Going Forth in Love

Going Forth in Love
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
May 6, 2007
Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

Revelation 21:1   Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
            "See, the home of God is among mortals.
            He will dwell with them as their God;
            they will be his peoples,
            and God himself will be with them;
4             he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
            Death will be no more;
            mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
            for the first things have passed away."
5   And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

John 13:31   When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

I. BEGINNING

A century ago, Albert Einstein rocked the world of physics by suggesting that time was relative. The faster one's velocity, the slower time would appear to pass from the vantage point of an outside observer. This is summed up in a famous illustration about two twins. One of them gets in a space ship and travels near the speed of light for twenty years. When he returns, his brother who stayed behind has aged 20 years. He himself has only aged a few months. From his earthbound brother's perspective, time passed very slowly for his twin. From the space-traveling twin's perspective, time passed very quickly for his earthbound twin.

Working on a college campus sometimes makes me feel like I am that traveling twin: a short time goes by for me, while an entire age has passed for you. Campus ministry is my own ongoing encounter with relativity.

Part of that is a function of age, I suppose. Each year becomes a progressively smaller percentage of one's overall life. Right now, my years are clocking in at a whopping 2.6% of my life. For most of you, your years are about 5% of your life. You seniors have just spent nearly 1/5 of your life in college. For me, the same span is only about a tenth of my life. I suppose, relatively speaking, the time passes more quickly if you're older.

II. A LITTLE WHILE

You'll find the same phenomenon happening to you. The years will start to fly by. Before you know it, you'll be twenty-five. Then thirty. Your lives will change a lot. This period of dynamic change you've just come through is only the beginning. There is a lot more to come. You'll get jobs. You'll leave them. You'll make new friends. You'll lose touch with some old ones. You'll move out of town. People and places will come in and out of your lives like a parade of such diversity and length that you would not have believed possible.

The time becomes short. And feels ever shorter. Four years will seem like and ever shorter period of time. I am finding it ever harder to fathom that the 1990s were seven years ago already. Growing up, the 1990s seemed like the future. Now, they're already holding retrospectives about the 90's on TV.

And the older you get, the more you will get the sense that all time is short. In the worlds of the Psalmist, our lives are but a brief span: three score and ten--seventy years, eighty if you're healthy. I suppose we can bump up that life expectancy a bit, but it doesn't change the fact that in the scheme of things, 70 years is nothing.

And of course, it is not only the time that gets shorter, it seems like one's knowledge gets smaller. The older you get the less you know. I imagine that most of you who are seniors are acquainted with this phenomenon. The world that you had all figured out when you first came to college is a lot more complex than it first appeared. Those of you who are freshmen--if you haven't encountered this phenomenon yet, don't worry--you will.

All in all, our time seems short. Our knowledge little.

III. THE TEXT

In tonight's Gospel lesson, we read a passage from John's Gospel in which Jesus is giving his final instructions to his disciples. This passage takes place in the Upper Room, during the Last Supper. Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is to come and for how they are to be afterwards.

Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'"

I am struck by a couple of things in this passage: the first is that Jesus says to his disciples, "Little children, I am with you only a little longer... 'Where I am going you cannot come.'" It is a poignant statement. It Jesus' farewell and his reminder that the time with the disciples is short. I am struck by this because this is the lectionary text for the day--continuing the history of the curiously appropriate lectionary texts for the times in our community. The time remaining with our seniors is short. Only a few days for most of us, perhaps a week for the rest. As Jesus says farewell to those with whom he has been in ministry for the past few years, so too do our graduates say farewell to those with whom they have been in ministry the past four years.

IV. A COMMUNITY OF LOVE

But there is something else worth noting, something else that strikes me in the reading of this passage. And that is the instruction Jesus gives to his disciples. He does not downplay that he is leaving them, but he gives them an ethic by which they are to live after he is gone:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

It reminds us that the heart of a Christian community is love. The heart of being a disciple of Christ is love. And it reminds us that at the heart of our own community is love.

Those of you who are leaving are not leaving just any old community. You are leaving a community that surrounded you in love, that celebrated the love of God, that tried to live out that love through service and justice, that explored the mysteries of love through study, and built relationships in fellowship (with a fair amount of food along the way). And the nature of this community is not irrelevant to what comes next.

V. LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER

For love is not only what defines us as a community of faith--it is what binds us together.

There's an old Captain & Tennille song from the 70's called Love Will Keep Us Together. Maybe you've heard it. If not, you can look it up on iTunes. If I'd been thinking, I would have made the choir sing it tonight. Now, the song is a love song and is talking about a romantic relationship, but there is a Christian truth to the sentiment to be found as well..

For as you seniors leave here, and go on with your lives, if you carry the values, the lessons, and the love that was shared in this community with you, then the time you spent here will continue to dwell in you. If you carry the love of this community in your heart with you, then you will never be really rid of us. You will not have really left this community because it will continue to dwell in you.

This is what Jesus meant when talking to his own disciples. Though he would only be with them for a short while, in a real way Jesus would still be present with them in the love they would share with one another. As Christians, Christ is present for us in the celebration of the eucharist and in celebration of the love we have for one another.

In the end, Christ reminds us it is not the quantity of the time we spend together, but the quality.

Those of you who are graduating will be going forward into new challenges new aspects of life. If you go forth in love, you will always carry this community with you.

And it will be the same for those who remain. For your time here--however brief--was not inconsequential. For among the graduates of the Class of 2007 are the founders of our hospitality ministry, our worship committee, and our women's group. You have contributed so much of your time and talent and energies that the community you leave behind is indelibly shaped by your presence. In a word, the love that you have shared during your time here will remain behind you, as a reminder and memorial of your time with us. Just as this community will forever be a part of you, you will forever be a part of this community.

Those who come in after you--people you will not even know--will be blessed by your presence here.

Your names will be added to the list of those who have forged this community with their love of God and dedication to Christ: Taylor Walters. Chrissy Lindstrom, Chris Slatt, Bradford Cheney, Lou Belsito, Stuart Denyer, Erin Trouth, Erin Taylor, Amber Pezan, Kate Moore, Kate Boustead, Katie Schroepfer, Dennis Rowe, Nathan Brownback, Holly Masters, Roza Guillaume, Danielle Dickey, Sidney Traynham, Ariel Schwarz, Gussie Abrahmse, Kim McClain, Bryan Colombo, Jason Reimer, Velda Jones, Sarah Anderson, Allen Hays, Patrick Elliott, Eileen Barber, Eileen Hassett, Emily Randle, Erica Benjamin, Jessica Dillon, Jennifer Arver, Kate von Richthofen, Colin Mattoon, Laura Goodman, Shawna Perko, Thaddina Wiley, Adrienne Arey, Steven Bielinski, Marlon Brown, Jessica Davis, Brandy Dillingham, Kathryn Fekete, Marjorie Jeansonne, Lindsey Kerr, Jeff McAleer , Jason Shippy, Corrine Thompson, Lindsey Triplett, and so many others.

VI. END

This is always a tough time of year for me. When I began working here years ago, Joe warned me of the toughest part of the job: "The hardest part," he said "is they leave." But I know that while it is hard to see the years slip by with ever increasing speed, while it is hard to say goodbye to people who have meant so much and who have contributed so much, there really is a sense in which you are not permanently removed from us. I fully expect you all to come back and visit. But more than that, you will always be a part of us and we a part of you. You will not forget your time here. And you will not be forgotten.

And so you can go forth in love--confident that the community which has formed you, and nurtured you, and been your place of celebration, of mourning, of refuge, and fellowship will go with you.

The love you have known and the love you have shared will continue to bind us as you go forth. Because of that love, no matter how far we may be, no matter how fast the years begin to fly, we will never be separated from the heart of God or from the hearts of one another.

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*Going Forth in Love* Rev. Mark Schaefer Kay Spiritual Life Center May 6, 2007 Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35 Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." 5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. John 13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." I. BEGINNING A century ago, Albert Einstein rocked the world of physics by suggesting that time was relative. The faster one's velocity, the slower time would appear to pass from the vantage point of an outside observer. This is summed up in a famous illustration about two twins. One of them gets in a space ship and travels near the speed of light for twenty years. When he returns, his brother who stayed behind has aged 20 years. He himself has only aged a few months. From his earthbound brother's perspective, time passed very slowly for his twin. From the space-traveling twin's perspective, time passed very quickly for his earthbound twin. Working on a college campus sometimes makes me feel like I am that traveling twin: a short time goes by for me, while an entire age has passed for you. Campus ministry is my own ongoing encounter with relativity. Part of that is a function of age, I suppose. Each year becomes a progressively smaller percentage of one's overall life. Right now, my years are clocking in at a whopping 2.6% of my life. For most of you, your years are about 5% of your life. You seniors have just spent nearly 1/5 of your life in college. For me, the same span is only about a tenth of my life. I suppose, relatively speaking, the time passes more quickly if you're older. II. A LITTLE WHILE You'll find the same phenomenon happening to you. The years will start to fly by. Before you know it, you'll be twenty-five. Then thirty. Your lives will change a lot. This period of dynamic change you've just come through is only the beginning. There is a lot more to come. You'll get jobs. You'll leave them. You'll make new friends. You'll lose touch with some old ones. You'll move out of town. People and places will come in and out of your lives like a parade of such diversity and length that you would not have believed possible. The time becomes short. And feels ever shorter. Four years will seem like and ever shorter period of time. I am finding it ever harder to fathom that the 1990s were seven years ago already. Growing up, the 1990s seemed like the future. Now, they're already holding retrospectives about the 90's on TV. And the older you get, the more you will get the sense that all time is short. In the worlds of the Psalmist, our lives are but a brief span: three score and ten--seventy years, eighty if you're healthy. I suppose we can bump up that life expectancy a bit, but it doesn't change the fact that in the scheme of things, 70 years is nothing. And of course, it is not only the time that gets shorter, it seems like one's knowledge gets smaller. The older you get the less you know. I imagine that most of you who are seniors are acquainted with this phenomenon. The world that you had all figured out when you first came to college is a lot more complex than it first appeared. Those of you who are freshmen--if you haven't encountered this phenomenon yet, don't worry--you will. All in all, our time seems short. Our knowledge little. III. THE TEXT In tonight's Gospel lesson, we read a passage from John's Gospel in which Jesus is giving his final instructions to his disciples. This passage takes place in the Upper Room, during the Last Supper. Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is to come and for how they are to be afterwards. Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'" I am struck by a couple of things in this passage: the first is that Jesus says to his disciples, "Little children, I am with you only a little longer... 'Where I am going you cannot come.'" It is a poignant statement. It Jesus' farewell and his reminder that the time with the disciples is short. I am struck by this because this is the lectionary text for the day--continuing the history of the curiously appropriate lectionary texts for the times in our community. The time remaining with our seniors is short. Only a few days for most of us, perhaps a week for the rest. As Jesus says farewell to those with whom he has been in ministry for the past few years, so too do our graduates say farewell to those with whom they have been in ministry the past four years. IV. A COMMUNITY OF LOVE But there is something else worth noting, something else that strikes me in the reading of this passage. And that is the instruction Jesus gives to his disciples. He does not downplay that he is leaving them, but he gives them an ethic by which they are to live after he is gone: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." It reminds us that the heart of a Christian community is love. The heart of being a disciple of Christ is love. And it reminds us that at the heart of our own community is love. Those of you who are leaving are not leaving just any old community. You are leaving a community that surrounded you in love, that celebrated the love of God, that tried to live out that love through service and justice, that explored the mysteries of love through study, and built relationships in fellowship (with a fair amount of food along the way). And the nature of this community is not irrelevant to what comes next. V. LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER For love is not only what defines us as a community of faith--it is what binds us together. There's an old Captain & Tennille song from the 70's called Love Will Keep Us Together. Maybe you've heard it. If not, you can look it up on iTunes. If I'd been thinking, I would have made the choir sing it tonight. Now, the song is a love song and is talking about a romantic relationship, but there is a Christian truth to the sentiment to be found as well.. For as you seniors leave here, and go on with your lives, if you carry the values, the lessons, and the love that was shared in this community with you, then the time you spent here will continue to dwell in you. If you carry the love of this community in your heart with you, then you will never be really rid of us. You will not have really left this community because it will continue to dwell in you. This is what Jesus meant when talking to his own disciples. Though he would only be with them for a short while, in a real way Jesus would still be present with them in the love they would share with one another. As Christians, Christ is present for us in the celebration of the eucharist and in celebration of the love we have for one another. In the end, Christ reminds us it is not the quantity of the time we spend together, but the quality. Those of you who are graduating will be going forward into new challenges new aspects of life. If you go forth in love, you will always carry this community with you. And it will be the same for those who remain. For your time here--however brief--was not inconsequential. For among the graduates of the Class of 2007 are the founders of our hospitality ministry, our worship committee, and our women's group. You have contributed so much of your time and talent and energies that the community you leave behind is indelibly shaped by your presence. In a word, the love that you have shared during your time here will remain behind you, as a reminder and memorial of your time with us. Just as this community will forever be a part of you, you will forever be a part of this community. Those who come in after you--people you will not even know--will be blessed by your presence here. Your names will be added to the list of those who have forged this community with their love of God and dedication to Christ: Taylor Walters. Chrissy Lindstrom, Chris Slatt, Bradford Cheney, Lou Belsito, Stuart Denyer, Erin Trouth, Erin Taylor, Amber Pezan, Kate Moore, Kate Boustead, Katie Schroepfer, Dennis Rowe, Nathan Brownback, Holly Masters, Roza Guillaume, Danielle Dickey, Sidney Traynham, Ariel Schwarz, Gussie Abrahmse, Kim McClain, Bryan Colombo, Jason Reimer, Velda Jones, Sarah Anderson, Allen Hays, Patrick Elliott, Eileen Barber, Eileen Hassett, Emily Randle, Erica Benjamin, Jessica Dillon, Jennifer Arver, Kate von Richthofen, Colin Mattoon, Laura Goodman, Shawna Perko, Thaddina Wiley, Adrienne Arey, Steven Bielinski, Marlon Brown, Jessica Davis, Brandy Dillingham, Kathryn Fekete, Marjorie Jeansonne, Lindsey Kerr, Jeff McAleer , Jason Shippy, Corrine Thompson, Lindsey Triplett, and so many others. VI. END This is always a tough time of year for me. When I began working here years ago, Joe warned me of the toughest part of the job: "The hardest part," he said "is they leave." But I know that while it is hard to see the years slip by with ever increasing speed, while it is hard to say goodbye to people who have meant so much and who have contributed so much, there really is a sense in which you are not permanently removed from us. I fully expect you all to come back and visit. But more than that, you will always be a part of us and we a part of you. You will not forget your time here. And you will not be forgotten. And so you can go forth in love--confident that the community which has formed you, and nurtured you, and been your place of celebration, of mourning, of refuge, and fellowship will go with you. The love you have known and the love you have shared will continue to bind us as you go forth. Because of that love, no matter how far we may be, no matter how fast the years begin to fly, we will never be separated from the heart of God or from the hearts of one another. Back to Sermons page Back to AU UMC Home Copyright © 2007. Mark A. Schaefer. No part of this text may be reproduced or otherwise disseminated without the express written consent of the author.

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