Sermon, Year C, 7 Easter, June 1, 2025

This is the text from my sermon on Sunday, June 1. As always, I veered off and away from this text in places. Here is the Gospel reading slated for the day:

John 17:20-26

Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

The USS Abraham Lincoln is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States Navy.

It was commissioned in 1989 and named after the 16th president of the United States.

The ship is known for its immense size, long deployments, and role in various military operations.

In 2003 the Bush Administration had begun the second Gulf War, and as part of that, the Lincoln had one of its deployments extended. They had been near Afghanistan and had to turn around and go back to the Gulf, and Iraq, making their stay in the water a total of 14 months. It was, at the time, the longest deployment in the history of the Navy.

According to Dan Bartlett, the White House Communications Director at the time, they wanted the president to give a speech, once the US Military had ended major military operations in Iraq in May of 2003. But they didn’t want that speech to come from the Oval Office, for fear of the country thinking President Bush was taking credit for the victory. 

They got the story of the USS Abraham Lincoln, and thought, hey, let’s highlight the work and sacrifice of the troops and put them front and center, then talk about the work left to do in Iraq. They were deliberate and careful to write in the speech that the mission was not accomplished and there would still be great sacrifice and much work to finish in Iraq. It wasn’t until 8 years later that US Troops would finally leave Iraq.

As the Lincoln had finished its deployment, and was heading home, the soldiers and leadership had used the motto “Mission Accomplished” to describe their 14 month deployment. The White House staff liked the idea and actually asked if they could put up a banner, expressing the sentiment. So the banner was from the White House, it was their idea.

As we all know, that image wiped out all of the administration's good intentions and changed the narrative. It looked as if President Bush was declaring victory and the story of the brave men and women on that carrier was wiped clean of history’s memory. It is known as President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished Moment”, and it has been told, I discovered in researching, that it is one of the more regretful moments of President Bush’s first term.

It is obviously a bit different, but today’s Gospel of John, and this is my hot take for the day, today's Gospel could be considered Jesus’ “Mission Accomplished Moment”. And, here is the actual hot take, the difference is Jesus’ moment is a lot more harmful and destructive than our former president’s.

For generations this Gospel has signaled the importance of unity. Even some of my current day commentaries bemoan the fact that the Church is so fragmented and disparate. How can the Church be so divided, how can the Church be so fragmented? Of course, the blame often falls on the Protestants who never seem to be happy with any status quo, and are constantly fracturing into new and different denominations within Christendom.

When we look at this text, we find out that this is part of what is called Jesus’ Farewell Discourse, the moment before he is put on trial and condemned to death. Historically, theologians, pastors, priests, the laity have understood these words of Jesus to be about coming together, being one Church, faithful in all things, and holy beyond measure.

These words of Jesus signal to Jesus’ followers, they must follow a set of rules and behaviors that are clear and defined wholly and completely as laid out in Scripture. On the surface this seems like a good idea, the Gospels of Jesus, together with the epistles of Paul, and other writers have given us all we need to create unity among the Church. 

We take these words of Jesus and define them as instructions to the community of the faithful, the disciples themselves, and as it says in the Gospel, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that we all may be one.” Jesus is clearly understanding that a future is possible, and that people who are not even born yet will fall under this idea of unity. This oneness with God and Jesus.

So much of Christian history is rooted in the desire to have unity and concord, a single voice that is transcendent, clear and defined. Look at our Creeds, the foundation of our faith. Look at our Prayer Book, as Episcopalians, the foundation of our worship and belief. Look at our sacraments, defined in a certain way, at a certain time by the people who had the loudest and most powerful voices. 

The problem with unity, is that we human beings like to see unity as following one set of beliefs, one particular way and no other way, once unity is formed, no other expression is allowed to live or breathe. Any divergence is often considered forbidden and is stomped out immediately. When we seek and strive for unity, we often are working to define that unity in a small defined window. 

Maybe we define unity in terms of a family, maybe unity is a congregational experience. Unity can be defined as a statewide identity, Minnesotans are a particular breed, and though we are nice, we sure as heck won’t be welcoming. Maybe unity is a cultural, racial, gender kind of unity. 

Unity always follows exclusionary pathways. Unity is never something that can heal, support, love, or care for the world. Unity is the opposite of all that God has tried to accomplish in the world. Unity is the enemy of all the work that Jesus did as we have read in our Gospels. Unity is the death of creativity, difference, hope and our future. Jesus was not speaking in these words of prayer, about the unity of the Church, or the unity of the disciples.

So what was Jesus saying in today’s Gospel? Jesus isn’t saying anything at all, Jesus, rather is praying to God. The words of Jesus in this moment are an insight into his relationship with God. Jesus' words are for God and God alone, not to the community. The entirety of the farewell discourse in chapter 17 of John’s gospel in fact is a prayer, not formulated instruction on how to be a unified community. It is strictly an intimate moment we get to see Jesus have with God.

Fred Craddock, a theologian and pastor wrote, “The disciples in the story have the same role as the reader, all participate in this prayer only by the privilege of overhearing.” Our role is to listen, and then to pray, ourselves. To recognize that our lives are not our own, this community gathered is not ours, all that we have and all that we are belongs to one thing, one person, one being. God. 

This moment in the Gospel of John, is not about creating unity and uniformity, it is about understanding completely that our lives, our faith, this place, all of it resides and depends on God’s care. 

The unity of the Church is not our responsibility, the unity of our lives is not our responsibility, the unity of our family is not our responsibility. Everything belongs to God, and when we can trust that God will care for us, that God will love us and that our future in God is held in God’s own hands, then we might be able to talk about unity. But even in that moment, the glory of God is always a human being fully alive, with all our brokenness and differences.

Ted Lasso in the last episode of the final season says to his assistant coach, “I hope that either all of us or none of us are judged by the actions of our weakest moment. But rather by the strength we show when and if we are ever given a second chance.” We understand this sentiment fully as Christians when Jesus says we must forgive our neighbors 70 times 7 times. Jesus has entrusted us to God’s care, and Jesus has said to God, be with them, always.

I have many dreams and hopes for this congregation, for our future, and the things we can accomplish together, and you can all believe that I am going to work hard to achieve those dreams. It is, however, the hardest part of being a priest in God’s church. Sometimes I think I get too caught up in the Church becoming aligned or unified with my own vision. The work of the Church becomes my work. The ministry of the community becomes my ministry. 

This is a fallacy that many clergy get tied up in and become burnt out husks. But it is also something a congregation can get lost in. Giving to the priest all the authority to do whatever they want. Or define the community in such a way that only certain types of people are allowed to participate in it.

We must always be careful about our Mission Accomplished Moments. Because in God, in hope, love and faith, our Mission is never accomplished.