Feeling Lost and Alone

Sermon-Year B-7 Easter May 24, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
I haven’t told a sabbatical story in a while-you’re overdue. I was beginning my first day of walking St. Cuthbert’s Way in Scotland, Kyle, my son had left, and I was alone. I took off walking-got lost, it began to rain, and there was nothing but steep hills in front of me. It was interesting. Anyway, after a while the sun came out, I made it to the top of the first hill, and somehow I got back on the right path. And then I met two English women. They rescued me. I called them my angels. And for the next several hours, til late in the day, we walked together and had a lot of fun. And I began to think, “maybe I can do this after all.” Thanks to them. They set a fast pace, which, it turned out, was necessary considering the distance. They made sure I didn’t get lost. And they were wonderful company. And then, I had to stop at my B&B for the night-and they went on. And after walking 18 miles the first day, and being really tired, I said good bye to my new friends. And I felt worse than before. I had 5 days and 50 miles of long walks ahead of me, no one to walk with, and I had this propensity for taking the wrong path. I was worried. And a little scared. I was 2 weeks into a 3 month sabbatical, in a foreign country, I was alone and for the most part, lost.
Today is the last Sunday of Easter. It’s been 6 weeks, 43 days since Easter Sunday. According to the Book of Acts, on the 40th day, last Thursday Jesus ascended into heaven-and left his followers, his friends to go to heaven. It was a sad moment for Jesus’ closest companions. In the book of Acts, you hear how the disciples decided that one of the first things that they had to do was build their number back up to 12, now that Judas was gone. And so they rolled dice to see who would get the honor of being a disciple-and ultimately, a martyr.
Make no mistake about it, when Jesus left his friends-they were alone, uncertain, and helpless. They didn’t know what to do, where to go, or who to be. I’ve been there. Many times in my life. It doesn’t matter how many times I have been rescued-I always think, “oh no, I’m in it, now.” And they must have felt that way, too.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is giving his friends his last advice. Remember how last week I told you that chapters 13-17 in the gospel of John were known as “The long sermon” It takes place at the Last Supper, and Jesus gives this long rambling, teaching on his last night on earth. Basically, he’s asking God to take care of his friends. Just like you or I would, if we thought we were leaving those we love. But he asks God for more than that-he asks that they be one, unified, together, one body. He asks his father that they be full of joy. He pleads with God, that he protect them from all that is evil in the world, and finally, Jesus says God, I am putting them out there-just as you put me out. How hard that had to be for Jesus. Sure, praying for protection, joy, defending them from evil-all this sounds normal. All this is what you or I may write in a letter to friends before leaving them. But Jesus says to God I am sending them into the world-like you sent me. No wonder Jesus is closing with this fervent prayer for protection. His friends will be following him, going down the same path, expecting much the same consequences as he.
You understand, Jesus knows that his life is near an end. He knows that he will be confronting the powers the next day. He knows what may happen. And he asks that they, the people he loves, be sent to do the same thing he is being asked to do. Does this sound, um, odd, to you? Can you imagine turning to your family, the people you are closest to in the world, and as you are dying, and praying that they go your same life, do the same things you did? Jesus wants them to follow him-even if it means all the way to death. We know that 11 of the 12 disciples, including Matthias, all died martyr’s deaths.
This is Jesus closing prayer. Protect them, fill them with joy, give them power, and may they be sent into the world as I was. This last night of Jesus’ life, the disciples, these friends, had no idea what Jesus was talking about. They didn’t know that he would be dying the next day. They had to reconstruct this prayer years later after everything had happened. But that night of the Last Supper, they were at the end of 3 years of talking, teaching, walking together.
How often have you felt lost? How often have you felt alone? Really alone? How often have you felt like you’re in a foreign land, friendless, and you were unsure which way to go? That’s the Sunday after the Ascension. Jesus has left his friends for the final time. First he died. Then came Easter, and his risen presence with them for 40 days. And now they are alone. Again. And they have to face a future, without their companion, without their guide, without their friend. They must have felt even more abandoned than they had after the crucifixion.
To me, Ascension Sunday has always been one of the saddest days of the church year-like Palm Sunday and Good Friday-because it’s all about leaving, it’s all about good bye. We’ve all been there: uncertain, lost, alone. That’s what this day, for me, has always been. The people/person we depended on are/is gone. For me, today has always been a time in between-a time of waiting. Jesus leaves and his friends wonder, “what’s next?”
And often in our lives, we face the same question. And today we end with Jesus praying for those he loves, “protect them, guard them, fill them with joy-and send them into the unknown.” This is where we end today, and where we often are in our lives. It’s the end of the first day of a long trip. But it’s only the first day. Amen.
John 17:6-19
17:6 "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
17:7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;
17:8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
17:9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.
17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
17:11 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.
17:12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:15 I am not asking you to take them=2 0out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
17:16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
17:18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Acts 1:15-26
15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17for he was numbered20among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘Let another take his position of overseer.’ 21So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph calle d Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
1 John 5:9-13
9If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.
10Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.