Sunday: 7th Sunday of Easter
Reading: John 17:6-19
Preacher: Peter C. Lane

"The world." Thirteen times in fourteen verses. That is how many times the author of the Gospel of John has Jesus say, "the world" in this final prayer for his followers. And they are not thirteen positive references to "the world." Here are snippets: Verse 11: "they are in the world...protect them." Verse 14: "the world has hated them" Verse 15: "I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one." John doesn't think much of "the world." Here is the rub for me. I experience St. Paul and the Redeemer as a worldly parish. Frequently in conversation I hear about a philosopher or an article in the Atlantic, but rarely is the bible quoted to me. Often I hear about the insights of this or that therapist, but rarely about the liberating power of prayer. Many of those who went to so-called "Christian" colleges tell me of their mixed feelings for such a separated place. One job of a preacher is to afflict the comfortable, so I will suggest at the end that we take a closer look at our accommodation with the world. But that will not be my main point. I will defend our accommodation. I believe the boundary between the church and the world is so permeable as to be nearly indefinable. Living in the culture is our calling. The church must infuse itself into the fabric of this world, being the light wherever there is darkness.

Let me tell you why this "world" stuff jumped out of the passage at me. I recently had the opportunity to read the book of and spend some time with a young man named Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove. He has been featured on NPR and in Time magazine as a leader in a movement called New Monasticism. New Monasticism, kind of the left of evangelicalism, is "a bunch of Jesus followers who have committed [them]selves to a new way of life in community." A new way of life takes John's words about the world being dangerous pretty seriously and literally. They relocate to abandoned places of the empire: Washington Park, not Hyde Park. They share economic resources with each other and the needy. We're talking a common purse. These are some impressive folks. You think you are against the Iraq war? This guy was one of the Christian peacemaker folks who was in Baghdad when the bombing started. You think you're liberal? Are you seeking a way beyond capitalism? The neo-monastics have come out from the world and are separate. To be sure, they seek the best for the world and work very hard to change it for the better. But they do it from the periphery. We at St. Paul and the Redeemer also seek to serve God's world, but we do it from nearer the center. As I listened to Jonathan I knew we did it differently and I knew that is a good thing. I also knew the onus would be on us to explain how we can be so accommodated to the world and not be lost to it.

A confession before continuing this sermon: Working on this idea this week, I realize that although I hold this conviction about living entangled in the world, I can't articulate exactly why. I so wanted to get up here and tell you exactly why we can accommodate so much to the world and still be followers of Jesus. But I can't. Bear with me as I toss out my musings and then work with me over time to articulate why we are the way we are. In a few years, maybe I will be able to preach on this with power.

I do think some assistance might be given by our current place in the church year. Today is the seventh Sunday of Easter. The funny thing about Easter season is that during the time we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, the content of our effort is figuring out what to do now that Jesus is no longer here. This Seventh Sunday of Easter is our Sunday at SPR. Because, we follow Jesus. We proclaim his resurrection. And we are comfortable with the reality that he is no longer here. There is a song I used to sing a lot around Easter growing up. "He lives." Here's the first line: "He lives, he live, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with us and talks with us along life's narrow way." It is a peppy fun song to sing. Problem is, it's wrong. Jesus does not walk with me and talk with me in world. He doesn't. Jesus is gone. How do we live in this world without Jesus? Pentecost and the Holy Spirit is next week, but today is somehow more honest. Jesus is not here. We are left on our own to figure out what it means to follow him. Christ is risen. Alleluia. Christ is not here. Alleluia all the same. There is an honesty about this seventh Sunday of Easter that recognizes there can be no neat distinction between church and world.

Why should the Christian life be lived in the world? Why should we read our philosophers and go to our therapists and be glad we found an open church? Why shouldn't we take Jonathan and the Neo-monastics lead and go radical, trading in our fine vestments to pay for dental work for some needy guy that asks. Everything is so subjective, so mitigated by experience, so determined by social position and influenced by the whims of history. We count on revelation to shine through that, even if we often see revelation through a glass dimly. Still we see the contours of its light. I believe in the common grace of God, given not just to followers of Jesus but to all of humanity. I believe that God created us good and that although sin corrupts the residual goodness is discernable and accessible. I believe that all truth is God's truth. And so we are out in the world looking for it. The only thing we can do is live in the world. If revelation were clearer than that I would follow it. As is, I look for the Christian life in the world, in the way we love our fellow employees, the joy we find in a Jhumpa Lahiri novel, the peace we promote in the voting booth, our faithfulness to our friends and the gentleness with which we treat those we hate.
How can we accommodate ourselves to this world that John thought we needed protection from? That is my challenge as your preacher. That is our challenge as a congregation. There are certainly two things that we must do. First, thank God that we live in a time and place where we can live so deeply in our culture, being subtle light. Second, we can guard against becoming too comfortable. Jesus was a divisive figure, especially in John's gospel. We can accommodate but not acquiesce. Let's stay attuned so we know when we must come out from the structures of this world and say no. For now I am going to seek to live faithfully by throwing myself into the world.