Click here for a list of previous messages

The Same Blessing Today…
Sermon by the Rt. Rev. Andrew D. Smith

Overheard by his disciples, Jesus prayed on the night before he was executed.

He prayed:
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that † you have given me. Bu,t now I am coming to you.

It was forty days later, after he had died, that they stood with him very much alive at the top of the Mount of Olives. In the past weeks, with the Resurrection of Christ, their lives had been changed beyond anything they could have dreamed, and were to be changed over and over again - we call it conversion. And as they looked on, he raised his hands and blessed them, and was carried up out of their sight.

And they were in the Temple every day with joy blessing God.

He blessed them.
With his prayer, his teaching, his presence. And on Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit. For in the crucifixion of Jesus, God overcame the very worst we could do: not only was Jesus alive again, but even more the breach, the gulf between heaven and earth had been destroyed, death had been destroyed, and the world had been reconciled, brought to God.

And they remembered how he had prayed,
I have given them your word. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

And they remembered Christ’s word, his teaching to them that same night.
The new commandment This is MY commandment, that you love one another in the way that I have loved you.

And again, that night, how he had said,
This is how people will know that you are MY disciples, by the love that you have for one another.

There are the old commandments, we know them well: The ten commandments and the summary of the law. And Jesus had given a new commandment, his commandment, requiring sacrifice far above the others. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

At the Ascension, they were blessed by the risen Jesus Christ. In the Temple thy were blessing God every day. And going into the world - in places and with people they never imagined.
• Philip baptizing the Ethiopian court eunuch, who by the law could not be a part of God’s people.
• Peter baptizing in the house of Cornelius, in a pagan city, having seen the faith of the household, even though they did not obey the Torah.
• The disciples in Samaria, of all places. Paul in Corinth and Philippi, baptizing.

Bearers of good news and the new commandment: across the world.

I was privileged to stand at the top of the Mount of Olives how many years after the Ascension? More than nineteen hundred. The “place” is marked by the ruins of a chapel built in the fourth or sixth century, a small place compared with Saint John’s, and I stood there, wondering what those first disciples saw and heard and felt. And it occurred to me: I am their descendant. The same blessing, the same joy, the same mission - given to them also was given to me.And to you. As we gather here, Saint John’s New Milford, Here we too see Jesus, and receive the blessing in word, sacrament, Spirit, companionship, as did they.

For it is for us also that Jesus prayed - for us -when he said,
I have given them your word . They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

It is for us that he lives from the dead.
It is to us that he has given the new commandment:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

We're the bearers of the good news and the new way to live which is named love.
• Lifetime of learning
• In the world but certainly not of it.
• Word and Holy Spirit.

Ascension: Jesus blessed them. They blessed God and spilled out into the whole world.

We are their descendants.
• The name of Jesus and the love, by word and by deed: how we treat one another is the sign of whose we are.
• Invitation
• Generosity of wealth and forgiveness
• Work for peace and justice
• Care for all in the meantime who need our care.
• This Memorial Day weekend, praying all who have died in the armed forces of our country. And because we are Christians praying also for our enemies. And praying too for that time when war will cease, and men and women will not have to die in war any more. Even in our controversies, that love of God still is our message.

May every meeting, every conversation, every relationship, every prayer, every act of generosity and witness, every invitation, be seen as part of that holy blessing and mission. So that with the Resurrection of Christ, our lives can be changed beyond anything we could have dreamed, and will be changed over and over again - we call it conversion because Jesus has raised his hands and blessed them, and was carried up out of their sight.

Christophers. Bearing Christ, his person, his love, for the blessing of God and the world. Our life’s mission. Praise and thanks to God.

+Andrew D. Smith
Bishop of Connecticut
May 28, 2006