The Blind Leading The…

Mark 10:46-52

This journey through Mark’s Gospel has been enlightening and filled with great opportunities for me to delve a little deeper into my faith, especially the last few weeks or so. Actually, it’s been the last 6 weeks that I’ve honestly grown closer to an understanding as to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

This particular journey started with Jesus and his companions as they traveled through the villages surrounding Caesarea Philippi. If we remember, the scene was painted for us which had the travelers walking down streets lined with idols worshipping other gods as Jesus stopped to ask his followers who they thought he was. Peter’s reply was that Jesus was the Christ, the chosen one, the living Christ. This story is known as the gateway from the Jesus who healed and did signs of wonder to the Jesus who had decided to fulfill his one mission on earth.

With that story, Mark’s Gospel tells us that to become a disciple of Jesus we must first and foremost recognize Jesus as the chosen one of God; the one God sent to live among us and show us how to reconcile our lives with God, those around us, and ourselves.

Next we traveled through Galilee and into Capernaum, Jesus’ adopted home and safe haven. Capernaum was that place in and around the Galilee area where the Roman Empire had no presence. This was to be Jesus’ rest stop before heading out to Jerusalem, but instead of resting he uses the time to teach his disciples about what it means to be a servant; a theme he’ll repeat again before he gets to the gates of Jerusalem.

To show us about the meaning of being a servant, Jesus takes a little child, someone of no significance to society in his days, and says to the gathered followers that they need to take people like that child – the outcasts, those who live on the fringes, those society has all but ignored – and place them first as those whom we will serve; first as those for whom we will take care of and help provide for.

Then while still in Capernaum, Jesus teaches his followers about what it means to place stumbling blocks in front of those who are trying to do work in his name. They are told in no uncertain terms that to do so, to hinder anyone from traveling their individual paths into the love of God, would be alike to that of being sent to Geena, the place where the fires of punishment never dies.

Here Mark’s Gospel reminds us to continually invite those seeking God through Jesus, regardless of the paths they have traveled to get to where they are.

We took a break from Mark’s Gospel to celebrate the one church in Jesus Christ on World Communion Sunday, but our break didn’t last for long. The very next week, as Jesus began to travel again, we were introduced to the rich man who followed all the laws and did all his prayers and was, for the most part, a good follower of the Jewish faith. But because he was unwilling to give up his prized possessions, he also found himself unwilling to do what was necessary to enter into God’s realm.

Then, just last week we heard yet another story about the two disciples who approached Jesus with a very bold and courageous question. Jesus asks James and John, “What do you want me to do for you?” To which their reply was to hold positions of power in what they were certain was going to be Jesus’ victory over the Roman Empire. However, Jesus once again tells them that whoever wants to be first among them will be the servant of all.

So, if we’ve been following Mark’s Gospel as to what are the expectations of being a disciple of Christ, we have learned that first we must proclaim Jesus as our chosen one, sent by God to lead us into a life reconciled with God, each other, and ourselves. We must also put the needs of others before ours, especially those who have been outcast or pushed to the edges of society. We must also be willing to give up that which we treasure or value the most as we follow the call of Jesus to do God’s work. To add to this we must never hinder someone’s progress into the community of Christ, always inviting and accepting those who come into the community, regardless of any preconceived ideas we might have of what that community is supposed to look like and who we think are the approved members of such a community.

This is the community of Jesus Christ, and as such all who seek to be here should be welcomed with open arms. It is in that welcome, in that full acceptance of one another in our diversities, that the making of a disciple of Jesus is possible. That is basically what our lesson from today’s passage of the healing of Bartimaeus is about.

Mother Teresa is quoted as saying, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” What she meant by this is that no matter the living conditions of people around the world, whether they live in mansion-like homes or cardboard shanties, if people don’t belong to a community of others who care for and about them, they live a life that is poor in spirit and devoid of love.

No person should ever have to live in such a world.

It’s unfortunate that even in our day and time, here in the 21st century after the birth of Christ, people who are considered “different” are sometimes still living a life of the poverty Mother Teresa spoke of. But, the good news we are given is that there is still hope.

A few years ago, as I was stuck in horrible traffic on Vineyard Boulevard I was witness to one of these moments of hope. I don’t know what the reason for the back-up on the road was, but it was one of those situations where it took 3 or 4 light changes just to move a few car lengths. I don’t remember being anxious, though, so I must have been in a place where time didn’t much matter.

Being stuck in that traffic gave me the opportunity to look around and take in life as it passed me by. I watched as business people walked along the sidewalk. I watched as college-aged young adults dodged between cars trying to cross the street. It was all amusing to me as I truly enjoy watching people interact with their surroundings.

Then I noticed a blind man, possibly in his late forties or early fifties, as he tried to walk along the sidewalk. The first thing I noticed was where he was walking. He was dangerously close to the road, using his walking stick to tap against the side of the curb as he moved forward. There were more than a few times it looked as though he would stumble right off that sidewalk and onto the road.

A young couple, people possibly in their mid-twenties, approached him from the front, but as they both looked up to see him struggling to walk, they both quickly put their eyes down and moved to the opposite side of the sidewalk, making the choice to ignore the man, rather than help.

A man in an aloha shirt walked by, talking on his cell phone. He had a look of concern on his face as he watched the blind man tapping his way along the edge of the curb. He didn’t move away from the man, but neither did he move towards him, choosing instead to keep talking on his cell phone as he walked right on by.

Everything in me wanted to pull my car over, onto the sidewalk if I had to, so I could help that man reach his destination. I didn’t have to, though, because just as I couldn’t take watching this man possibly fall off the curb and onto the street anymore, a young lady, I would say maybe 20 years old, approached the man and said something to him. He smiled and stopped, reaching out his hand to grab hold of the arm of this young lady, and together they walked towards the center of the sidewalk and along their way.

I thought of this story while reading today’s passage. I thought about how Bartimaeus might have felt as person after person would pass him by all day long, every day of his life. I thought about how at least in today’s society there will be someone willing to reach out and touch someone like Bartimaeus, unlike in the days of Jesus when it was actually against the laws of his people to do so. A blind man living on the streets was unclean, imperfect, and therefore incapable of entering the communities of his day.

Then I thought about the lessons Jesus was trying to teach his followers about discipleship, and I realized that this one story was the culmination of what Jesus, through Mark’s Gospel, was telling them during the approximately 100 mile journey which started in Caesarea Philippi and was now in Jericho.

Jesus and a large group of people are leaving Jericho, a city which theologian Megan McKenna says would have been known in Jesus’ day as one filled with danger and violence; filled  not only with bandits but also with those who were fighting against the Roman Empire. Along their way from that city the group comes across a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!” It’s not the cry for mercy Mark’s Gospel is hoping we focus on; it isn’t that a blind man somehow knows that Jesus is walking by. Mark’s Gospel, for the first time, has someone identifying Jesus as who he is – the Son of David, the rightful heir to the throne of Israel. Bartimaeus recognizes Jesus as not only the Christ, the chosen one as did Peter, but as the one to whom all the glory of Israel should be given.

What the followers of Jesus do next is what Jesus had said is the one thing they should never do as a disciple – they hinder Bartimaeus’ approach into the community of Christ. They scold him and tell him to be quiet, but the blind man will have nothing of it as he calls out even louder, “Son of David, show me mercy!”

Jesus, again being the example of what a disciple is supposed to be like, stops what he is doing and calls the man to him. To be honest, this really is what being a disciple of Christ is about. People call out to us for help all the time. Sometimes the cry is subtle and barely noticeable, sometimes it’s so loud we can’t ignore it even if we try. Our call, as followers of Christ, is that when we hear that cry for help we stop what we’re doing and be a presence in the lives of those who need us.

Jesus’ followers call out to the blind man to get up and go to Jesus, which Bartimaeus does.

Now, I’ve worked with a lot of people who live on the streets. I can tell you that the things which they hold close to them, literally on their persons or no more than a few feet away, are their most prized possessions. The clothes they wear, the food they will eat, any monies or other valuables they might use in trade for something else are all kept well within reach.

I can imagine this would hold even truer for a blind person living on the streets. If we stop to think about it, once a blind person loses something on the streets, it is lost. The chances of him or her ever finding it is slim, if that. A blind person who is houseless will do everything they can to keep their possessions on them, if not directly attached to them.

I would say this holds even truer for a blind person in the days of Jesus. Such would be Bartimaeus; a blind beggar living on the streets, with nothing to call his own except maybe the morsels of food someone may have given to him, the clothes he would have been wearing for days or weeks on end, and his coat. A coat which would have been the only way for him to survive the cold nights living on the streets outside Jericho, let alone provide a possible place of sanctuary from the bandits who traveled the roads at night.

His coat, which for all intents and purposes is really the only possession Bartimaeus has, is what he tosses aside as he jumps up to come into the presence of Jesus. Unlike the rich man we heard about a few weeks ago, Bartimaeus is willing to cast aside, and possibly lose forever, the one thing that he depended on for survival so that he could have a chance at a better life with Jesus Christ.

Bartimaeus knew, without a doubt, that his life was about to be transformed. He knew that he no longer would need that coat, or anything else, because Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the one chosen by God to reconcile people under the one love of God, had invited him to be in a community where all are welcome.

Bartimaeus put all of his trust in Jesus Christ. Bartimaeus put all of his faith in Jesus Christ. And when Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What can I do for you?” unlike the answer James and John gave him, Bartimaeus simply asks for the one thing he had desired for what might have been his entire life: to see. He didn’t want power, he didn’t want fame, he didn’t want riches, he didn’t want friends, he didn’t want anything except for Jesus to make him whole. Bartimaeus, the outcast and unwanted of his society, simply says to Jesus, “I want to see.”

For his faith, for his recognition of Jesus as the Christ and the one sent by God to heal humanity, for his willingness to cast aside all that which he holds of value in his life, for his simple request to just be made complete, Bartimaeus is rewarded with that which he had sought all along: a new life, invited into and to become a part of a community of others who will accept him for who he was in a past life and who he will become in a new life with Christ.

Bartimaeus follows Jesus. Because we know how the story will end, we also know that Bartimaeus won’t be following Jesus for much longer – not here on earth anyway. But something tells me that because of the true examples of Jesus in what discipleship is about, he will follow Jesus for the rest of his life, all the while being as good a disciple to others, just as his savior was to him.

Mother Teresa was right. There really is no worse poverty than to go through life without belonging to a community. And just as that young lady invited the stumbling blind man to be a part of her community, even if just for a moment, let us be the disciples Jesus calls us to be and do the same.

God is with us all.  Amen.

Serve, Give, Liberate

Mark 10:35-45

While reading a few commentaries on today’s passage, I came across one by Matt Skinner, Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, which said, “This passage plays a key role in the Gospel according to Mark's understanding of why Jesus dies and what his death means.”

That statement got my attention. To read that this passage plays a key role in understanding why Jesus dies and what his death means, according to the Gospel of Mark, said a lot to me. The commentary continued to describe the impact of this particular passage, saying that “It describes the Christian gospel and the community it creates as utterly different from the ‘business as usual’ we encounter all around us.”

Utterly different than the business as usual we normally encounter. The words written by this Professor of New Testament pointed to Mark’s Gospel as saying that the death of Jesus Christ is meant to call his followers to live beyond “business as usual.”

I had to think about that for a while. I mean, just what is “business as usual”?

I’m not sure if you had a chance to read last week Saturday’s paper. Not yesterday’s, but the one from last Saturday where there was an article about how the Mayor of Honolulu is upset with churches because he feels as though churches aren’t doing “their part” to solve the homeless crisis on our island.

When I began to read the article I was a little upset with the Mayor, even to the point where I said out loud, “What do you mean we don’t do our part to help the homeless?” I honestly felt offended because I know of many churches who go out of their way to help the homeless. There are churches who house families in whatever open spaces they can, churches who let the homeless shower or use the restrooms during the night, churches who let the homeless park their cars in their parking lots so the families who live in those cars feel safer.

I know churches who cook and serve meals for the hundreds of men, women, and families with children who live in various shelters around the island. Then there it was, on that last thought about how churches who serve meals to our homeless brothers, sisters, and children that my ranting stopped in its tracks.


“Exactly what does that mean?” I thought, “What does it mean to serve meals? More to the point; what does it mean to serve?”

I reread the passage, my heart a little more receptive to the message of service, or rather the idea of being a servant, and what I read opened me to just what the author of that particular commentary might have meant.

James and John are fully aware that Jesus is about to enter into the gates of Jerusalem, and if they were paying any attention to what Jesus said in the verses before today’s reading, they would know what’s about to happen. Jesus tells them, in as straightforward a way as he can, “Look! We’re going up to Jerusalem. I will be handed over to the chief priests and the legal experts. They will condemn me to death and hand me over to the Gentiles. They will ridicule me, spit on me, torture me, and kill me.”

How much more candid can he be?

The two disciples have a request, however, and a rather bold request at that.

To be honest, I kind of admire the two disciples for taking the chance they did. They knew what Jesus’ mission was; to confront the temple elite. For them to ask to be Jesus’ number one and number two in this battle probably took a lot of courage. However, Jesus didn’t see it that way. Instead, John and James as well as the rest of the twelve disciples receive a lesson in what it means to place themselves last.

In other words, what it means to be the servant, not the ones being served.

In Jesus’ day a servant was considered one of the lowliest of all lives; even lower than the sheep herder. Servants didn’t own property, nor did they have a place in society. They were owned by those whom they served and had to do as their owners said or they would face consequences ranging from a severe beating to imprisonment or even death.

However, a good servant, one who was exceptional in their tasks and in understanding the needs and wants of those they served, usually lived a good life. These servants developed a personal relationship with their owners and learned to anticipate the needs and wants of those whom they served. These were the servants who were welcome to eat what their owners did, accompany them on their daily travels, and often were rewarded with a better place to live for them and their families.

These were the servants who didn’t live as though business was usual. These were the servants who found their rewards in life by putting themselves last and those they served above all else.

This is the kind of servant Jesus was trying to teach his disciples they needed to be.

James and John were looking to hold places of power and prestige within the community Christ had begun. Jesus reminds them, and the rest of the disciples, that it is exactly that kind of hierarchy which Jesus has come to stand against. Jesus tells them that those who hold the true power, that which will be given through the all-encompassing grace of God, are those who place themselves as the servant of all people. He tells them this with the hopes that through the life he has shared with them so far, they can see that the kind of servant Jesus is talking about is the one who finds a way to invite and include, not the ones who divide and exclude.

I heard a story this past week about a teacher and her 4th grade class.

This teacher was thinking about different ways she could help her 9 and 10 year-olds with their writing skills while at the same time introduce them to being involved in wider community activities. The idea she came up with was for her students to become pen pals with a local hospital for children with special needs. She introduced the pen pal writing project to her kids, who immediately got excited about the idea of writing letters to children their age who were in need of a friend.

The letters were simple and included words which described how they looked, what they enjoyed doing, what their families were like, what kinds of foods they loved, and other things children their age would write about. The responses from those to whom they wrote were the same; descriptions of how they looked, their different ages, various activities which they enjoyed.

As the school year progressed, so did the desire to continue writing letters to their new friends. They were delighted every time they got responses from their new pals and would read their letters with joy and a unique sense of awareness.

Then one day, as it was inevitably going to happen, the 4th graders rose up in unity and requested, if not demanded, they meet their pen pals. The teacher didn’t know what to do. The children her class was writing to were for the most part on the lower scale of their disabilities. These were mostly children who were wheelchair bound and unable to accomplish even the most basic tasks most of us take for granted.

But the class was persistent, so the teacher agreed to inquire and see what, if anything, could be worked out. Much to her surprise, the staff person from the hospital she was working with had said that something could most definitely be worked out. So they planned to have a meet and greet between the two groups at the hospital.

The teacher didn’t know if her children had ever seen people their age in such conditions, so she felt it necessary to prepare them. She told them there would be kids in wheelchairs who would not be able to speak. She told them there would be children their age who had to use helmets to protect their heads in case they fell down. She told them that a lot, if not all, of the kids they were going to visit would look, speak, smell, sound, dress, and in many other ways be different than they are.

Those 4th graders didn’t seem to mind those differences at all and it would seem they had made up their minds to go to see their new friends.

The day had come for them to visit the hospital and the teacher was nervous, but she had to put her trust in her kids. They arrived at the hospital and were taken to the room where they would meet, and before anyone had a chance to introduce anyone else, those 4th graders took one look around that room and ran, literally ran to their pen pals. It would seem that each one of those kids instinctively knew who their pen pal was, and all without ever seeing a picture of them.

She overheard one of the girls tell her pen pal that her letters made her “feel pretty because in the letter you said I was pretty.” She heard one of the boys talk about last week’s baseball game and how their favorite team did. It was as though these kids had been friends for a very long time. And you know what, in a way they have been.

What was most amazing to the teacher was that not one of her students, not one of them, recoiled, refused, or in any other way did not want to be in that room. Each one of those kids, in both groups, accepted one another for who they were and where they found themselves on life’s journey.

The story gets a little better, and this is the part I really want us to listen to.

When it was time for them all to take a group picture, the teacher and hospital staff did their best to assemble all those excited kids. Some would walk off, others would turn their bodies just before the picture was to be taken. You know, business as usual for 9 and 10 year-olds.

Then, just as everyone finally got settled and the picture was about to be snapped, one of the students ran away from the group. The teachers and staff call out to him, and his only reply was to tell them to wait. When he returned to the group he was holding a paper towel. He reached around to his pen pal, his little arm stretched out, and softly touched the towel to his new friend’s mouth, wiping the drool that was coming down his chin.

His tiny voice echoed through that quiet room as he said, “You have to look good for the picture, so I want you to look good.”

In that moment every adult came to understand what every child already knew. It doesn’t matter who you are, or in what kind of life you find yourself. It is our duty as God’s children to serve others. It is our calling as Christians to be a servant to all.

This little boy, this child, gave something to everyone in that room that day. He gave them the gift to understand what Mark’s Gospel was trying to say 2000 years ago. It’s in being a servant to others we give of our lives in the hopes that the lives we touch will be liberated from whatever their oppressions might be.

This is what Mark’s Gospel says is the reason Jesus dies. This is what Jesus hopes to help us understand in the giving of his life: that God, through Jesus' ultimate act of service, will free people from the things that hold them back from experiencing joy, hope, peace, and love, and restore them to membership in the community that is God’s realm.

God is with us all.  Amen.

Partners In The World

John 17:9-23

As I was trying to write this sermon the other day, my mind kept wandering. I honestly felt unsettled in my heart and soul as I tried to write what I wanted to say from my mind. For me, that style of writing a sermon never works as I need to be fully connected to the words from the bible and how it is God is trying to talk through me. So, as much as I didn’t want to postpone writing my sermon, I closed my laptop and waited until God had something God wanted to say.

I went to school the next day, still cluttered with empty thoughts, and walked up the stairs I walk up every day to get to the classroom I work in. I went through the door of the stairwell and for the first time this school year the door to the math class that meets next to our classroom was open. I peeked in and there was the math teacher, sitting alone in her room with no lights on and a distant look on her face.

I said good morning and she didn’t respond. I spoke a little louder and she turned towards me. Then, with an almost satisfied look on her face, she said to me that she didn’t know the shooter or anyone who had been hurt. I was confused at first, but remembered that she was from Oregon, and perhaps she was talking about the most recent school shooting.

She was. She must have noticed my confusion because she went on to explain that she was from the same town where the college was located and had actually attended that school. She had also tutored many students who had gone to that school and had a very close relationship with many who still taught there. She once again said that she was glad she didn’t know anyone, or the families of anyone, who had been involved.

She is a Christian, very much involved with the Church of Latter Day Saints as a Sunday School teacher, and she asked if I would say a prayer for her as she was struggling with the news and thinking about the families of all those who were shot, as well as all those in the community who must now feel unsafe to leave their own homes.

Our conversation turned towards the shooter. We both felt very sorry for him and his family as well. We began talking about all the other shootings which seem to be plaguing our communities across the States. We took note at how, for a vast majority of those shootings, the description of the shooter’s personalities had all been the same: quiet, distant, feeling as though they are not part of the community, a loner. We noticed that these shooters had one thing in common; they felt as though nobody cared about them or for them.

Almost as an afterthought I said, “Imagine if they had reason to believe they were cared about. Imagine if they knew they were cared for. Imagine if they understood that there are people who do love them. Would they still find it necessary to do the things they did? Would they find it necessary to seek attention in the way they did?”

That’s when it hit us both. What if instead of feeling like the outcast, these hurt souls felt as part of a community who cared for and loved them? Would their hearts still have found the hatred it needed to do the things they did?

The warning bell rung and I had to go. I was left without an answer to those questions. But, I was also left with the opportunity to let those thoughts fill me as I went through my day.

I began thinking about today’s passage. My focus couldn’t get off the first verse where Jesus says, “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours.” As that verse began working its way through me, I suddenly felt the intimacy of those words. I could feel how Jesus was about to plea for those to whom he was closest.

I began thinking about just how close Jesus was to his disciples. I began thinking about how for 3 years he had traveled paths that were sometimes difficult with them. I could see him sitting with them to share meals, heal the sick, and argue with scribes and priests. I could see how those other intimate teaching moments with his closest followers all led to this one moment in their lives; this one moment when Jesus fully understands what is going to happen to him and how he prays that God will continue to be with them, guiding and teaching them as they, too, will begin to travel their own paths with their own followers.

I read on and came to the verse closer to the end which says, “I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word.” I began thinking about those people who feel as though they don’t belong to any community and who feel as though they don’t have anyone who cares for and loves them. I asked myself, “What if the intent of Jesus in this prayer was that God help his followers to bring into their communities all who they meet by teaching them about the unconditional love and acceptance of God?”

As many of you know I work as an Educational Assistant at Kapolei High School. My job involves working with the Special Education Department of the DOE to assist special needs children with their academics. That job description sounds rather cold, and is far less of an accurate description of what I actually do.

It’s not listed as a part of my official duties, but during the school year I find myself building close relationships with the students placed in my care. We talk about family and friends. We talk about things they did over the weekend or over the breaks. We also talk about their personal feelings and how they sometimes feel like they don’t belong.

I remember one particular student I worked with a few years ago. He was one of the kindest, sweetest young men one could meet. We grew very close, which was unusual because he didn’t like getting close to anyone, especially girls. It was cute how whenever a young lady would approach us he would literally curl up and hide within himself.

It was also sad to watch him during recess and lunch or after school when he would sit by himself. I would watch as other kids talked and joked around, but how they would never stop to say hi to him. One day I asked him how this made him feel, how he found himself reacting to the fact that he didn’t have much friends. He told me it made him feel lonely sometimes, especially when he watched some of the couples on campus holding hands.

I watched his eyes as they started to tear a little. I could literally feel how sad and lonely this young man felt. I told him there were a lot of people who cared about him to which he replied he knew. But as he pointed out they were people like his mom and aunty or me. He didn’t have friends his own age.

That year was the first year our school had started a Best Buddies club. Best Buddies is a club where the socially awkward could go to meet people who were just like them. The club organized outings such as hikes, bowling, and going to the movies in the hopes that the club members could make friends with people their same age.

I encouraged the young man I worked with to join the club, and he refused – at first. As the year went on, and with a constant push from me and other adults, he finally went to a club meeting. I’m not sure what happened at that meeting, but when I saw him the next day he was full of a different energy, one that was positive and filled with life.

He excitedly pulled me aside and told me he was going to the movies with his friends. I couldn’t help but widely smile as his joy radiated and filled my heart. I asked him who was going and he quickly listed names of people I didn’t know. I asked him what movie they were going to and he said he forgot. I continued to smile, and laugh a little, as his excitement grew and grew and grew.

I want to say that for the first time in his life he felt truly accepted by people his own age, and that helped him to overcome the feeling of being lonely and unloved.

I’ll also say that the path which he was on wasn’t a pretty one. He often talked about what it would be like if he never existed. He often talked about how nothing mattered because of how nobody cared. He often got very close to talking about acting in a violent way towards others or himself. There were times I had to take him to a counselor or teacher for talking that way, not because I wanted to, but because the laws required me to. And I often knew that he held a lot back from me because he knew that if he said certain things I would have to turn him in.

I never liked those laws. They separate me from being in a complete relationship with those whom God has placed in my life. But, regardless of his dark thoughts and my inability to fully be his pastor, I was still able to find a path for his life which led to pure joy which became a gateway to peace.

He went to the movies with his newfound friends that weekend. He came to school the following week a changed man. He was somehow more at ease. He was somehow more at peace. He was somehow less dark and more enlightened. All because he found a community that accepted him for the way he is and took him in regardless of where on the path of life he found himself.

Jesus knew the time had come when he will no longer be able to guide his followers. Jesus knew that those who God had entrusted to him must now find a way to move forward on their own, albeit not alone. Jesus’ prayer is that his followers find a way to live in unity, not just with God through him, but with one another, as well as with all those they meet along the way as they travel their individual paths. His prayer is that the love of God finds a way to live through his followers, just as it lived through him and into them, so that everyone will come to know how that love brings peace and joy.

Jesus’ prayer is that through us darkness will be overcome by peace, and that peace will find a way to enter into and take hold of all that is God’s creation. Jesus’ prayer is that we find a way to be unified as one people. The way we do this is one life, one love, at a time; starting with ours.

God is with us all.  Amen.