A few choice words — that's what Jesus gives us this morning — a few choice words about our lives and faith. Just hours before being arrested, just hours before being tried and condemned, Jesus gathered his disciples around him and in all sincerity bowed his head and prayed for them and for us. These words from John 17 are part of a great discourse recorded by the gospel writer John, part of a great priestly prayer that Jesus offered up to his heavenly Father. These are words that unite us to God. And in them Jesus petitions his heavenly Father to protect us. He prays that we may continue his work and his prayer. In this prayer he prays for heavenly protection as we go forth one in faith and one in service.

Back in the days of King Arthur, a young knight would be invited to the banquet feast set for the Knights of the Round Table. He would be wined and dined. But he would not receive his golden spurs of knighthood until he went forth on a quest to serve his king and to help someone in distress. In much the same way, we are gathered in Christian community, and Jesus prays that his Father would protect us, for we, too, are sent forth one in faith and one in service.

There is a delightful old story about a certain Mexican bank robber by the name of Jorge Rodriguez, who operated along the Texas border around the turn of the century. He was so successful in his forays across the border that the Texas Rangers put an extra posse along the Rio Grande just to try and stop him and recover the money he stole.

Sure enough, late one afternoon, one of those rangers saw Rodriguez sneaking back across the border and trailed him at a distance back to his home village. The ranger watched Jorge mingle with the people in the town square and then go into a cantina to relax. The ranger came up with a plan. He waited until later when most of the people had left the cantina, slipped in through the back door and managed to get the drop on Rodriguez. With pistol in hand he confronted the bandit. "Tell me where you have the money hidden or I'll fill you with lead," he said. The ranger thought he had Jorge dead to rights. However, there was just one flaw in his plan. The ranger spoke no Spanish. And Jorge understood no English. So there they were, caught in a verbal impasse.

But just at that moment, an enterprising little guy stepped forward. "Ranger, sir," he said, "I am bilingual. Let me act as a translator for you." The ranger nodded and proceeded to tell him to ask Jorge where he had the money hidden or suffer the consequences. Nervously, Jorge responded, "Tell the big Texan not to shoot. I have the money hidden at the bottom of a dry old well. It's exactly one mile north of town at the abandoned old mill."

The little translator got a very solemn look on his face and said to the Texas Ranger in perfect English, "Jorge Rodriguez is a very brave man. He would rather die than tell you where the money is." It's absurd to say that what we don't know won't hurt us. Tell that to Jorge. It's equally absurd to say that what we believe doesn't matter, as long as we are sincere about it. What we believe does matter. How we live does make a difference.

As Jesus prepares to go to the cross, as he prepares to offer up his life for the world, he prays for his followers. He prays that God would protect us as we go forth one in faith and one in service.

As children of God we are united one in faith — faith in a living God who has revealed himself to us in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are united in faith in Christ whose word unerringly fills us with faith and faith in the Holy Spirit whose presence guides us through life. As children of God, we believe that God speaks to us in the holy scriptures. That's why we call them God's word. We believe that we can rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide us in our understanding of that word and unite us in faith and in service to God. That's what Jesus prays for in the passage this morning. "I pray for them because they are yours." We are God's children and our lives demonstrate that as we are one in faith and one in service.

Jesus prays for himself and for us. He prays that God would protect us, as we go forth in this world. We are one in faith. But we must put that faith into action. I read somewhere about a father who had decreed in his will that he would provide $50,000 a year living expenses for his son while he was still in college. And you know what? That boy was in college for 46 years. He accumulated eleven degrees. But he never put a one of those degrees into practice. He spent his whole life going from one class to another never amounting to anything. He did no great evil, but he didn't do any good either.

In his prayer, Jesus makes it clear that we are God's. He offers us up to God's protection, and then he prays that we would be one in our faith in God. But Jesus expects more from us than that. We are also called to be one in service. It is in serving that our faith becomes real. It is in serving that our lives become what God intends for them to be. When we go forth from the "Round Table," we receive the blessing that God has in store for us.

Because when we serve one another, we serve Christ. He is the inspiration of our lives. He is the living example of faith in action. He is the Lord and Master of our lives, the heartbeat of our faith. And that faith becomes real when we go forth one in service.

I read recently about an advertisement campaign for the humane society in one city that pictured a dog and cat seated side by side on a beautiful couch. The caption over their heads read, "A Couple of VIPs — Very Important Pets." And at the bottom, a second line read, "What makes them important is who owns them."

If you and I are VIPs, there is only one reason — who owns us. We are children of God, followers of Christ, Jesus' own children — and it is in his footsteps that we follow. We are one in faith and one in service — all children of God and followers of Christ. From the prayer this morning it is clear that there is a purpose for our lives. And that purpose is that we go forth in serving, bringing the message of God's love to light.

We are one in faith and one in service. I'm sure you've heard the old story of the conversation between a pig and a cow. The pig is complaining to the cow that nobody ever has a kind word for him. "Look at the way I give of myself," he says. "I produce bacon, ham, and pork chops. The bristles of my skin are used for brushes, my hide for luggage. Why, some people even pickle my feet and consider them a delicacy. Why is it then that everyone speaks more kindly of you, the cow, than of me?" To which the cow replied, "My friend, perhaps it is that I give of myself while I am still alive."

We are one in faith and one in service and in serving those around us, our faith becomes real and the message of God's love is shared with all. In the early 1800s, there was a New Englander by the name of John Chapman. One morning he appeared in Licking Spring, Ohio, and taking some seeds from a burlap bag slung across his shoulder, he began to plant them. When he was finished, he quietly left town and moved on to the next town, where he did the same. You see, Chapman had read that there were few fruit-bearing trees in the Midwest and he decided to do something about that. So John Chapman, alias Johnny Appleseed, set out and in giving of himself in service to others, left a lasting legacy of himself for generations to come.

God calls us to be spiritual Johnny Appleseeds, sowing the word of God's love in the hearts and lives of those around us. We are one in faith and one in service when we offer ourselves, our lives, and our hearts, in service to God. That's what Jesus' prayed for, and that's what we do.

The year was 1939 and trainloads of Jewish children with pale, thin faces and sunken eyes were piling into Sweden. These boys and girls, mostly only three or four years old, would file off the trains with nothing except a large tag around their necks stating their name, age, and hometown. Most of them had already seen and experienced more than anyone should see or experience in a lifetime.

Swedish families were taking the children in for the duration of the war. One of the Swedes who opened his home to them was a man by the name of Johann Erickson, a middle-aged man who had no children of his own. When he learned that a frightened nine-year-old named Rolf needed a home, he responded and the little Jewish boy began to adjust to life in his new Swedish Lutheran home. At first, any knock on the door or loud voice outside would drive Rolf to the closet where he would hide and cover his head, but slowly the warmth and love of his new Swedish home began to change him. He put on weight and a spark of life returned to his eyes. Eventually, he even began to laugh and trust again.

Later after the Nazi invasion of Sweden, men at the machine shop where Johann worked warned him that he would lose the boy, that the Nazis would come and take him away. "They'll never take a child of mine," Erickson declared. "Not as long as I'm alive."

In keeping with the promise the Swedish government had made, Johann tried his best to respect Rolf's religious heritage. Even though he took Rolf to Lutheran services with him, he also saw that the boy learned his Jewish traditions and when the time came, he arranged for Rolf to be bar mitzvahed. For when the war ended, Johann wanted to be able to return to Rolf's parents a son who had been raised as closely as possible in the way they would have raised him themselves.

But when the war ended, the family was not reunited. Rolf's parents and all of his brothers and sisters had perished in the Holocaust, their fate one with the millions of others who had not survived the war. Rolf did not leave Sweden. Instead of returning to Germany — to the hometown scribbled on the note around his neck, Rolf remained in Sweden and became part of Johann's family. He was the son Johann never had. And over the years that followed, Rolf became a successful businessman and whenever Johann needed someone, Rolf was there. He took him to the doctor. He cared for him when he was ill. And when he lay on his deathbed, there was Rolf at his side to comfort him still. For in his time of need, Johann had offered him the love of God — and they were one in service.

As the candles of the Passover meal are burning short, as the meal draws to a close and his time on earth quickly fading, Jesus gathers the disciples around them and prays for them in the time to come. He prayed that God would protect them and he prayed that they would be one. He prayed for them and he prayed for us.

We are one in faith and one in service — sent forth to serve our loving God. We are called to share the love of God with others and to care for those near us in need. In his prayer to his heavenly Father, Jesus prayed that God would protect us. He prayed that we would serve and love. The apostle John says it well in his first letter, "We love because he first loved us." Therefore, let us be one in faith and one in service. In Jesus' name. Amen.