly need prayer, don’t we?
One of the great privileges and heavy responsibilities of being a professional pray-er is that people often share with me their most cherished hopes and deepest fears.
And, yes, of course, I’m often asked to pray - pray for this person I love so much, pray that this estrangement can end, pray that she finds a job, pray that I find the strength to face this awful thing, pray that I make the right decision, pray that the doctors can figure out and fix whatever’s wrong with me, pray that I can forgive, pray that he stops drinking.
Please pray.
The bishop was right. You really do pay me to pray.
And, lately, the prayer requests have been really pouring in.
It’s a hard time for many of us and, I won’t run down the list, but we all know that it’s a hard time for our land and for the world.
So, as always, but especially in a time of trouble, this is the place to be, the place to belong – this is the place where we get a glimpse, a foretaste, of heaven.
And, whether you’re getting paid for it or not, this is a good time to pray – to pray for new life, pray for the sick and the dying and the dead, pray for the church, pray for peace around the world and in our own communities and homes.
Yes, our prayers may falter, may seem to be just not enough.
But don’t worry about that.
Remember that the ascended Jesus is praying for us in heaven.
Remember that Jesus is praying beside us.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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