Prepare:

The Gospel of John has some of the most dense “theological language” of the Gospels. Not that the others aren’t also deeply engaged in God-talk (theo-logos → God-words → theology!), but the author of John goes to great lengths to clarify “a but not b, and c because d”. They are reflecting on the theological developments of the early church and deliberately educating their audience through passages like today’s. 

Today’s text invites us to think about what Jesus wants for his disciples as he prays for them (and us!). Are we meant to believe that Heaven is “up there” somewhere? What does Jesus mean when he talks about “eternal life”? Is all of this church stuff just about what happens after we die? Maybe these kinds of questions are familiar to you. For folks  unfamiliar with Christianity, it’s easy to think that “believing in Jesus so we go to heaven when we die” is the whole point of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection. This prayer helps expand our perspective,  providing a broader view of what Jesus hopes and intends for his disciples.

Opening Exercise:

Read Psalm 8 aloud together. What stands out to you from this poem? 

I especially love verses 3 and 4; have you ever looked up at the stars so long that your brain recognizes that you’re staring into a three-dimensional space and not just a flat starfield? (and you become immediately aware that gravity is holding you to the planet…) If not, I hope you get the opportunity one day!

• What places or spaces in your life give you a feeling of being very, very small compared to something very, very big?
• What about the opposite? When do you feel very, very big compared to something very, very small?

Text Read Aloud:

John 17:1-11

Look Up

I was six years old the first time I took a flight. The moment the plane crossed to the upper side of the cloud cover, I looked out the window and said “Wow! We’re in Heaven!” My little brother leaned over excitedly, peered out the window and asked, “Where’s Grandma?”. (Needless to say, we didn’t see her.)

We all have ideas about what words like “heaven” and “eternal life” mean; we should pay attention to what Jesus actually says about them. 

The author of the Gospel of John and the characters within have a very different understanding of the cosmos than modern readers do. They lived more than twelve centuries before Copernicus pointed out that the Earth isn’t the center of the Universe, and even further back in time from any of our modern observations of black holes, the Big Bang, multiverse theory… It is almost impossible to imagine how different their understanding of the physical world is from our own.

So when Jesus “looked up to heaven” in verse 1, do we need to believe that “heaven” is “up there” somewhere? I don’t pretend to know what Jesus of Nazareth believed about those things. However, I think it’s fair to say that wondering about the physical location of a heavenly realm is not the part of the story that Jesus really wants us to focus on. 

Eternal Life Jesus

Jesus prays for his disciples, and we should pay attention to what he prays for: knowledge and unity. In Verse 3, Jesus defines what “eternal life” is: knowing that God is the true God and Jesus Christ is the one whom God has sent. At the beginning of the Gospel, John describes Jesus as the Word of God: Jesus is what God is communicating to the world. Jesus is God’s message. Not just a messenger, but the message itself. All these things are the message of God: the way Jesus treats people, the way he interacts with the world around him, the things he advocates for, what he says he’s about (such as Luke 4:16-21, Matthew 25:31-46, etc.), the ultimate integrity to the message that led to his death, and his resurrection. Knowing the life of Jesus is the stuff of eternal life for us. It will connect us to God and to each other.

Eternal life is for living now! Knowing that Jesus is the Word of God invites us to focus us on living the way he does, empowered by the Spirit, lifting our heads to see a horizon beyond our own lives. We are invited into what God is doing in the world! Nobody else can play our part for us. Perhaps a good way of thinking about taking up God’s invitation is that we will live “the kind of life that death can’t destroy” or “the kind of life that is eternal”. Jesus talks about it as “the kingdom of Heaven” and says that it’s a reality right now. It’s about a different quality of life, not just an extension of it into infinite old age. 

Reflective Questions:

1. How do you understand what Jesus says in verse three? Is this a different definition of eternal life than you’re used to?
2. Maybe this study has offered you an opportunity to re-frame a belief you hold. How does that feel? Does it feel ok? Not ok? What’s different?
3. Can you think of people who have lived “life that death can’t destroy”? Make a list of them. What do they have in common? What kind of things made their life so compelling?
4. Jesus is the Word of God; what is God saying to you today?

Closing Activity:

Listen to “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”

1. “From our fears and sins release us” 
   • What fears hold you back in life?
     What sins can you confess to Jesus and lay aside?
2. “By thine own eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts alone”
   • What can you do today to strengthen the community around you?
     What unity can you be part of creating? This doesn’t mean everyone has to be the same: let the harmonies of the song inspire you! Sing your part, let others sing theirs.

Final Prayer:

Take a deep breath and exhale.

Holy One, thank you for showing yourself in the life of Jesus Christ. Help us to know you better and follow you more closely. Shine a light in our life, into the shadows that hide the things we don’t want to look at. 

Silence

Thank you for loving us as we are; help us to hear your voice more clearly and trust where you’re leading us.
In Christ’s name. Amen

Bio:

Rev. Rory Chambers is the Pastor for Youth and Young Adults at The First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, NJ. Rory is Australian, and looks for any excuse to share a meal with people. If he’s not at home with his family, you’ll find him leading karaoke at a pub with his neighbors.

Prepare

Each year in the Easter season, we venture into Acts, a book of the Bible I like to talk about as “Jesus is risen, now what?” And what we learn through Acts, about what it means to be people of faith, is much different than what the world often tells us marks a faithful life. So often we hear on the news or from others in the world that Christians act, dress, and talk a certain way, or in more recent weeks we’ve been told that Christians need a war to follow God. But we don’t find any of those things in Acts. In Acts, we find a community that is desperate for survival, at odds with empire, and who have no idea how they are going to survive.

When this text tells us that everyone gave what they had and nobody was in need, we see them acting much more like a family than how we often think about churches. The people of this early church relied on one another to survive, not because of who they were or where they came from. Rather, because following Christ required it. We know from later on in Acts that this type of community didn’t last very long. However, for a brief time, their gathering as people who believed in the resurrection of Christ allowed them to overcome the challenges that come with being a Christian community. 

We’re talking about Awe today. The text says it was the awe and reverence that the early followers had for Jesus and the signs and wonders the apostles were still performing, that built that community. Which is to say, Christ’s presence built the community, not human strength, kindness, or pleasantries. We don’t know exactly what these signs and wonders were that were spreading the gospel, yet I have to imagine they were a continuation of Jesus’ ministry: sitting with people, loving them despite their failings, calling out cultural wrongs, performing miracles. All signs and wonders that many churches continue to do today, though not often the ones that make the news. 

Opening Exercise

Awe is a feeling of wonder, respect, and admiration mixed with joy and fear in response to something vast and

“Earthset” captured on Flight Day 6 of the Artemis 2 mission to the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

powerful.

Share about a time you remember experiencing awe. Find a photo that attempts to capture either what gave you awe (the mountains) or the feeling (celebrating a sports victory). 

• What commonalities do you find between your photos? 

Note: Nowadays, I ask our youth to use their phones to find a photo, with a device or two on standby in case someone doesn’t have one. In the past, I would have printed a set of “awe” photos for students to pick from.

Read the Text

Acts 2:42-47

Awe and Belonging

When I think about the book of Acts, the first thing I think of is a community that shared everything so that no one was in need.  This verse has stuck with me in a way that many Bible verses don’t. I suspect it’s because it’s so incomprehensible to me. I’ve known incredibly generous people who give their time and money to help others in need. I have even given money and time on my own, but I have never been a part of a community where everybody had their needs filled. I mean that in a physical sense, but this verse could just as easily apply to emotional safety, friendship, hobbies, academic support, and love.

A community where nobody is in need would certainly be awe-inspiring to me. What’s striking is that, for this community in Acts, Awe comes first. We read that the people were filled with awe after Jesus’ resurrection and before a community formed where everyone had what they needed. Awe came first. Awe at what? At the presence of God. 

While Jesus was in heaven, his followers continued his ministry. People were perceptive enough to notice the Jesus-like work in their midst. Then they were bold enough to claim it. This community existed because people were dwelling together with God. Today, we often talk about God, but this wasn’t about opinions, education, or even the Bible. This was a community of people who had experienced God’s grace and trusted one another when they shared their experiences. It was holy in a really simple way.

Awe and Belonging

If we were to continue reading Acts, we know that this community without need does not last. It makes me wonder if it’s the Awe fading away into the background that leads to the dissolution of the community. Being in awe of Jesus, or God’s power, or the Holy Spirit’s guidance, changes what it means to be a person of faith in our world. We are not starting each day looking for a way to serve. We’re simply starting each day asking God to show us awe. We no longer have a to-do list so much as we are tasked with looking for where God shows up in mysterious and powerful ways. Perhaps being a follower of Christ starts with the expectation that God is already doing something wonderful. Our role is to notice it.

Reflection Questions

• What does the text say caused the awe the community experienced? What do we think those wonders and signs were?

• Do you know any extremely generous people? Have you ever asked them why they give so much?

• When you have experienced awe, what did you want to do next?

• Where do we look to find God doing something wonderful out in the world?

Closing Activity 

• Make a list of things, or types of things, that inspire awe. (Ex. Nature, someone sharing something deep, a good dessert)
• Send your group to find something that deserves awe and wonder and bring it back to your space.
• Share with a partner what was awe inspiring about what you brought back.

Closing Prayer

Holy One, you created a world more marvelous than we can even know. Lead us into awe this week, spark wonder in our minds and reverence in our hearts. Guide us into community through a deep appreciation of your majesty. Amen.

Bio

Lindsay Batesmith is the pastor of Rejoice Lutheran Church in Erie, CO. She is consistently in awe of the power of vulnerability to connect us to each other and invite the Holy Spirit to transform lives. When not at Church or her favorite coffee shop, Lindsay is usually playing with her dog, Echo, or watching the Great British Bakeoff with her wife, Tillie.