First Presbyterian Church
Rev. Sam Pendergrast
May 4, 2008
Acts 1:6-14; John 17:1-11
“The Calm Before the Storm”
This is the last Sunday of Easter, the Sunday before Pentecost. So it is not surprising that the Gospel reading and the lesson from Acts have something in common. John is nearing the end of Jesus’ long farewell discourse that spans five chapters, one-quarter of the entire Gospel. The disciples are gathered together in the calm of the upper room. Though they little suspect what will happen next, they are waiting for the storm that is about to break loose upon their lives. Over the next three days their world will be turned upside down by the events of Jesus’, betrayal, crucifixion, death and resurrection.
Luke, at the beginning of volume 2 of his account of the beginning of the Gospel and the early church, depicts the disciples in the aftermath of that storm, forty days later, just before the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Pentecost was the early harvest festival. People from all over
I’d probably be standing there with my mouth hanging open, too. Jesus had appeared on and off for forty days. It was reassuring. It made them feel safe. What would they do? How would they survive, now that he was gone? Two men, presumably angels, appear to say, “Don’t stand there looking for him; he’ll come back.” Though they don’t say it, their words remind the disciples that they have something else to do. So the disciples went back and gathered together in the calm of the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer. It was time to prepare themselves. Though they little suspected what would happen next, they are waiting for the storm that is about to break loose upon their lives. Ten days from now, their world will be, once again, turned upside down by the events of the day of Pentecost.
This congregation is waiting. You are not waiting for anything as momentous as the crucifixion, resurrection, or the Day of Pentecost. But you’re waiting for something big: your next pastor, the leader to guide you through the next chapters of your ministry. As you wait, these stories from Scripture about the disciples gathered expectantly in the upper room can provide you with some reassurance and some guidance.
All of us, if we have lived long enough, have experienced the death of someone dear to us. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to receive a blessing from that person before they die. That may come in the form of a gift given, words said, or stories shared. Think back. Do you remember the last words of someone who has loved you? If you do, I imagine those are words that you treasure in your heart, words that give you strength, courage and hope for your own journey.
The Bible records for us the parting words of Jacob, Moses and David. Jacob’s last words are a blessing on his twelve sons. Moses blesses the people of
In this prayer, Jesus speaks to God of having accomplished something else. He has established a new community. We call it the church. Those who are part of it belong to God. God has given the members of this new community to Jesus. He has taught them, loved them, and prepared them to continue his work. Now he prays for them. He prays for protection, for power, for unity. The new community John tells us about, that Jesus prays for, is not just the disciples who were gathered in that upper room. It is not just the early church, suffering under Roman persecution. It is not only the great cloud of witnesses of those who have finished their race and now rest from their labors. Jesus is praying for you and me! We are present in that room. We are part of the new community. Jesus is praying for us today. Jesus has never stopped praying for us. Jesus has made God’s name known to us. When writers in the Bible use the word, “name”, they do not mean a word, a term we label someone with. When Jesus says in his prayer, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me,” he means that he has made God’s character, God’s identity, God’s person known to you and me. Through Jesus, we have access to the very God of the universe, the one who made us. Because we know Jesus, we know God. We can have confidence that our lives are grounded in the power and love of the maker of the universe. Nothing can take us out of God’s hand.
Another aspect of the prayer I want to emphasize is Jesus’ deep desire that the members of this new community be one. Because of the intimate relationship between Jesus and his Father and the Spirit they share, all who belong to Jesus can know that same intimate love and fellowship with one another and with God. Jesus has given us one another for strength, encouragement, support, challenge, correction and companionship. We’re not in this alone. The richness of life in this new community will nurture and sustain us.
Christian life is a balance between the growth toward mature faith of the individual and the place of that person in the Body of Christ. Each of us is a unique creation of God; yet each of us finds our full nature as we are polished by the grit of living with other people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book, Life Together, spoke of the need for solitude and for community to make a complete Christian life.
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape from yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone you are rejecting Christ’s call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called. As Martin Luther said, “The challenge of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Everyone must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone… I will not be with you then, nor you with me.”
But the reverse is also true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you. As Luther said, “If I die, then I am not alone in death; if I suffer they suffer with me.”
God has made us part of something that cannot be destroyed. We are part of God’s church. Though this congregation had a beginning and will have an end, the
Finally, there is prayer. In the upper room, Jesus prayed for those whom God gave him. In the upper room later on, the disciples devoted themselves to prayer as they waited. In the calm before the storm, they prayed. They were not sure what was coming, but they trusted God. They trusted God for the patience to wait, for the energy to persist in prayer, for vision for next steps to take, for power to act when the time had come, and for protection in the storm.
I use the words, “the calm before the storm.” By that terminology I don’t mean that the storm will be destructive. The storms of Easter and Pentecost were disruptive, but they were life-giving. As we pray, I hope we can be eager for our lives to be disrupted and for the storm of the Spirit to blow new life into us, into the church, into the community of Maysville. Anything new that God does with us will be disruptive. That’s the nature of turning from what is old to what is new. While you pray and while you wait, remember the resources God has given us: the blessing and prayer of Jesus – a constant source of hope and renewal for us; life in community – with all the support and challenge that comes in living with others; and the prayer that is our constant communion with our God.
Be of good courage. God holds you close and will not let go. God calls you into community. God calls you to prayer. God calls you to wait with eagerness for the wind that will blow and for the new things that God has yet to do that we cannot even imagine.