Transforming Tragedy
A Sermon by the Rev. Peter De Franco
7th Sunday of Easter
The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist
John 17:20-26
20”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
The past two weeks have inflicted great pain on all our hearts. Last week, we brought into our sanctuary the pictures of 10 people murdered by a racist gunman in Buffalo, New York. This week, we share our sacred place with the pictures of 19 children and 2 adults gunned down in Uvalde, Texas.
A deep anger and frustration bubbles up in our hearts as we witness our federal government again stymied by powerful and wealthy persons and organizations which control the gun industry. They provide access to automatic weapons, weapons of war, to a civilian population which does not need these guns. The tears of God falling from heaven mingle with the blood of these latest martyrs to the gun industry in the United States of America.
The anguish of this pain we are suffering cries out to heaven for comfort. We so need to feel the loving arms of our God embracing us, holding us so close that we can feel the beat of God’s heart. We yearn for those comforting words we may have heard from our mothers, “There, There” as she would rock us, that comforting rocking of a mother with her infant child. Sometime words cannot heal us. Sometimes only the loving comfort of God’s love can ease our pain.
Perhaps we are blessed today with those words from today’s Gospel when Jesus speaks across the centuries directly to us. “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” (Jn. 17: 20-21) We are among those to whom Jesus was speaking, we believe in Jesus through the words we have heard across the centuries from those first disciples.
“May they also be in us.” Perhaps the image which leads us to best understand this strange passage is our own experience of living within our mother’s womb. At no other time can we say that one person is physically in another person. Yet any mother can tell you about the shape of that little hand reaching through her skin. The kicking and shifting of the baby preparing to be born. That inner dwelling of one person in another comes as our closest image to this holy love of God who holds us within God as a mother holding her child. Jesus is offering us that holy love through today’s gospel
That image of a child in its mother shifts when we receive Holy Communion and Jesus becomes present within us. It’s a deep sense of comfort we experience with Holy Communion, of Jesus dwelling in us and assuring us of his loving presence. Jesus brings you a comfort deeper than words.
We are all involved in in difficult time in our nation’s history. Whenever we experience such a moment in our lives, an energy arises in us that requires us to do something. Perhaps you feel depressed over these repeated tragedies. Perhaps you feel angry, angry at the people who kill others with automatic weapons, angry at the deaths of innocent children, angry at a government which seemingly does nothing to help our children, the most vulnerable ones in our communities.
I encourage each of you to step out of your depression and sadness to feel your anger at the present situation and invest your energy in doing something. It is no small thing to pick up your phone and call your senators and representatives and let them know where you stand on this issue. Yes, New Jersey’s congressional members advanced significant legislation for gun safety. We live in a state with laws providing for the safety of our children. Let them know where you stand. Your voice encourages them as they form their opinions.
Perhaps you might want to do more. You might search for organizations which address issues of gun safety and violence in schools. Sandy Hook Promise was organized by Mark Barden who lost his son Daniel and Nicole Hockney who lost her child Dylan both at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Their pain sets them apart from most of us and none of us can fail to feel the anguish they experienced on December 14, 2012 when their children were murdered at school. On their web page they describe what happened to them: they turned their tragedy into a moment of transformation.
All their energy of loss they are directing to change the culture in our country around guns and schools.
Turning tragedy into transformation. That phrase sounds profoundly Christian, much like what God did for Jesus in turning the tragedy of crucifixion into the transformation of resurrection. God works through moments of profound loss and directs people to engage their energies in changing the world. Their pain, their vulnerability never leaves them but these courageous people are making a difference in the world. God is working through them.
God can work through you too. Do something. Even if you only call your Senator or Representative. Do something. Do something regularly. All of us together with God can work, work that tragedy might be transformed.