O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

I wish to share with you a story this morning and it is taken from a sports web site. It’s a true story entitled “Derek and Dad finish Olympic 400 together”.

Derek Redmond was a young British runner, who rocketed to fame by shattering his country’s 400-metre record aged 19, but then an Achilles tendon injury forced him to withdraw from the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and he endured five separate operations. When the Summer Olympics arrived in Barcelona in 1992, Derek was absolutely aching for a medal. On the day of the semi final races for the 400-metres race, 65,000 fans streamed into the stadium. High in the stands was Derek’s proud father, Jim, a regular at every one of his son’s races.

The race began. Derek broke through the pack to seize the lead. Heading down the backstretch, only 175 metres from the finish line, Derek seemed well on his way to winning the heat and qualifying for the Olympic finals. But then Derek heard a pop. It was his right hamstring. He pulled up looking as if he had been shot. His leg quivering, Derek began to hop on the other leg. He got slower and slower finally falling to the track. Medics ran towards him as he sprawled on the ground, holding his right leg.

At the same moment, there was a stir at the top of the stands. Jim, seeing his son in trouble, was desperately working his way down toward the track, sidestepping some people and bumping into others, all he could think about was getting to his son, to help him up and no one was going to stop him.

On the track, Derek realized that his dream of an Olympic medal was gone. He was alone. The other runners streaked across the finish line. He was a lonely figure on the track. Tears poured down Derek’s face, and all he could think was, “I don’t want a DNF.” A Did-Not-Finish. Derek could not stand the thought of having DNF written beside his name at the Olympics. When the medics arrived with a stretcher, Derek told them, “I am not getting on that stretcher. I’m going to finish my race.” And so, he lifted himself to his feet, slowly and carefully, and he started hobbling down the track.

Gradually, the crowd realized that Derek was not dropping out of the race. He was not limping off the track in defeat, but was actually continuing on one leg, in a fiercely determined effort to make it to the finish line. One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more agonizing than the one before, Derek limped onward, and the crowd began to cheer for him. The fans rose to their feet and their cries grew louder and louder, building into a thunderous roar.

At that moment, Jim reached the bottom of the stands, jumped over the railing, and ran to his son with two security people running after him. “That’s my son out there,” he yelled back at his pursuers, “and I’m going to help him.”

Jim reached his son at the final bend, about 120 metres from the finish line. He wrapped his arm around Derek’s waist. “I’m here, son,” Jim said gently, hugging his boy. “We’ll finish together.”

Derek put his arms around his father’s shoulders and sobbed. Together, arm in arm, father and son struggled toward the finish line with 65,000 people cheering, clapping, and crying. Just a few steps from the end, with the crowd in an absolute frenzy, Jim released the grip he had on his son so that Derek could cross the finish line by himself.

“I’m the proudest father alive,” Jim told the press afterward, with tears in his eyes. “I’m prouder of him than I would have been if he had won the gold medal. It took a lot of guts for him to do what he did.”

I chose to use this illustration to talk about God the Father and God the Son.

Earlier in John chapter 14 verse11, we find Jesus saying, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” They are bound together, bound much more tightly and more thoroughly than Derek and Jim Redmond as they approached the finish line at the cross. But Jesus crossed his finish line alone. The Father withdrew and the Son died alone on the cross. Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus went to the cross alone because he loved us. That is God’s love on the cross and that is how much God loves us.

God loves us so much he will never leave us and that brings us to our gospel reading today. In John’s chapter 14, everything is changing, and, naturally, the disciples are worried.

Nothing remains the same, and it is sometimes difficult for us to cope with that basic fact. Coping with change is always an anxious process. We do not know if we will be able to handle it. The careful little future that we had mapped out for ourselves seems suddenly very much in doubt and like this current time very much threatened has to what the future will look like.

Change happens but the question is however, how do we handle change? How do we handle stress? How do we handle worry?

The first group of disciples that Jesus gathered around him had become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Jesus was their teacher, their rabbi and they were his pupils. He walked and talked and he taught by everything he did, by way of his actions and his life. The disciples had in effect been in school, but now that was coming to an end. Jesus explains to them that he is going to die, but the disciples don’t understand that at all.

Even over 2000 years later, we can easily imagine the stress and anxiety they were feeling. They are in Jerusalem at Passover, and the temple authorities hate Jesus. The disciples know that something is in the wind, but they do not know what. But Jesus says to them that he “will not leave [them] orphaned”.

Small children when they see their parents packing suitcases to go on a trip may feel scared because they think their parents might go away and not come back. As grown-ups, we think we are too smart for those kinds of feelings, but we are not because we to sometimes feel lonely and afraid.

And Jesus understands that, Jesus wraps us in his love and says, “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you” Jesus was about to die on the cross, and he knew that his followers would feel like orphaned children. But death was not the end for Jesus; he rose to new life and promised to be with his followers forever.

Jesus is always with us, giving us his love and support and guidance. And although we cannot see him, his Spirit is with us.

The first disciples were called into action and to run this race of life like Derek had been called to run his race. But so far, Jesus has been there with them in the flesh. They had made their choice to follow Jesus. They were walking in the way of Jesus and facing all the obstacles and difficulties which walking that way brought about. But they had a constant source of reassurance. Jesus was there with them to inspire them, to keep them going just like Derek’s dad Jim was there for him.

Now Jesus was not going to be there physically any more. The unthinkable was happening. What do they do now, without Jesus? But Jesus reassures them again that they are not going to be without him. Jesus says that even after his death he will still be with them. He will still encourage them, help them, guide them along the way. But the nature of his presence will change. “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me,” he says but he will be present to them in the form of the Holy Spirit.

We all have been in those circumstances, when we sign up to do something so long as we have someone to help us do it. If we have to do it alone, forget it, but if we have help, we will do it. And this is the key issue here. The disciples signed up because Jesus was a team leader. They recognized God in him as he was physically present before them. Now Jesus is not going to be present like that any longer, but his promise is, he is still with them. His promise to us, is that he is still with us. He has his arms wrapped around us.

Sometimes we may feel almost overwhelmed by our problems. The stresses and anxiety just builds and builds. Sometimes the problems are physical; the roof leaks, the washing machine is broken. The car won’t start. Sometimes, the problems involve other people. And our problems at this present time in which we are living are heightened.

We do not want to spend all our time stressing about our problems because after a while that becomes just whining, and someone may well tell us, that we should buck up and get on with it. After all, everybody has problems. Everybody has difficulties whether they are large or small.

That is why we all need Jesus. We may be limping, we may be wounded, we may be emotionally broken but no matter how bad it gets Jesus is still with us. Jesus is still a loving, living presence in our lives.

So no matter what comes our way, we can hold tight to the promise that Jesus gives us the gift of life. Life in this world, and life in the world to come and when we hold to this promise we all can run the race and cross the finish line together.

For God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

 Amen.

 Revd Kevin Priest at St.Wilfrids and St.Thomas

 

 Let us pray……

 Send your peace, O Lord which is perfect and everlasting, that our souls may radiate peace.

Send your peace, O Lord that we may think act and speak harmoniously,

Send your peace, O Lord that we may be contented and thankful for your bountiful gifts

Send your peace, O Lord that amidst our worldly strife, we may enjoy your bliss

Send your peace, O Lord that we may endure all, tolerate all in the thought of your grace and mercy

Send your peace, O Lord that our lives may become a divine vision and in your light, all darkness may vanish

Send your peace, O Lord our father that we your children may all unite in one family.  Amen.

 

And we seal our prayers together in the words of the Lord’s prayer…

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done; On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever.  Amen