Seventh Sunday of Easter (John 17:6-19)  5/20/2012

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As the days get longer and the sun shines a bit warmer, I become more aware that the time is nearly here for school to take its summer recess. The thoughts of lazy summer days and relaxing trips to the beach instill great joy in the hearts of many students; while for those students who will be graduating, the coming end of the school year begins a time of great transition. The transition of those leaving school marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new chapter in one’s life; a transition to a world only previously imagined but never fully experienced. In fact, on this very day 25 years ago, I tossed my hat high into the air with my classmates as we marked the end of our college days and nervously imagined what was to follow. Transitions are life events that are often full of personal emotions and excitement, but transitions are also events that remind us that we are not alone, we rely on those we love for guidance and support. J. Philip Newell, author and spiritual director, quotes a wonderful story by George MacLeod in his book, Listening for the heartbeat of God. George MacLeod was a Scottish clergyman and founder of the modern day Christian community of Iona. MacLeod tells a story of a great day of transition for his young daughter, her first day of school. He writes, “I was busy. I was writing letters. I was self-important. My little daughter was going to school that morning for the first time. She came into my room, in her first school uniform. I said, ‘Your tie is not quite straight.’ Then I looked at her eyes. She wasn’t crying. She was unutterably disappointed. She hadn’t come for tie inspection. She had come to show she was going to school for the first time. A terrific day, and I had let her down. What is that bit in the Gospel? Whosoever shall offend against one of these little ones…better for a millstone to be tied around his neck and that he be cast into the sea. I ran downstairs. I said all the right things. I crossed the road with her. I went to school with her. I had missed the moment, missed the point. I will always see these eyes. Sometimes when I am very busy. Sometimes when I am writing letters. I am forgiven, but I won’t forget.”[i] MacLeod’s reflection on his daughter’s great day of transition insightfully paints a vivid picture of both the emotional excitement and the fragile nature of transitions, and the human need for the love and support of others as we navigate through these unfamiliar times.

This morning, we gather together during a time of great transition in our church year. This past Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven; a celebration of our Risen Lord as he leaves his disciples and ascends into heaven. The words we hear this morning from John’s Gospel account is Jesus’ last prayer for his disciples; a prayer that they may be strengthened as disciples of His word and mission after he had been taken up to heaven. Jesus understood that his friends faced a great transition; a transition of life from following Christ throughout all of Judea to a new life, a new life of spreading the Good News of the Gospel throughout the world as ambassadors of Christ’s love. Jesus understood that their lives after the day of his ascension into heaven would mark a new beginning for his followers; a fragile new world that his followers would undertake with excitement, fear and wonder. Jesus prayed for them, “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:11) Spreading the Good News of Christ throughout the world is not always an easy task; living the Gospel is not for the faint of heart; and Jesus understood that those who took up the task would need to be strengthened through God’s grace and supported through the love of their community. As Jesus ascended into heaven, his first followers faced a great transition; the new reality of living without Jesus’ earthly presence among them. And their new reality is our way of life as well. As followers of our Risen Lord, we are bestowed with this same blessing of God’s strength and protection and Christ’s hope that we may live in love and unity and live the Good News of Christ.

Love and compassion are not always easy gifts to give to those who surround us, as George MacLeod discovered on his daughter’s first day of school. MacLeod may have “missed the moment” on that day, but the lesson he learned may be our lesson as well: moments of transition are occasions for us to recognize God’s grace among us and opportunities for us to reach out in love to others. As we move from this season of Easter and transition to the lazy days of summer, may you know that in all the changes of your life, Christ is there to give you strength and hope; and may you serve each other as instruments of God’s love. AMEN.