A Gift of Unity from Fathers to Mothers

The Rev. Robert P. Travis

Seventh Sunday Easter Sermon – 8 and 10:30am Eucharist Services, 

Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN (Mother's Day, and Baptism) 

RCL Year C 5/12/2013 
Scripture Text: Acts 16:16-34, Psalm 97,  Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21, John 17:20-26

Sermon Text:

Well, happy seventh Sunday of Easter!

Or as believers and non-believers in our country

know it today, happy Mother's Day!

There are not a lot of things we are unified on

as a country these days,

and even the hallmark holidays are not practiced

by everyone,

but I'm pretty sure that anyone who forgets their mother

today is in the dog house.

I'm going to do something very unusual,

later on in this sermon,

given today's importance to so many,

but first let me look at the gospel reading.

As Fr. Howard said last week,

we have been looking for the past few weeks at the Farewell

Discourse of Jesus with his disciples,

and the gospel today is the end of that great prayer,

that Jesus prayed aloud in the presence of his disciples,

in a way his last words to them before his passion.

Because of that timing,

it has a high level of importance to people,

as we are inclined to see it as Jesus' prayer for us,

before he went to his death and resurrection.

When we look at this portion of the prayer,

we see that Jesus repeats himself a lot,

which from my own experience, I can say,

when I repeat myself in prayer,

it speaks to fervent feelings.

So I'd say those things that Jesus repeatedly asks of his father,

he wants really badly.

Or at least he's really concerned about them.

He asks,

on behalf of those who are with him,

and those who will come to believe in the future (that's us)

“that they may all be one. . .”

then a little further on

“that they may be one, as we are one.”

and again,

“that they may be completely one.”

Jesus wants our unity in God, with him.

And we don't have to look far to see

why he was so concerned about that.

In his own time,

his own people were divided into factions,

Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes among their names.

Before his time Israel was divided into two kingdoms,

and eventually the Northern Kingdom people of Israel,

Samaritans, became so different in practice,

that the Jews did not even regard them as God's people,

even though the Northern Kingdom represented eleven of the twelve original tribes.

And after Jesus established his church through his disciples.

How have we done on the whole unity thing?

I'd say not very well.

From what I know about the history of the church,

division has been pretty constant throughout,

no matter how much unity is encouraged,

or even how violently uniformity has been enforced.

But perhaps we've been going about it all wrong.

Unity and uniformity are not the same.

And indeed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

while perfectly united, are not uniform.

They are distinct persons,

but you'll hear more about that in a few weeks

when we celebrate Trinity Sunday.

It seems to me that division and lack of unity,

are part of the human condition,

physicists might say that they are in fact

part of the very matter of which we're made.

In physics I think the state that pushes everything apart

is called entropy.

So Jesus is praying for something that seems to

go against everything we experience,

that we would all be one

as He and the Father are one.

Of course unity starts in our experience of home.

And any of you who have children,

or any of you who have children will know

that children will play the parents against each other.

They try to divide us to get what they want,

but what they need deeply,

is for us to remain united as parents,

so that the family can be a stable place of unity.

A safe place in which a person can grow and thrive.

And yet as much as husbands and wives

want unity, and believe in it when they get married,

everything seems to conspire against our wishes to stay together, to stay united in marriage.

And that shows us why marriage is a holy union,

which cannot be accomplished just with two people,

but needs God in the midst to cement the unity.

If marital unity is about equals,

it's a kind of lateral unity.

And then there's the disunity between generations.

A sort of up and down, or vertical unity

that also seems to elude us.

You don't have to go far to find evidence of older people,

criticizing the ways of the younger generations,

or vice versa.

Listen to this quote I found:

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today,

for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words...

When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and

respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC)

Was that the late, great Andy Rooney,

or maybe George Carlin?

You could imagine many older people saying that today,

but actually it was written by Hesiod in the 8th century BC.

And G.K. Chesterton observed that this disunity between the generations seems basic to our nature.

He said:

"I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid."

Laterally, vertically, we can't seem to be unified.

So how could Jesus hope for unity?

This just reminds me of the great faith we must have,

that “with God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26)

That's why Jesus turns to his Father,

and in his great wisdom asks for unity among us.

Because he knows, God knows,

that we need help with this almost more than anything else.

To make unity even more difficult

Jesus was about to leave his disciples,

and shortly thereafter send them to all corners of the world,

with their own individual impressions

of what his life meant and means,

and how what he came for is the Gospel,

the good news for all the peoples of the earth.

Jesus is naturally concerned,

as God was throughout the history of Israel,

that the world needed to be redeemed,

and brought back into relationship with Him,

and how could the world hear about him,

if his own followers could not be unified

in telling people about him.

Jesus prays “As you, Father,

are in me, and I am in you,

may they also be in us,

so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

So that the world may believe.

And yet today we have

over 40,000 different Christian denominations.

And I know plenty of people,

who do not believe in the Gospel,

because of the disunity among Christians.

But that is not a problem I am going to ask you

to address today.

What I am going to ask of you,

relates more to that generational thing,

to sharing the gospel with the future,

since you received it from the past.

And this is where it gets odd,

given that it's mother's day.

But you know,

when I'm greeting people on Mother's Day,

I see all these men I don't see so regularly,

and they tell me they came because their wife,

the mother of their children,

or their mom wanted them to come.

As I was reading the lesson from Acts we heard today

I was struck particularly by the response of the jailer,

to the wild events around Paul and Silas' imprisonment.

When the prison doors opened,

his job was on the line.

Actually, he was about to kill himself,

because he would have been killed anyway

if his boss had found out that the prisoners

escaped on his watch.

But Paul shouts to him, “Do not harm yourself,

for we are all here.”

The jailer who had been listening to their singing,

and praying through the night,

and experienced this earthquake,

was shocked by his prisoners staying put

though they could have escaped.

Something struck him,

that these guys were the real deal.

And much like any guy,

when he sees the truth,

the authentic reality,

he wants to be a part of it.

He asks them how he can be saved.

And here's the part that struck me like a freight train.

Paul and Silas tell him that if he believes,

he, and his household will be saved.

This man is the head of a household,

a father, a husband,

and maybe the boss of household servants.

The story ends that this man cleaned up Paul and Silas,

and listened to them tell him and his family

the Good News, and he and his family were baptized.

And the response was that the whole household,

rejoiced that he had become a believer.

Today we are witnessing a similar event,

not to call you out Mike and Jennifer,

but Mike is a believer,

and today we are baptizing his fourth child.

I am certain,

that the whole Borth household rejoices,

that their daddy is a believer.

And that he comes with them to church all the time.

So I know this is strange to say,

since it is mother's day,

but somehow I believe that mothers

who are present with their husbands would be glad to hear this.

Dad's have a big role in the sharing of the faith,

with the next generation.

These days, with all the cultural changes that have gone on,

in the past two generations,

as good as many of those changes have been,

I know the role of the man in the family

has become somewhat unclear.

And I know that many guys don't

see their role as so important,

certainly when it comes to the raising of their children,

and especially when it comes to the development

of their children's faith lives.

Sure, we see it as important to play games and be fun,

to be coaches, and mentors,

and even to teach them life and business skills.

But sharing the faith?

Bringing the kids to church?

Surely that's more important for mothers to do.

Right?

Don't you know guys who think that?

Many dads say that they meet God more in nature,

anyway when fishing or something.

And while that may be the case,

I think what they're really saying is that

they don't think their role in church is important,

and while many of them would die for their kids,

and they don't think it's important to their kids faith

for dad to come to church.

But the testimony of scripture says otherwise

and so does sociological science.

There was a study done in 1994

based on a wide-ranging census,

that said “It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance

at or absence from church of the children.”

“If both father and mother attend regularly, 33 percent of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41 percent will end up attending irregularly. Only a quarter of their children will end up not practicing at all.

If the father is irregular and mother regular, only 3 percent of the children will subsequently become regulars themselves, while a further 59 percent will become irregulars. Thirty-eight percent will be lost.

If the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2 percent of children will become regular worshippers, and 37 percent will attend irregularly. Over 60 percent of their children will be lost completely to the church.

Let us look at the figures the other way round. What happens if the father is regular but the mother irregular or non-practicing? Extraordinarily, the percentage of children becoming regular goes up from 33 percent to 38 percent with the irregular mother and to 44 percent with the non-practicing, as if loyalty to father’s commitment grows in proportion to mother’s laxity, indifference, or hostility.”

So dads, if you want to give your wives a good Mother's Day present, this year and every year,

and you know you both want your kids,

to grow up to worship the Lord your God,

show her you care by coming with her

and the kids to church all the time.

And if she can't come,

bring them yourself.

Your role in your the development of your kids

faith life is more important than you can imagine,

for clearly they will do as you do.

And your role in the unity of the church

across the generations is more important than

perhaps you thought in the past.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus,

and you will be saved,

you and your household.”

Amen.