Over the last few weeks the focus of the scripture has been on love. Today we see Jesus’ love for his disciples and God in action. The Gospel writer, John, allows us to see a very intimate and personal moment while Jesus is praying. What we discover is Jesus’ considered his disciples a gift from God. Because they listened to Jesus’ “words,” and accepted them they became a gift to each other and the world. Jesus prays that his disciples will become one with God as he is one with the Divine. Is it possible then that because we have heard and accepted the words of Jesus God has given us to each other?
- Let’s take a closer look at how Jesus prayed.
- He starts by acknowledging that his disciples were those who God selected out of this world.
- This is how it works. Ordinary people going about their life and God calls and they listen.
- Of the world but not in the world.
- Dr. Max Rogers, “A prophet is a person people will not tolerate and God will not leave alone.”
- Jesus gave them the “words,” God gave him and they accepted it.
- That is not an easy thing to do. .
- People will hold on to what is familiar even when they know it no longer holds truth for them. The devil they know. Extremely religious people heard Jesus’ words and decided he was a blasphemer and in order to protect God they killed him.
- They knew where Jesus came from. I believe Jesus most accurately reveals to us the true nature of the Divine. That is why I follow him and I have spent my life teaching him.
- For me to know Jesus is to know God. For me to know God is to know myself.
- Jesus is praying specifically for them, not the world.
- All Jesus had was God’s and all Gos had was his. Oneness.
- Protect them with the power of your name.
- So they may be as one as we are as one.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
- Are we joyful? I mean honestly joyful? Not that praise Jesus but, in our soul joyful. Our mind is at peace even in the darkest times joyful.
- 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
- Is it possible because we have heard and accepted the words of Jesus God has given us to each other?
Call to Celebration
Holy One, may your truth be declared among us this day.
Your Word is your bond.
Your Word has consistently hovered over us.
We have been nourished and sustained by it.
Your Word has transformed the world and our lives.
Your Word has never led us astray.
Your Word is the Source of all creation.
Your Word is joy and peace in an evolving and chaotic world.
Your Word never changes.
It is what it is! Amen
Offertory
God, thank you for the gift of your Life-Giving Word. It has empowered us to do the unthinkable. Remind us that we plant seeds with our words. We thank you for the opportunity to expand the kin-dom of God with the words we speak. Amen
Full Service Service May 16th
John 15:9-17 NIV
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.