Scripture Reading: John 17:1-11
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the
hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given
him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And
this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So
now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence
before the world existed.

”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were
yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that
everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have
given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and
they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on
behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.
All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be
one, as we are one.

Sermon:
It was about seven years ago, just before my arrival here in Bloomington, MN that I
stood in front of a congregation in Houston, TX preaching my last sermon after five
years of ministry there, saying: “I know and I trust that God called me to this new
ministry in my and my family’s life … and that God will provide us with the necessary
skills and determination to respond to our call”.

Never, not even in my wildest dreams, could I have imagined that God would provide so
abundantly in our ministry together! And when I say our ministry, I mean each one of
us, and not only those who are members of Oak Grove, because this ministry would not
have been possible without our friends from the City of Bloomington, the Bloomington
School District, the Muslim Centre, the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and
the Minnesota Council of Churches.

During the past seven years, together… we have made a significant difference in our
community and in my country of birth, South Africa. Reflecting back on this time I am
filled with thankfulness and fulfillment as Oak Grove Presbyterian Church has once
again become a leading voice in Bloomington in reaching out collaboratively to the
under-served. We have also become a faith community more reflective of our
neighborhood population, and in so doing a model to those around us that the United
States is still a place where immigrants from all over the world are welcomed and
embraced, and that racism, still very prevalent in our society, can be overcome! To me
it was a culmination of these efforts to be awarded the Omar Bonderud Human Rights
Award for 2009.

Today I want to thank you; each one of you for giving me the security to step out of my
comfort zone and become a stronger voice in issues of social justice. Thank you for
giving me the time, your financial support and the mandate to make so many of these
dreams a reality; projects like Homework Connection, the Summer Gap program, the
Youth Leadership Retreat, and also the completion of the Blompark project in South
Africa.

But our ministry together was so much more than issues of social justice. You allowed
Beth and me to become part of your families during the times of your lives, times like
births, deaths, birthdays, graduations, weddings, retirements, illness, divorce, mission
trips, and house blessings. These life changing events shape and form us and never
leave us the same. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your lives and to be
transformed by you; it was a privilege and an honor!

I also want to thank you for your ministry to us. Personally there are so many memories
that will always bind us to Oak Grove; Harrison and Olivia went through Confirmation
here, participated in the youth group, and you have been a part of their growth; you
played a major role in the adoption of Alazar and Endalkachew, financially and
emotionally, and this is also the place where they were baptized. You have always
been there for both Beth and me and have loved and accepted us for who we are. For
this and so much more, we are so thankful and will be forever grateful.

And now the time has come for us to let go! Sometimes it is necessary and even
unavoidable to let go of something that is truly good - a loved one, a hope for the future,
our idea of who we are, and now today, a ministry together of nearly seven years. For
us to continue to grow and develop as God wishes, it is important for us to “let go” … to
let go of our need of one another in ministry and our need of one another during these
life changing events. Today is even the time to let go of the times when we were not
there for one another, the times that we failed one another and the times of
disappointment, because even these feelings are part of life and for these times I
apologize to you today.

To let go is especially appropriate during this time of Lent. As the days lengthen and
the shadow of the cross is already looming on Golgotha, we know that Jesus, the one
who made himself usable for God by letting go of his very life, who entrusted himself to
the height and depth, the breath and width of God’s love, is walking this road of letting
go with us.

To let go of our ministry together is not easy, as we live in a culture that makes us
believe “that we cannot have a meaningful relationship with someone unless it is a
permanent, life-long commitment” (Clyde Reid 1972, p66. Celebrating the Temporary Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited: Toronto, Canada). But what we all sometimes miss is that our struggle to “let go”, can keep us from living to our fullest in the present. Somehow churches and pastors are prone to get stuck in the past with its good and its bad, and we forget what it means to do ministry in the present, building on the past with our eyes on the future. It is so human to hold on to the past. The reality is that we cannot. We cannot hold on, not to possessions, not to people, and not even to life itself. There comes a time for all of us, sooner or later when we have to let go, when we have to release and most
difficult of all … when we have to trust. If we don’t we can so easily choke to death the
very beauty we wanted to keep alive.

And so it was with our reading of today that takes us to a time before Jesus’ arrest and
is part of his farewell message to his disciples. They knew that Jesus was soon going to
die and here they are in Jerusalem together on that last night, eating their last meal,
saying their parting words … and “letting go”.

In this scene, so to speak, Jesus models to us what a life of “letting go” looks like. Here
he does not give last minute instructions, a manual of ministry to the disciples, and
neither exerts control. No, instead he turns to God in prayer by praying for himself and
for the disciples, holding God to God’s promises, saying “You have given, you have
sent, you have loved; now keep, sanctify, let us be one...."

The knowledge that our lives rest in God, frees us to let go, to not be anxious about
tomorrow but let tomorrow take care of itself. Once again, here I stand before you today
saying the same words that I said seven years ago in Houston, TX: “I know and I trust
that God has called me to this new ministry in my and my family’s life … and I know that

God will provide us with the necessary skills and determination to respond to our call”.
My parting words to you are exactly the same, as I know that God is calling you as a
congregation to a new ministry without me and that God will provide you with the
necessary skills and determination to respond to your call as well.
Amen