“That They May All Be One” Colchester Federated Church, June 1, 2025, Seventh Sunday of Easter & ONA Sunday (John 17:20-26)

On this Seventh Sunday of Easter, we hear the end of Jesus’ Farwell Discourse in the Gospel according to John.  In the Gospel there are long chapters (beginning in John 13:31 and ending in John 17:26) where Jesus shares final thoughts and teachings.  Jesus focused on his impending departure from the world and expounded upon the love commandment: “As [God] loved me, I too have loved you.  Remain in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept [God’s] commandments and remain in [God’s] love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.  This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.”[1]

Jesus ends this long farewell speech to his disciples with a prayer.  Praying for those we love and seeing that modeled by Jesus is a spiritual gift.  There is a reason why we pray for one another in person every Sunday in Christian churches.  Traditionally the Church has called this text Jesus’ priestly prayer.  Because Jesus says, “I made myself holy on their behalf so that they also would be made holy in the truth.”[2]  Jesus is setting himself apart.  Jesus prays for his followers as the conclusion to all of these important teachings he sought to convey before his trials and suffering were about to begin. 

Let us not forget that Jesus prays right before he is about to be betrayed and turned over into the hands of those in power by one man he was gifted by God.  Moreover, the rest of the disciples he was entrusted with during his ministry will abandon him in the next chapters of the Gospel.  Jesus could have been bitter when he sees that all of his work is apparently crashing down upon him.  That would have been understandable.  Instead, he prays to God on behalf of the disciples up to the very end of his life on this earth. 

Disciples of Christ minister Rev. Jennie Churchman relates that what Jesus was saying to the disciples in this eloquent prayer was this: “You are called and empowered.  And you are mine.  I need you to carry on my work.  I need you to pass on to others the wisdom I have shared with you.  I need you to love one another as I have loved you.  I need you to be the gift to the world that you are meant to be.”[3]

There is a phrase that I say around here all the time—that we are the hands and feet of Jesus in Colchester and beyond.  This is a central belief in my theology, the idea that we are called and empowered.  The idea that Jesus needs us to carry out his teachings and that Jesus invites us to put our faith into action.  We are called and empowered to help one another.  Because Jesus knew that he couldn’t go it alone. 

In fact, one of the phrases in our CFC Mission Statement is, “The church encourages individuals to recognize and value their own self-worth.  It nurtures them as they explore their beliefs and commitments, and it challenges them to expand each other’s horizons of mind, heart, and spirit.”[4]  That is part of the mission of Colchester Federated Church, and it has been for many years.  We want people to see and value their own sense of self.  We want to nurture each other to explore our commitments and beliefs.  We want to challenge one another to expand our horizons of mind, heart, and spirit.  Being a Welcoming, Open and Affirming Church is part of this calling in Colchester—to love one another as God first loved us.  To extend a particular welcome to people who have not always been welcomed in churches historically. 

In the Farwell Discourse Jesus prayed, “I pray that they will be one, [God], just as you are in me and I am in you.  I pray that they also will be in us.”[5]  Now being “one” does not mean that there is no diversity of thought and belief.  It is not as if we walk through the doors of our church and our individuality disappears.  We can remember a belief from one of the predecessor denominations in the United Church of Christ—the German Evangelicals.  This Christian group arrived on the American frontier in the nineteenth century, and brought with them a form of pietism—a religion of the heart.  The German Evangelicals had this zeal for mission and a yearning for peace and reconciliation because many of them were fleeing from some of the religious wars in Germany.  This difficult situation helped these immigrants to our country offer the motto: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” 

Meaning that we can have unity in the essentials of our expression of Christianity.  Though we also recognize that there are going to be areas of disagreement.  We will have different interpretations of scripture.  We will observe different holy days and rituals.  In Christianity we certainly have different ways of governing ourselves and running our congregations.  There will be hymns that you love, and I can’t stand that hymn.  There will be programs and events offered here at our church that are not for you because it’s for someone down the pew from you who needs it.  Though we also keep in mind that we are called to have love and charity in our hearts for it all—for everyone.  We can have compassion even when disagreements arise, and they will arise because we are not all the same.  Living in community can be challenging.  Yet we treat one another the way that we want to be treated—there’s that Golden Rule again from Jesus.

It makes me think about this story from a small, country church where the pastor had to call a special meeting to approve the purchase of a new chandelier for the sanctuary.  Of course, some discussion took place both for and against the chandelier at the congregational meeting.  We know how that goes at church with lots of opinions expressed.  Finally, an old farmer stood up and said, “Buying a new chandelier may seem like a good idea to you, but I’m against it for three reasons.  First of all, it’s too expensive and we can’t afford one.  Second, there isn’t anybody around here who knows how to play one.  And third, what we really need in this church is a new light fixture.”

Sometimes we think that we know best even when we may be misinformed.  Sometimes we may even think that our opinions are the only valid ones, and we may start getting into the “us versus them” stuff.  And then there’s Jesus praying that they may all be one, calling us back to what actually matters.  In essentials—unity.  It matters that we are a church that welcomes everyone here at Colchester Federated Church.  We want you to see and value your own self-worth.  We also challenge one another to keep expanding our horizons, with God’s help.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] John 15:9-12, CEB.
[2] John 17:19.
[3] Jennie Churchman, “Now Choose” in Disciplines: A Book of Daily Devotions, 2012, 148.
[4] Colchester Federated Church Mission Statement, https://colchesterfederatedchurch.org/
[5] John 17:21.

Photo by Matt Hanns Schroeter on Unsplash