17 1-5 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Jesus Prays for Himself

Father, it's time.
Display the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.

And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
The very splendor I had in your presence
Before there was a world.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

6-12 I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.

They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.

I'm not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.

For I'm no longer going to be visible in the world;
They'll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.

As long as I was with them, I guarded them
In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
I even posted a night watch.
And not one of them got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

13-19 Now I'm returning to you.
I'm saying these things in the world's hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.

I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn't join the world's ways,
Just as I didn't join the world's ways.

I'm not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.

Make them holy - consecrated - with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I'm consecrating myself for their sakes
So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

20-23 I'm praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.

The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind -
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.

The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they'll be as unified and together as we are -
I in them and you in me.

Then they'll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent me and loved them
In the same way you've loved me.

24-26 Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
Having loved me
Long before there ever was a world.

Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But I have known you, and these disciples know
That you sent me on this mission.

I have made your very being known to them -
Who you are and what you do -
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them.

by The Rev. Jonathan Holston

Gospel: John 17:20-26

It is often stated that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Life in all of its intricacies is a journey. From our beginning at birth, we are pilgrim travelers seeking our place of self-worth.

A story is often told of life's travels when it is said, "One cannot control when you are born, where you are born, or either to what family you are born." Likewise, "One cannot control when you die, where you may die, or even the circumstances of one's death." Yet, the one controlling element of life is the "dash" between birth and our time to be with the Lord. What contributions will we make to the society in which we live and what will be said about our existence? Did we make a difference? Will our communities lament our absence when we are no longer on the scene? To make it plain, our lives are more than the possessions we accumulate or even the knowledge we acquire. Our existence is more than the status we often crave or the positions of power we seek. We are spiritual beings as well-pilgrim travelers to say the least. There is a revival hymn that says as much; namely-"I want Jesus to walk with me; all along my pilgrim journey; I want Jesus to walk with me."

John shares with us Jesus' walk. Jesus' journey includes the upper room meal with his disciples when he washes the feet of his disciples. Remember Jesus needing to convince Peter of his servant role. Also, he names the conflict in the room by informing the group of a betrayer at the table. It is always our nature not to be the one identified as the snitch or mole in a group. Peter inquired of Jesus, because often inquiring minds want to know. Surprisingly, Jesus continues the conversation as he moves us from anxiety to anticipation, gloom to gladness, helplessness to hope, pain to possibility, realizing his victory and the peace that victory makes possible.

John shares with us Jesus' journey-his pilgrim walk. Between the Last Supper, his final discourse, and walking across the Kidron Valley near the Mount of Olives being met by a platoon of soldiers, priests, Pharisees bent on arresting him, as his betrayer, Judas, stood within the crowd, Jesus takes a moment to be in conversation with the Father. John 17:1 records the words: "After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed."

In Eugene Peterson's "The Message," he paraphrases the passage in saying, "In this godless world, you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I have conquered the world!" Jesus raises his eyes in prayer. He shares a meal, states the conflict, addresses the moment, gives significance to the journey, and he prays! Jesus is between human existence and the resurrection, and he enters a time of prayer on behalf of his disciples and the community. John invites us to hear Jesus' words offered to God in prayer to come to an understanding that "we are persons who are part of a larger community for whom Jesus prays."

You and I are on this journey through life-this pilgrim journey-traveling a road that the Lord has set in his purpose. What will we do? I believe the Scripture provides for us some direction; namely, Jesus prays for us that we may believe, and we are invited to receive the gift of prayer that we may be one.

Now Jesus prays for us that we might believe. In a world of perplexity, complexity, and confusion, we feel the need of guidance. Questions abound, such as--

• What shall we do?
• Where shall we go?
• What decision do we make?
• Are we doing the right and wise thing?

People are looking for guidance in many places.

Recently I visited a bookstore just to browse and noticed how large the self-help section has grown. There are how-to books for every subject from belief to baking, from finding friends to developing faith, romance to every diet ever created, from exercise of all shapes and forms to creating a new you! We learn how to dress for success, influence people, and learn to become wealthy. Yet John shares with us the ultimate concern of a Savior who prays that we might believe that God loves us and is seeking a relationship with us. The belief that Jesus seeks in us is not a self-centered trust of our own knowledge and skills but a true understanding of the Father's love for us, that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through believing we may have life in his name.

I came to grow in God's love for me on a mission trip to India. Having flown into Bombay with several other persons, I looked forward to a wonderful opportunity. I soon found out the group was expected to separate and I would be traveling on my own for three weeks. It was completely unexpected. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. I had become fearful of the opportunity that became a bundle of stress. Waiting for a taxi to the airport, I encountered a great deal of disappointment. I did not speak the eight or more languages and was at a disadvantage in my own mind. As I waited in the center surrounded by darkness, I lamented my fate. It was as if the Lord heard my cry as a gentleman, who I later learned was a pastor, arose and startled me. We entered into a conversation, and I mustered enough courage to tell him my plight. He indicated to me that a taxi was waiting. I could not believe it, but it was true. I thought to myself that God is good. As the taxi driver proceeded to the airport, I realized either he was lost or I was about to be left on the side of the road. He pulled over and proceeded to unload my bag. I became disillusioned again. Why is this happening to me? I'm 8,000 miles from home; and there was no phone booth in sight, and if I could call home, no one could assist me. I began to pray. In my spirit, I felt a sense of relief and a thought came to my mind. Really, three questions arose in my thinking; namely, what would my wife do in this situation? Well, she would put her luggage back in the taxi, so I did. The second question that came to mind was what would my then-14-year-old son do in that moment. He would get back in the taxi, so I did that as well. The third thought that came to my mind was, essentially, what would my then six-year-old daughter do in that situation. She would be scared and would be hysterical in the moment. I felt that I had nothing to lose at that point and proceeded to yell and draw attention to myself. The taxi driver was dumbfounded with this behavior, yet there was several men waiting by the road. One of them walked to the car and asked in English whether he could help me. I was astounded! Yes, you can help me! He explains to the driver where I needed to go and I arrived. I thought about Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me," but it was not about me. It was about Christ whom I trusted to deliver me, and he did.

A simple story of trust and belief but one Jesus prays for us to believe. I was (un)able to grow in my appreciation of self, but in the tremendous work of mission being done. My expertise was useless for that moment, but God's grace was sufficient. Jesus prays that our relationship with God will be like his and that we will believe. No aimless wondering but a deliberate effort to seek a living relationship through Christ's love for humankind.

This road we travel is now Jesus' road leading us towards the future. In fact, God's preferred future will depend upon the decisions we make. In choosing the journey of faith, we practice living as redeemed men and women building relationships of love, kindness, and joy. We learn what it is to be on the cutting edge of ministry, making a difference for the sake of Christ.

We are invited to receive the gift of prayer that we may be one. As we share the privilege of overhearing Jesus' prayer to the Father, you must be struck by the intentionality that for those who believe they may become one. "As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

This unity or oneness with the Father and the Son is a relationship that is a firm desire to be in tune with God in prayer, worship, and the study of Scripture. Simultaneously, as we nurture a relationship with the Father and the Son, we must build a relationship amongst believers. For those who we have not seen to make a difference, relationships between believers are essential. In other words, how can you love and serve a God you have not seen and hate your brother or sister you see daily? As we seek a relationship with the Father, we are daily working to build friendships on earth.

I participate in a mission initiative called Hands of Hope begun out of a small membership church in North Georgia. In the mountains of West Virginia in McDowell County, this mission begun as one man's initiative to seek the call of Christ in his life as he sought to alleviate need and offer Christ. On a trip with my friend, I drove with him into the mountains. Truly separated from everything, I met Mary. Reclusive in her home, my friend has worked for a year to build trust, and he brings me to visit. Having an African-American in her home was a first, yet we both were sharing a need to explore faith together. The soot from the coal furnace filled the air, the darkness was pervasive, the stench sometimes taxing. As we began to leave, he asks Mary if she wanted to pray. She leaped as fast as an elderly woman in her 80s could and reached her hand to me. This was a defining moment. She wanted to know if I would touch her or be repelled by her. Is this faith real? Would I be one with her this day? As I took her hand for prayer, it was a new day for me and for her. Separated by geography and ethnicity but united as one in faith, we prayed for each other to receive God's abiding spirit. It was as if the Scripture came alive: Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. For that day I felt the faith journey complete, all because on this day-a day that the Lord had made-somebody prayed for me.

Let us pray.

Lord, thank you for the gift of prayer that teaches us that we abide in you. Help us to journey together in faith seeking to share your word in new and exciting ways. Help us to love you as well as each other and that we would be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, for it is in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

About The Author:

The Rev. Jonathan Holston is senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, Atlanta, GA.

by Nancy Rockwell

Jesus' final prayer is for Oneness. Our unity, for which he beseeches God that everyone, all who have ever known of him or ever will, will be embraced in a deep accord, a mystical union in which Jesus and God will also dwell. They will be in us and we in them.

Thinking about what that means is like trying to capture the wind. It means nothing to the mind, and everything to the body. Its meaning lies in what it does, not in what it is. In where it shows up, not in what it looks like.

Echoes of this mystical unity are present in every parable, every sermon, every teaching of Jesus, often given in the face of other opinions. Who are you to forgive sins? he was asked. But he did do that. And, who are you to touch the unclean, to give blessing to unbelievers, to embrace the poor and chastise the rich? Who are you to imagine abundance when scarcity is everywhere? Who are you? is still hard to answer. But what he did, remains.

Ira Glass, host of This American Life on Public Radio, brought his traveling show to NH this week. It's titled Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host. Glass says it brings together two things that have no business being together: dance and radio.

Jesus, in his traveling show, which could be thought of as Three Years, Twelve Disciples, and One Itinerant Host, brought together God and people. Two things most folks kept at a respectful distance.

Ira Glass writes of his show, that Act One is about the job of being a performer. Hard, monotonous work that can drive you nuts doing the same thing over and over, so you have to keep yourself on your toes by sneaking in some variation. Act Two is about falling in love and what it means to stay in love. Sex is mentioned. Also arguing, sorrow, sighing. And Act Three: nothing lasts forever. Included here are the dead. And parents, who are nearing death. And the way life moves you offstage.

So there we were, and Ira Glass remarked about us, that we were an audience of a thousand strangers, drawn together by nothing other than a shared sense about life.

His show began in 2013, at Carnegie Hall, and will end in Sydney Autralia in the summer, and will have collected people from a wide array of lives and places into that shared sense.

This is the Oneness Jesus talked about. Don't get me wrong. This is not an evangelical Christian event. Ira Glass is Jewish and the show is secular, but the sense and sensibility of it are a spiritual unity.

The Show is poignant, probably because we are living in such a riven time. Jesus lived in a riven time, too. And so how do we pull off unity, in an age when people are tearing each other apart? Jesus couldn't even keep the disciples united.

Three years. So little time, and yet, if you add two thousand more, so much and such a mess.

Twelve disciples, who managed to repeat the stories, the actions, the practices, and the mistakes, over and over and over, without losing their hope and without losing their sense of the Spirit. There was no choreography, really. Yet the wind dances, we all say that, and we see the dancing in branches, leaves, birds, clouds, people. And the Spirit raises up dancing people, even in riven times. Jesus didn't leave any one person in charge, despite what Rome says. He could have spent Eastertide setting up an organization, a liturgy, giving them some rules. But he chose not to. He left them the Spirit, given to all of them at once, a dance that never ends, a dance anyone can join in, a dance that speaks volumes about the power of joy and hope, life and love. A dance that can't be captured except in the things it does.

One Itinerant Host. Nothing lasts forever. Death is real. Things change. People move on and off the stage of life.

The Jesus show has had quite a run, really. People have come from everywhere, and been caught up in the shared sense and sensibility of it all. Sometimes the Spirit blows into the Church. Often, it blows outside the Church, and brings change by blowing open the windows and raising the roof off everyone's understanding. The Spirit is the dance, and the dance is the Spirit.

In the Scriptures, the Spirit arrives as the end of Act Three, the end of the Easter act. And like all endings, it means a new show will begin soon, another show with a whole-earth sense, that joins together two things that most people want to keep apart: God and people. Dance on, then!

by Dr. Janet H. Hunt

Gospel: John 17: 20-26

I got word on Wednesday afternoon that my old friend John would most likely die that night.

His dying was not unexpected, but word of it still took my breath away. I stepped outside into the warm May sunshine to try to take it in, to put this news in its place. And then I came back to my desk to write to all of you about it.

I have known John for twenty-five years. He chaired the church council where I was first called to be pastor. And he kept track of me for all these decades since I left that place. A devoted lay leader in the larger church, our paths kept crossing. I grieve his dying as I do that of so many others who were part of shaping me when I was young to ministry.

Now admittedly, John and I did not always see eye to eye. Sometimes I would find myself sighing at his relentless persistence and his way of doing things which would differ so from my own. And yes, I say this with all gentleness, sometimes I found him a little bit annoying - although, if I'm honest, that may have been more about me than him.

But then that would be true of many people - perhaps of all those people I have known deeply and loved long and well - we don't always see eye to eye. We do not always agree with one another on how to get things done. And yes, from time to time it seems, we will annoy, perhaps even dislike one another. It is inevitable, it seems to me. And yet, in the 'unity' Jesus prays for today, this is who he has put us together to be unified with. Even the people who annoy us. Perhaps especially those who annoy us.

And I have to say that this much is true as well. I'm not sure John and I would have necessarily been friends had God not somehow put us together in the same place for a time. We were that different from one another. But because God did, for all of my ministry when I would hear from or encounter John he would greet me with a huge smile and a warm welcome. Even the last time I saw him just a few weeks ago. Again, not because we were so much alike, it seems, but because God gave us to one another.

This past winter I was called upon to teach using Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. This small volume had sat on my shelf a long time, but I'm not certain I had ever had cause or reason to read it carefully before. I have to say that this time through I was especially taken with his first chapter on "Community." If I get his point, Bonhoeffer is saying that Christian Community, as many tend to imagine it, is a 'wish dream' - that the harmony we often envision is not all that likely or perhaps even possible. In fact, he says, you and I have no right or reason to be disillusioned when it doesn't meet our expectations. For it is somehow in our very experience of this community not meeting our hopes and dreams that we actually finally discover our 'life together' - not because we necessarily like one another or agree with one another - but because of the ways in which all of our struggle with each other enables us to see more clearly and to be all the more grateful for what Christ has done for us. Christ died for this and these and no other.

With all our warts, our struggles, our hurts, and yes, sometimes our hurting one another, this is where God put us and this is who God put us with to learn from and to grow with. And it is in our differences and in our struggles that the glory of which Jesus speaks in John 17:22 most shines, it seems to me. For this glory is best known in true forgiveness. This glory is best experienced among those who can examine their own faults and recognize their need for God… which is what our struggles also do. Let me offer just one brief quote as illustration of Bonhoeffer's point, this time pointing to what often happens when we find ourselves disillusioned:

Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and try to realize it. But God's grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and if we are fortunate, with ourselves. (pp. 26-27)

Imagine my surprise. I have spent my entire ministry working to resolve church conflict and Bonhoeffer appears to be saying it is not only to be expected, but it is also something we are called to be grateful for. And it is so, of course. It is in our differences, in our struggles, in our hurts that we encounter and receive God's grace and gift most completely. It is then that I am able to see Christ in my neighbor. It is then that I am able to be loved in spite of myself. It is then I know most deeply my own need for God.

Now it is so that perhaps in Bonhoeffer's time and place, church conflict was not as virulent as it is today. And yes, I know it is so that there have been times in my life when the world has so pummeled me that it was all I could do to slide into a pew near the back and yearn to be soothed by the familiar strains of the liturgy, all the while hoping that no one would want more 'community' from me than my fragile state could bear. I know that may be so of many who populate our churches on many Sunday mornings. Still, most of the time it has been important to me to look for and experience that sense of connection to others. And when I have done so, when I have allowed myself to go more deeply in relationship to those others God has put me with, sometimes I am disappointed by or yes, even hurt by the behavior of others. Perhaps this is why I found these words of Bonhoeffer hit home as well:

He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes the destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. (p. 27)

What an important reminder it is to me to know that just because I am hurt or disappointed does not mean that this group of God's people is not of God's design. And when I have had the patience to live through the struggle, I have learned over and over again that over time and hard earned shared experience the connections do go deeper than anything I would have put together on my own, with my all too human tendency to surround myself with people who think and do as I think and do.

So no, I would guess that John and I would not necessarily have been friends if God had not put us together. But because God did, I experienced the kindness of another I never would have known otherwise. I was challenged and pushed in ways I did not always find helpful at the time, but which made me think more deeply about my own suppositions. I learned to look behind that which I sometimes found annoying and to see God at work in remarkable ways. And in the end I expect we both discovered something so much more than what we could ever have created on our own… the kind of unity Jesus speaks of today which does not rely on us at all but on what God does through us and sometimes in spite of us. It is God's doing, not ours! And today as I grieve the death of an old friend, who was at first perhaps not necessarily a friend of my choosing, I give thanks for this amazing gift of God.

• Do you think of unity first as something God does or something we do or some combination of the two?
• How have you experienced unity in your life, in your congregation, in your community? How has that unity been a witness to the world?

by Debra Dean Murphy

Gospel: John 17:20-26

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one."
(John 17:20-21a).

There's not much talk of ecumenism these days - not in books, not on blogs, not even in and among churches. Maybe that's because forty years of dogged efforts at dialogue and mutual understanding have borne some real fruit: Calvinists are far less suspicious of Catholics than they used to be and vice versa; Methodists and Lutherans are now in full communion with one another.

Of course, the ecclesial traditions most vested in the ecumenical movement are now among those experiencing significant decline, and the growing churches - Pentecostal, non-denominational, "emergent" of this or that variety - don't seem to place the same high premium on bridge-building and cross-over conversations. So maybe it's too soon to say "mission accomplished" when it comes to Church unity.

Of course it is. Jesus' prayer in this week's Gospel reading is a stinging reminder of his Body's continued disunity. But what can and should be said about this obstinate, obvious reality? How does one preach this familiar text in ways that signal urgency but not despair, that convey the gravity of our predicament while also offering a word of hope?

I have no idea. But here are a few thoughts . . .

1. The oneness for which Jesus prayed is rooted not in human achievement but in the life of the triune God. The unity between the Father and Son, which is their mutual self-giving (perichoresis) in the Spirit, is the same love by which the ekklesia exists ("As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us"). As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it: "Christian unity is not an ideal which we must realize [actualize]; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate."

2. The unity of the Church does not subsist invisibly through "faith" or by assent to propositions, but is to be visible and material. The reason for oneness is "that the world may believe that you have sent me." Unity is shared witness not intellectual agreement.

3. It is the Eucharist that constitutes this unifying witness in the world. Through the sacramental gifts of Christ's body and blood, the community receives itself - it becomes the body of Christ, blessed, broken, and shared. As the Great Thanksgiving says, we are made "one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world." In this act the Church is united across time and distinctions between the global and the local are collapsed, for in every local assembly is the whole body - "the world in a wafer," as Bill Cavanaugh has said. The Church is–there and then, here and now–the visible body of its Lord. And this visible body does not express or evince the Church's unity; it is the Church's unity.

But the Church is divided. Still. John probably included Jesus' prayer in his Gospel because of doctrinal strife in his own community. Discord then and now. Yet while the scandal of disunity persists, Jesus prays for us still. This is the good news. But it does not relieve us of our responsibility to practice the unity that is the triune God's and that is God's gift to us.

How will Christ's body, divided by differences both petty and consequential, receive this gift and bear visible, material witness to God's own life and love?