THE LOVE OF JESUS THROUGH THE AGES

(over the last two thousand years the Spirit has guided faithful men and women to respond to the new challenges of changing times)

‘Community in times of chaos’

John 17: 1-23 (Jesus prays for unity)

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 1All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.  While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

 Acts 2: 42-47 (The example of the first church)

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

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 This is the second in a series to encourage us by examining how Christians have lived out the love of Jesus in the chances and changes of the last 2000 years. Today we’ll look at how Jesus’s teaching on Christian community helped Christianity to survive and flourish in the darkest of ages.

But first, why is it that 8 out of Jesus’ 12 disciples were fishermen? Why not farmers, or shepherds, or a better mix of occupations or people with higher educational qualifications like doctors or lawyers? Remember, nothing Jesus did was random. So why fishermen? My hunch is that they were outstanding for teamwork, which Jesus prioritised, as in today’s reading from John chapter 17:

After the Last Supper just before his arrest Jesus prayed for his disciples knowing that they would face many trials and tribulations.

• He asked the Father “not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them” In other words that they be kept safe, but not closeted.
• Moreover, he prayed that God would “sanctify” them, meaning to set them apart for a purpose. This purpose was “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” In other words, they were to carry on Jesus’ mission.
• The result of this would be for others to “believe in me through their message.” In other words, Jesus’s plan was to make disciples who would then make other disciples and so on…
• And the success of all this hinged on one factor: unity. So, his final prayer was that “they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Around five hundred years after Jesus prayed this prayer it became the secret to the survival and flourishing of the Christian faith. It was at the time the Roman Empire fell to invaders. From the north came Germanic tribes: like the Goths, Vandals, Angles and Saxons. From the east came the Huns and from the south came the Muslim Arabs. Yet even while the Roman Empire was disintegrating, their armies destroyed, their cities sacked and an age of darkness descended on Europe, something remarkable happened. Christians formed voluntary communities to work hard and pray hard together. This was different from the traditional structure of bishops, clergy and congregations. The best way to describe them would be “communist”! (in the best sense of the word). Each community elected a leader and had all things in common: possessions and meals. They had weekly meetings to organise themselves and everyone was expected to do their share of work in the kitchen, on the farm, in the workshop, in the sick bay and in a place you may never have heard of: the scriptorium. They were not only spiritual powerhouses but economically self-sustaining too. It was the only form of communism that has ever worked, and these communities known as monasteries worked so well because they followed the beautifully thought-out guidelines of a monk named Benedict who intended for these communities to be “schools of Christ”. (Like all good things monasteries lost their original ethos and purpose and became corrupted – but that was many hundreds of years later – which we’ll hear about in the next sermon)

Jesus taught that the teamwork, the unity and the community life of these monasteries were not to be an end in themselves, but to carry out Jesus’s mission in the world and help people everywhere to believe in Jesus. Take what happened in England. 1500 years ago, the English were pagan invaders of Britain from across the North Sea. They worshipped the Germanic gods Tiw, Woden, Thor and the goddess Frigga. (Do they sound vaguely familiar?… think days of the week!) The Angles and Saxons formed seven kingdoms spread from Canterbury in the south to York in the north. Monks from a monastery in Rome came and converted several English kings. One of them was King Edwin up in York. He was baptised with his nobles and relatives including his very bright and delightful 13-year-old great-niece named Hilda. Soon after, Edwin was killed in battle and his family fled to the Christian kingdom of Kent. There Hilda became a nun, but there was more in store for this woman with leadership skills. A few years later the Irish missionary Aidan invited her to come north again where she started a monastery on the North Sea coast at Whitby. Under Hilda’s exceptional leadership the monastery became a beacon of Christ’s love and light throughout England.

First, it was very unusual, being a community of both men and women. Of course they had separate quarters.

Second, Hilda nurtured people with leadership qualities to serve the wider church. Five of her proteges became bishops.

Third, Hilda nurtured other talents. She discovered that one of the community’s humble stable hands had a gift of turning Bible stories into beautiful poetry. Remember his name, Caedmon, because he was the very first English poet. That makes Hilda the first patron of English literature!

Fourth, various English kings used to seek advice from Hilda. She hosted a famous gathering at Whitby of Christian leaders from across England to agree to settling their differences and working together more cooperatively.

So, our take-away from today is that Christians need to be team-players. From today’s Gospel reading we know that Jesus taught it, prayed for it and practiced it. From today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles we learn that the first Christians committed to being a team working together, supporting and encouraging each other. The consequence was outsiders were attracted and accepted the invitation to join. Of course, being part of a team is no easy ride. We have to rub shoulders with people with different personalities and expectations. We have to make sacrifices and compromises for the greater good. We have to learn hard lessons about ourselves. But we also have encouragement, personal growth and the joy of contributing to a greater purpose. Christian community takes different forms. Here today we are part of a typical church, but on the top of that we can be involved in other types of Christian community like Bible studies, missionary societies, Cursillo group reunions, facebook groups, informal get-togethers, Third Order Franciscans etc etc.

Hilda stands out as someone who helped Christ’s light shine in England’s very dark age of wars, invasions and chaos. She recognised that Christians committed to each other and committed to praying and serving together is God’s way of bringing people to him.

Amen.