John 17

Ohana

Posted on by Betsy

My husband and I recently re-watched a clever Disney movie called “Lilo and Stitch.” It is one of my niece’s favorite movies (her cat is named Lilo!) and when it popped on our screen one day a few weeks ago, we realized we didn’t remember anything about this 2009 movie. It is a story about family. It is a story about love. It is a story about “Ohana”, the Hawaiian word for family. “Ohana means family. No one gets left behind or forgotten.”

I got to experience true Ohana last week when I got snowed in at the Norfolk airport. I was trying to get to Atlanta to speak at a women’s event and a sudden 10 inch snowfall resulted in one Atlanta plane returning to the gate two hours after it had taxied out and the rest of the flights being canceled. That same Lilo-loving niece is an officer in the Navy who is stationed in Norfolk. Her house is a few minutes from the airport and as I was making my way back to my car to drive to an airport hotel, I called her to ask about the road conditions since I had been inside the airport since before the first flake fell. “Oh, Aunt Bets, we don’t plow very well here. I will come and get you in my four-wheel drive jeep and take you there.” She showed up with a bag of snacks, heated seats, and a welcoming smile. Ohana!

I think that is the vision Jesus had for his followers when he was preparing to leave them. I think he hoped we would be “one” in our love for each other and our love for God. The unity of the Father, the Son, and believers was what he prayed for at the end of his life.

John 17 (New Revised Standard Version)

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Paul’s letters to his churches reinforce this: Most of his writings to them emphasized cooperation, collaboration, mutual love, and acceptance.

Ephesians 4 (Common English Bible)

 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

How do you think we are doing with that? As followers of Jesus Christ, as people who continue the mission and vision that the Bible lays out for the modern day church, are we Ohana for one another? And more importantly for us today, are you Ohana in your own circle of family, friends, neighbors, and the strangers God sends to you?

Ohana means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. Where is God calling you to reach out to someone today and offer your love?

“Ohama” by Kathy Schumacher

To Know You

Posted on by Betsy

Think about the most complex dish you have ever eaten in a restaurant that you absolutely loved. I recently visited a water-side restaurant called Narcoosee’s, located at the Grand Floridian Resort in Walt Disney World, where I ate a plate of food that I am still thinking about. It had so many layers of flavor! It featured plancha-seared scallops that were served over smooth and creamy Parisian gnocchi, surrounded by bright English peas that burst with flavor when you bit in to them. Scattered around this mound of heaven were bits of Tasso ham that provided salty goodness, and dots of truffled Meyer lemon cream sauce that made me want to lick the plate. I didn’t because that would be rude, but boy was I tempted!! Every bite was a new revelation.

I thought about that dish when I read today’s Scripture. Okay, stay with me for a minute! This Scripture to me reads like a wonderfully layered entree that just keeps getting better with every forkful.

Jesus offered this one last prayer just before he is taken away by the authorities to be arrested, tried, and hung on a cross. What was in his mind in those last hours?

Actually, it was us.

John 17 (Common English Bible)

When Jesus finished saying these things, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son can glorify you. 2 You gave him authority over everyone so that he could give eternal life to everyone you gave him. 

So the first layer of this offering is a bold statement about glory. Notice that Jesus looks “up to heaven,” assuring us that he was not downcast at the prospect of losing his life. He acknowledged several things in this first bite: He knew his time had come. He asked God to glorify him so that his sacrifice would bring glory to God. He reminded God that authority was given to him so that we, his followers, could have eternal life. That’s a mouthful right there.

3 This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent. 

But the meat of this dish is found in this startling layer: Eternal life is defined by knowing God. Savor that for a moment! Does that mean that eternal life begins now, on earth, as we study, pray, worship, and learn who God is? John would certainly say so:

1 John 5 (Common English Bible)

11 And this is the testimony: God gave eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have God’s Son does not have life.

Not “will give.” Not “will have.” But eternal life is ours in the present if we believe in the Son. It is incumbent on us to spend these earthly days striving to know God better.

4 I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I shared with you before the world was created.

We finish this off with the delightful morsel in verse 5. Here, Jesus confirms his pre-existence with God at the beginning of the world. Here we see the declaration of the Father/Son relationship and confirm that the Word, Jesus, was with God and the Word indeed was God from the very beginning of time. There are so many beautiful layers of theology in this one brief passage!

Take a moment to read through this prayer again and try to digest it. Jesus is eternal life. Jesus is the glorification of the plan of salvation that he and his father had all along. Are you living out your present eternal life in a way that will prepare you for what is to come? Are you sharing this knowledge with others? Do you fully know God?

May we all relish the gift that Jesus gave, and invite others to the table to relish it, too.

Eternal Life by Mary Anne Mong

Knit Together

Posted on by Betsy

Click. Click. Slide. Click. Click. Slide. That was the sound of my childhood, sitting on the couch next to my mother as she busied herself with knitting. She was a wonderful knitter. I remember watching her knit every evening from the time I was little. Our family still enjoys “Grandmere’s” beautiful lacy throws and blankets in every color combination imaginable. In my closet is an intricate winter sweater that she knit for her own mother one year for Christmas, which was passed down to me. The idea of taking different skeins of yarn in their individual packages and weaving them together into something wearable or useful still fascinates me.

In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul reminded the people that they were meant to be “knit together.” This passage from 1 Corinthians is painful to read. Paul addressed the many divisions that had formed in the church in Corinth and basically told them to knock it off. People had aligned themselves with different church leaders and were standing in opposition to each other. Their unity had completely unraveled. Division in the church?? Say it isn’t so

It is so.

The history of the Christian church in America is filled with schisms, mergers, disaffiliations, and strife. My own denomination is going through a time of splits and separations, and it is extremely painful. United Methodism has become Untied Methodism and it breaks this pastor’s heart. I grieve the fact that we are not meeting Paul’s standard for how a church should behave:

1 Corinthians 1 (New Revised Standard Version)

10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.11 For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 

13 Has Christ been divided?

Here is the heart of the issue. Christ has not been divided. Christ calls us into a “oneness” of thought, belief, and purpose. One of the last things he did before he made his way to the cross was to pray that his disciples and those who come later, meaning us, would be “one.”

John 17 (Common English Bible)

21 I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.22 I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one just as we are one. 23 I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you loved me.

We have utterly and completely failed.

Paul continued his argument with the Corinthian church:

1 Corinthians 1 (New Revised Standard Version)

Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

What can you do to bring unity and harmony to your world? Does everything have to be fought over? Can you just agree to disagree with someone rather than fracture the relationship?

God desires that we would be one in our families, our schools, our workplaces, and our churches. Is God calling you to change your attitude?

Reflecting God’s Beauty by Michelle Robertson

Be One

Posted on by Betsy

The recent scare of a gas shortage hit the Outer Banks hard this week. People sat in their cars in long lines, waiting their turn to fill up. By the end of first day of this mess, many of the gas stations were completely empty. Gas stations with multiple entrances had the challenge of cars coming from different directions and then having to maneuver to the side where their gas cap was located, usually in very small spaces due to the congestion. I saw a picture of an SUV in a nearby town that was being loaded with multiple gas containers after the fellow had already filled his tank. Suffice it to say that this behavior is not acting in the best interest of the community. Hoarding a resource that is perceived to be in short supply does not contribute to the “oneness” of a community. Someone said that gasoline is the 2021 version of 2020’s toilet paper hoarding. Shame on us when we take what we don’t need and deprive others of the resources they need to survive.

We were created to live in community and be interdependent on one another. Shared vision, shared experience, and shared resources are part of the design by which we are made. Yet rarely do we function like this.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus’ last prayer for his people was? Ironically, he prayed that we would be “one.”

John 17 (New Revised Standard Version)

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. 7Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8for 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. 

9I 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. 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 

11And 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. 

The oneness of the triune God is a natural reference for Jesus as he prays for the oneness of his followers. “So that they may be one” is the last petition that Christ makes on our behalf. How do you think we are doing with that? Our multiple denominations, schisms, splits, and divides surely must grieve him. I don’t think denominationalism will have a place in heaven. Can’t we all just get along?

12While 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.

This scripture calls us today to lay down our need to assert our individual thoughts, needs, and perspectives and work toward a common goal of preaching Christ-crucified…and nothing more. When we do that, we show people that following Jesus is a group effort, and together, we can change the world.

Be Sure to Stop at the Bank First