What Does Your Future Hold?

I preached today at Austin Taiwanese Presbyterian Church for their English Ministry.

The sermon text is John 17: 6 - 20.

Some of you are about to finish (or just finished last night) a significant milestone in school. What does your future hold? Will you attend a different school with different classmates and different teachers? Will you be leaving home to study or to learn technical skills for a job? Will you be searching for a job? Change can be unsettling.

Others of you find yourselves in transitions of another kind. What does your future hold? Has the slow economy sent you in search of another job? Are you leaving this area for job opportunities elsewhere? Is your role in your family changing—to spouse? to parent? to “empty-nester”? to in-law? Do you find your mind, body, or spirit flagging? Change can be troubling.

What does the future hold for the ATPC English ministry? Your Pastor Nominating Committee has been searching for an associate pastor. The process is taking longer than anyone had expected. You’ve had disappointments along the way.
And while you wait to call an associate pastor, the work of the English Ministry continues. Your service to each other, the body of Christ, this church continues. Your mission to serve others outside this church continues. Your desire to learn and to grow in Christ continues. And because of the various job, school, and other personal transitions, there is a need for new leadership in worship, study, and fellowship here.

It’s troubling and confusing and a little frightening to face an uncertain future.

In John's gospel, chapters 13 - 17 (that's the big picture, the setting, for our text today), what began as a night of celebration is turning into a series of confusions. Jesus and the disciples are together in a room in the city of Jerusalem on the eve of the Passover celebration. Before beginning the meal, Jesus takes a basin of water and a towel. Kneeling before each disciple, one at a time, he washes their feet. Now this is the job of the lowliest of servants, but Jesus, their rabbi, their teacher, their leader kneels before each of them and washes their feet. How confusing! He tells them he is showing them his way of leadership. Leading through serving?

Next he says one of them, his close band of followers, will betray him. And he says Peter will deny him 3 times this very night. Now this is troubling!

He talks for awhile about loving one another, about sending an Advocate for them in his absence (his absence?), he talks about leaving them with peace (leaving them?). It is as if he is summarizing his entire ministry during this meal.

And now (in the passage we just read), he begins praying to God. The disciples overhear his petitions on their behalf. "Father, I remain in the world no longer. I am coming to you. Protect them.” They're thinking: What? Did Jesus just say he is going to be with God? What does that mean for us? It sounds like he’s leaving us. Why? What will we do without him? We’ve spent the last 3 years of our lives with him. We left our families and our professions to follow him. Can we return to our former livelihoods, to our families, now, 3 years later? What are we going to do? If the understanding that Jesus is preparing to leave them hadn’t hit them yet, it does now—in this prayer.

Unlike the disciples, we know when we hear this passage, that this is their last meal with him. When they leave this place, Jesus will be arrested. He will be tried and convicted. He will be nailed to a cross. He will die. Even for those of us who know how the gospel ends, this passage is troubling.

At this event, this last supper with Jesus, the disciples are facing an uncertain future. Their life, as they have lived it for the last 3 years is about to change—dramatically. What does their future hold? Naturally they are troubled; they are confused; and they are afraid.

In our text, Jesus is praying for his disciples. He knows his time on earth is about to end, and he is thinking about, worrying over, and praying for his disciples. In his prayer, he uses and re-uses language of possession. Please listen again- (NIV) “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me . . .They were yours; you gave them to me. I pray for them, . . . for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. . . They were yours. They are yours. All I have is yours.

Do you hear that possessive language? In this prayer, Jesus gives his disciples to God. For 3 years they were his disciples. They spent all their time with him. They ate, they drank, they slept, they worked, and they traveled with him. They heard his words. They witnessed his miracles. They tried to understand his teachings. They enjoyed this intimate relationship with him for 3 years, and now, Jesus is giving them to God. He is asking God to continue that intimate relationship with them. He wants their relationship with God to be as his relationship with God. He says it in his prayer “so that they may be one, as we are one.” And because Jesus is one with God, he knows God will answer his prayer. He knows God will wrap God’s loving arms around the disciples and keep them close like a hen who wraps her wings around her chicks and keeps them close to her.

How can the eavesdropping disciples know God will be with them? Well, they can look to the past. They can remember God’s faithfulness to the people of the covenant, their ancestors.

Abraham faced an uncertain future. God told him to leave the family he was born into, to leave his home, to leave the land where his flocks grazed and to go to a place God would show him. God promised Abraham a new life in a new land with a family of his own. Yes! God promised Abraham a child, even though he and his wife Sarah were way past the age of having babies. To leave what he knew, to follow God into the unknown—that’s an uncertain future. But Abraham trusted God, and God was faithful to the promise. God led Abraham to the new land and the new life God promised. God gave Abraham a child, Isaac, and through him so many descendants that they were like the stars in the night sky—uncountable. Abraham belonged to God, and God was with him.

Hundreds of years later, the Hebrew people were enslaved in Egypt. God told Moses to lead them out of Egypt. They faced an uncertain future in a different land. But, they trusted God and followed Moses. Like Abraham, they left what they already knew and followed God into the unknown. God was faithful and led them to a land “flowing with milk and honey.” The Hebrew people belonged to God, and God was with them.

Hundreds of years after that, the people of Israel, exiled in Babylon, faced an uncertain future. Separated from friends, separated from their homes in Judah, separated from the temple where they had worshiped God, these exiles heard God’s promise through the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. God called them to return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the ruins of their city and to rebuild their lives. They belonged to God, and God was with them. (Isaiah 61: 1 - 4; Jeremiah 32: 36- 41)

Yes, if the disciples can recall their people’s past, they can remember God’s faithfulness to the covenant God made with their ancestors. They can remember God’s words in the past: To Abraham-- “I will bless you, in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) To Moses-- “[these people] shall be my treasured possession out of all of the peoples.” (Exodus 19:5) to Jeremiah, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jeremiah 31:33) If only the disciples can remember that God has been faithful to the people in the past . . . But even if the disciples can't claim it, they still belong to God. God is still with them, even as they struggle with uncertainty and fear.

Events unfold quickly after Jesus prays this prayer. It turns out, this is their last meal with Jesus. When they leave this place, he is arrested. He is tried and convicted. He is nailed to a cross. He dies. And then, he beats death, for he is raised from the grave. They see him again--Mary Magdalene sees him in the garden of the empty tomb, some of them see him (and one of them, Thomas, touches him) in a locked room, some of them eat the fish he cooks for them on a beach.

And all of them are present on that day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit blows through the room where they were meeting, alighting on them like tongues of fire and filling them with the strength, the courage, and the power to proclaim the good news of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Now, they remember God's faithfulness to their ancestors in the past. Now, they see God's faithfulness to them in the present. Now, they know they belong to God, and God is with them.

Jesus’ prayer in this passage is for us now as well. In verse 20 he says: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message." We belong to God, and God is with us. How can we know this? Like the disciples, we can look to the past and remember God’s faithfulness to the people of the covenant, our spiritual ancestors. We can remember God’s faithfulness to Abraham, to the Hebrew slaves, and to the exiles. And we can remember God’s faithfulness to the disciples. God’s words of promise to them are God’s words of promise to us.

You belong to God. Wherever you find yourself--in another school, in another city, in another country; you belong to God, and God travels with you to this other place. Whatever different role you find yourself playing—student, job-seeker, spouse, parent, in-law, empty-nester; you belong to God, and God stands beside you in this new role. Whatever condition your body, your mind, your spirit is in; you belong to God. God is with you, strengthening you, healing you, empowering you.

We can also remember God’s faithfulness to us, in our own pasts. 23 years ago, God called 6 Taiwanese families living in the Austin area to worship together. That group became Austin Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. 10 years later, God called this church family to build these buildings to accommodate this growing congregation. A few years ago, God called the now-grown children of the first members and other young adults to form the English ministry of ATPC, this worshiping community. You are a vibrant and growing congregation, dedicated to study, worship, fellowship, and mission. God has been with you in your past. God is with you now. And God will be with you in the future.

As you continue to pray for this congregation’s future, Jesus prays with you, Jesus prays for you as he prayed for his disciples on the night of his last supper. God will answer Jesus’ prayer. ATPC English Ministry belongs to God, and God is with y'all. Trust that God is preparing you, this congregation, for the pastor God is planning to lead to you. Trust that even now, God is preparing that pastor for you.

Just as the Holy Spirit blew through the disciples and empowered them to proclaim the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit empowers you to do the same, to continue God’s work here at ATPC. For you belong to God, and God is with you . . . always. Amen.

Our Wesley group's final project

I am got lucky and was assigned to a group with very creative people. Kelly wrote the words. Doug envisioned it and edited it. Lori filmed it. I got to be in it! Our project to summarize John Wesley's ecclesiology.

Walking the labyrinth at APTS--April 24, 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009 afternoon, Still Small Voice, the student group devoted to offering ideas, experiences, and discussions for spiritual practices, borrowed a 40-foot diameter portable labyrinth and placed it on the lawn between the chapel and the library. The wind blew, the clouds kept the sun from shining down too hot on us, and the birds sang to provide a peaceful setting for walking the labyrinth. Several of us started the path into the labyrinth around the same time. It was interesting how we walked at such varying paces that there was always room for each of us, in our space, to walk and ponder in silence and freedom. At one point, two came face to face, across a line, and spontaneously hugged each other and laughed. For my own part, I walked slowly, opening my mind and my heart to whatever God would provide.

When I reached the center clover, I decided to sit in each of the 6 six “leaves.” From my first seat, I looked at McCord, the building where we eat lunch together and where we studied Hebrew 8 hours a day in January. I thought about the seminary community, and how much I feel a part of it. From my second seat, I looked at McMillan, the building in which all of my classes, so far, have been held, and in which most of my professors have offices. Study is a big part of my life here. From my 3rd seat, I looked at the chapel. I attend chapel almost daily, worship was the class I was most passionate about last semester, preaching is the class that stirs me the most this semester. Worship calls to me. From the 4th seat, I looked at UT Austin campus. I remember, as an undergraduate there (many years ago) seeing the APTS campus. I thought it looked peaceful. I yearned to walk through the park and across the bridge on the lower campus, but I never did. I didn’t think I belonged here---then. From my 5th seat, I faced the library. I study there, in a carrel that looks out over the very lawn where the labyrinth was. Quiet, alone, study time has always been important to me. I am drawn to the library because of my past as a librarian, because I like quiet places, because I learned to love reading in an old library--The Brazoria County Library in Angleton, Texas. In the last seat, I faced the trees and parking lot between the seminary dorm and the Scottish Rite dorm. Am I in a parking lot right now? Getting my bearings? Making sure my vehicle is road-ready? Preparing for the adventure?

As I slowly walked out of the labyrinth, I reflected on the 6 views I had had. What a wonderful experience this labyrinth was!