Today’s sermon text share a very private and intimate moment Jesus has with God while praying for his disciples. Jesus is assuring God they have accepted God’s words and they Jesus is from God. Jesus wants them to have eternal life. Jesus later defines Eternal Life as knowing God. This word , “Knowing,” os the one most of us are familiar with. It is an experiential intimate knowing.
I invite you to explore this lovely and powerful text with me. What was Jesus’ ultimate prayer for his disciples and for us too?
Call to Celebration
God, we celebrate Oneness in The Spirit.
Oneness does not mean the same.
You embody creation and Spirit.
You are both and — all encompassing.
None of creation is the same.
We are uniquely us, but compliment one another.
Diversity is a complex gift.
The Spirit is unifying all of creation, all of the time. Awaken us to seeing
and knowing presently. Amen.
Offertory
God, your divine imprint is upon us. Sometimes we cannot see, because we are looking. There are times we cannot know, because our knowing gets in the way. Life is filled with paradoxes and oxymorons; however, Spirit is always present to reveal truth. Awaken us to the truth in front of us so that we can make manifest the Oneness you prayed for us. Amen
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Scripture & Sermon
John 17: 1-11 New International Version (NIV)
Extinguishing the Light
A Prayer for Peace and Restoration
God of Unity, disrupt our patterns of discontinuity. When we find ourselves flailing between what was, what is, and what is yet to come, help us to breathe and look again to the truth Spirit is
revealing. Help us to let go of what was and embrace what is. You can hold us and our it
together. NOTHING will ever separate us from your love. Remind us that you existed before there
was a was and you transcend time. Amen.
Rev. LaTrell Harrison
5.24.20 sermon- Meditation: I admire Barton’s meditation experience & grateful he offered Meditation classes at WUC. I practice daily meditations and it has been so rewarding — especially in our current state of uncertainty. What other tools / best practices are you doing to keep a level of normalcy in your life ?
I had struggled with meditation for years, trying every meditation app & process that crossed my path. Now my understanding about meditation is completely different. I no longer fight against the drifting mind or try to keep the thoughts from happening. I’m actually finding that when I relax and let the meditation and do its thing, the stress of the day subsides and I sometimes even have great ideas!
Today I am celebrating my Mom’s 78th Birthday. When Pastor Barton spoke about sitting on the lap of God in his vision. It made me think of my Mom. She also had a vision, in which she was sitting on the lap of God. It to was a life changing moment for her. I find it a blessing that you would share your story on this day. Thank you.
5.24.20 sermon – Conscious of the Spirit: what a significant learning for me today—recognizing that I reached full consciousness, a connection to myself. Clarity in my life & continue experiential living thru God, WUC & our amazing congregation. Thank you Barton
I loved how Barton called out the fact that we have to recognize our connection to spirit AND do the work. Doing “the work” is not always easy, but I’m finding that for myself the payoff is definitely worth the work!
When a mother knows something is wrong with her child, miles away, science calls that psychic phenomena. This sermon suggests that such psychic phenomena is the Holy Spirit working through us. I heard this and felt like it’s something which should’ve dawned on me years ago. It was one of those “well duh” moments.