May 24, 2009                                                                  Psalm 1

Memorial Day Weekend                                                  John 17:6-11

Heading Back Home

          On Friday morning, Diane and I attended a meeting of all the business owners in the Marketplace.  We met in the café and discussed the usual items for the year including such things as the concert schedule, garbage pick-ups and recycling, special events like our own Seashore Chic Boutique, advertising, and WIFI.  Since two of the businesses have Wifi for the summer, the entire Marketplace has WIFI for the summer.  As you know, if you neighbor has it, you can probably ride the signal.

          At any rate, as I looked around the room and spotted several faces I hadn’t seen since Labor Day, I realized that in our little corner of the world we were holding a homecoming.   All the people who had scattered over the winter were coming back together.   People were in transition.  Some shop owners were already open, some were still setting up their displays and merchandise, and others were planning to open their doors the next day.   Preparations meant relocating  stuff and moving the marketplace from its winter sleep into its summer mode of activity and sales.  The soul of the marketplace, if you will, was beginning to emerge from hibernation.  

          After serving a church in Bellevue, Washington, Diane and I found ourselves making a transition ourselves as we headed back home.  By the way, directions from Seattle are pretty easy since Interstate 90 begins in Seattle:  hop on I-90 and stay on it until you get to Boston, then take a right.  We left our home on Lake Washington and started the trek back East, some 3,000 miles, right in the middle of January.  Our parishioners were worried that we would get caught in bad winter storms, but that never happened.  Instead, we never saw a flake of snow on our trip home.

          We all know what it is like to be in transition.  We have all moved from one place to another, changed jobs, changed careers, changed colleges right in the middle of our undergraduate education, and changed so many other aspects of our lives.  Some in moving to the Cape have even changed allegiances to sports teams.  Some former Chicago Bears fans are now great supporters of the New England Patriots.  Some LA Lakers fans now cheer on the Boston Celtics.  In times of transition many people make adjustments to be part of the new culture in which they live.  This is only a natural thing to do.  Some NY fans after moving to the Cape, even become Boston Red Sox fans, while some do not.  

          Memorial Day carries a certain air of nostalgia around it not only because we take time to honor the war dead, but to honor all our loved ones who have died.  People visit grave sites.  They bring flowers and spend time at the cemetery remembering.  For many, Memorial Day moves beyond paying tribute to fallen soldiers, marines and airmen, into a general time of mourning.

          Memorial Day is also a ceremonial welcoming of summer, even though the official start of summer is a month away.  More importantly, Memorial Day is the start of the “season.”  In Maine, people go out to their camps to open them up for the season.  Seafood shacks and ice cream shops open up. 

          Memorial Day is also filled with barbecues and family reunions.  For others, it is the time to take the boat out.  For many sailors in this area, it is time to race to Nantucket in the Figawi Boat Race, spend a “lay day” on the Island, and race back on Monday.  Seth Newton and his sons are in the race this year. Yet, for others, Memorial Day is a target date for getting their lawns and flower beds into shape.  How many truckloads of mulch and loam have been hauled around the Cape in the last week?

           Things come back to life which, oddly, is an appropriate way of honoring those who are dead.  Memorial Day weekend is filled with traditions and fond memories and while we take time to show our respect to those who have died, we celebrate life as those very departed loved ones would want us to do. We make it a point to enjoy the three day weekend.   Sort of like Jesus saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”     

          Speaking of Jesus, let’s see what’s happening today in the Gospel of John.  Although Jesus spoke this prayer some seventeen hundred years before our great country was even formed, there is a connection to our Memorial Day weekend.   In today’s reading from John, Jesus is in transition.  He has stopped  speaking to his disciples and is praying.  Jesus is beginning the transition from a focus on himself to the community that is emerging as he prepares to meet the end of his earthly life.  Jesus is planning to go home and as he does so, he is making provisions for his trusted disciples. 

          If you think about it, it’s like passing the baton from one runner to another.  Jesus is closing in on the end of his run and is about to hand off his baton to the disciples who will carry on in his name.  He prays:  “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”

          A runner may be the fastest person in the world, but if the baton is not handed off properly, his time and that of the entire team may be ruined.  Likewise, an offensive football line may open up a gaping hole in the opposing team’s line, but unless the quarterback hands the ball off to the half-back smoothly, the play may result in a loss of yardage and, worse yet, a fumble.  A shortstop may make a fantastic stop, but if his throw to first base goes sailing over the first baseman’s head, then the great stop means nothing. 

          In today’s reading,  Jesus makes a masterful hand-off.   As he approaches the end of his tasks, he delegates his ministry to his disciples who will carry-on in his name.  He knows what is coming and he is ready to make a transition.  Jesus does not deny what is coming nor does he fight it; rather, in strength and courage, he faces the truth; he knows he will not be around much longer, so he begins to hand-off his work to his most trusted companions.

          I think what gives so much meaning to Memorial Day is that in remembering those who have gone before us, we confront our own mortality which includes asking ourselves a very important question.  We must face squarely the fact that sooner or later, God will call us home also.  Standing at a grave site, looking out over a place in the ocean where a loved one’s remains have been scattered, or standing with the community around a war memorial with a fresh wreath, we realize, again, that our days are numbered.  We face the question of what we are doing for future generations and for the church.  Jesus did not shy away from this task but took it on boldly; we are called to do the same.

          There is a prayer in the UCC Book of Worship (p. 378) which I have spoken many times at funerals and memorial services.  Every time I read these words, I face not only my own mortality but this question:  “What am I doing to provide for the continuation of our church’s faithful and prophetic witness?”

          Listen to the words of this prayer:

          O God, whose days are without end

          And whose mercies cannot be counted.

          Awaken us to the shortness and uncertainty of human life.

          By your Holy Spirit,

          Lead us in faithfulness all our days.

          When we have served you in our generation,

          May we be gathered with those who have gone before,

          Having the testimony of a good conscience,

          In the communion of your holy church,

          In the confidence of a certain faith,

          In the comfort of a saving hope,

          In favor with you, our God,

          And at perfect peace with the world;

          Through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

          Amen.