Lift Up Your Hearts

John 17:20-26

There’s a wonderful animated film, starring Ed Asner, as the old man. The film is called “up”.  The viewer follows the life of the man from boyhood to old age. The man marries his childhood sweetheart, and together they suffer the sorrow of being unable to have children, but their love deepens as they grow old together. They share a dream of living on a mountaintop with a view – and they have even chosen the spot, but sadly, and despite them both living to a ripe old age, before they can fulfill this dream, the wife dies. 

Now, she is gone and the house they shared as their home, is under siege from developers who are ready to force the old man out, so they can bulldoze the house and build on the land. Life looks very bleak.  The old man is bereft, until he finds a scrapbook his wife has kept, chronicling their life together, and, on the very last page he finds a handwritten note from her. “Thanks for the adventure – now go have a new one”. 

Today, we have reached the Seventh Sunday of Easter, which always seems to be a sort of in-between place; between that day when Jesus bodily ascended to the Father, which was this past Thursday, and Pentecost which is next Sunday. Thursday’s holy day was called the Fest of the Ascension, which is a word we know from the Apostles Creed, where we attest that Jesus “ascended into heaven”. It is the day that Jesus was “lifted up” to His heavenly Father.  Those words, “lifted up” are also familiar to us, because we use them in our communion service.

Thursday was the Fest of the Ascension, a word we know well.  It appears in the Apostles Creed, when we attest that Jesus “ascended into heaven.”  It is the day that Jesus was “lifted up” to His heavenly Father, and those words, “lifted up”, are also familiar, because we ourselves use them in our communion service.

You know how communion begins, “The Lord be with you… And also with you.” In Latin this dialogue is known as, the “sursum corda”, which translates directly to, “Lift up your hearts,” and the prayer continues with the invitation to those gathered to “Lift up [their] hearts.

Clergy are taught in seminary to physically lift their arms and hands upward during this prayer, in the ancient prayer position called “orans,” in order to convey tangibly and physically this sense of lifting up in a posture of supplication. “Lift up your hearts.” The people then respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.”

To be “lifted up”! Jesus ascended to heaven, and the disciples stood staring up.  It was the conclusion of Jesus “in person” ministry on earth.  It was an ending, but like the old man in the movie, all they wanted was for Jesus to not have gone.

In John’s Gospel, we have come to a different end.  Today’s verses are found at the end of the Farewell Discourses, and are known as the High Priestly Prayer. As Jesus speaks, it is Maundy Thursday, the night before His execution. He knows He has been betrayed. He knows He faces capital punishment at the hands of the Roman Empire. Yet, thinking not at all about what lies ahead of Him, He takes time to pray for His disciples. And not just His disciples, but as He says, “also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. … So that they may be one, as we are one.”

That is, He is looking far, far ahead. He is praying for us. He is praying for you and for me, and for all Christians everywhere.

Looking at all those who call themselves Christians in our world today - how disappointed He must be. We see His last act of devotion is directed to us, so that we might be one, united with Him, in Him, with the Father, as one people, one Body, through one baptism in the Holy Spirit. And here we are, 2,000+ years later, at a time in history when our misuse of God’s creation is eliminating one species of creature daily, while at the same time we further splinter the Body of Christ into more and more denominations and groups.  We are certainly not one.

Instead of being joined in love, in agape, some denominations purposefully maintain our splintered spiritual condition by insisting others have it “wrong”, and their way is “right”. Hard to believe that there is in-fighting within the Church, but outside observers must say to themselves, “Why can’t these Christians spend more time trying to live into their Lord’s prayer for unity with one another, themselves, and with God?” Jesus prayed for us, commanded us.  Will we ever learn?

Which brings us to today’s reading from Revelation, the last book in the Bible. The final words of Holy Scripture are “Come, Lord Jesus!” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift come. Come, Lord Jesus!

Do we hear, or merely listen? Are we thirsty enough to come? Are we willing to let “anyone who wishes” take the water of life as a gift?  Are we really prepared to lift up our hearts and lives to our Lord and to cry out with one voice, Come, Lord Jesus!”?

The end!  Being alone seems to be the most terrible of human conditions, grieving is so painful.  Jesus prayed so hard for those He loved, and for us, because He understood this, and because He knew His friends and followers would need to carry on the work of Love.

 In the movie I mentioned earlier, the old man thought his story was at an end, but it turns out to have only been, like this Sunday, a midway point. He reads the loving message from his wife, and suddenly the way before him opens up. He attaches a bazillion brightly coloured balloons to the roof of his house, creates a way to control direction, and as the bulldozers move in, he cuts a few strings, the house become airborne, and he’s off. 

He doesn’t have any idea what lies ahead, but with love in his heart, he begins his journey.  What he discovers is that there is love everywhere, all around him, in a little boy who has no father or grandfather figure, until they meet, in a talking dog who wants a loving “master” What the old man discovers is that love never leaves us, and what he finally realizes is that love never ends.

In our lives, there are always endings, or so they may seem at first.  Over some, we have no control – the loss of a pet, a friend, a loved one. But there are others – coming to the end of our patience, the end of our rope – about which there is something we can do. There is help waiting for us to call upon it. We can pause, just for a moment before we lose it, and lift up our hearts – to God.

Jesus’ love for us is a love that cares so deeply for us that it will never, ever be done with us. It is a love far, far beyond us, but that commits never to be apart from us. It is a love that says, “Wherever I am, wherever I go, however I get there, you will always be a part of me.”

And it is a love that asks us to be its witnesses to the ends of the earth. That’s a tall order to be sure. We won’t always do it perfectly, but we are called to do it nonetheless, and whenever we succeed, to give credit where credit is due: to the grace of a God whose love unites heaven to earth and earth to heaven, and each of us to one another.

Let us pray:

Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right Spirit within us.

Cast us not away from Your Presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from us.

Give us the joy of Your saving help again, and sustain us with Your bountiful Spirit.

Then shall we, [with Love], teach Your ways to the wicked, and sinners shall return to you.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.