Scripture John 17:6-19
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
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.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by 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.
Message Guided in Prayer
On this Mother’s Day morning, I am very aware of the effects of mothering. I suspect that I am going to be perpetually tired, especially since Aida is not sleeping through the night. I remember my mother telling me that once you become a mom, you never sleep deeply in the same way again. Now I know the accuracy of her statement.
In addition to waking up with Aida, I just wake up a lot in the night anyway. A few evenings ago, I woke up because I had a stressful dream, an “anxiety dream.” In my dream, I was supposed to lead a Bible study, at a church that was not Trinity, on a Sunday morning in the 45 minutes between our Wired Word Class and Trinity’s worship service. I had to rush to the other church and then rush back here. And, in my dream, as I was rushing, I remembered that I had not prepared anything to say at the Bible Study.
I was panicking in my dream about not being prepared. Then I remembered that I could teach a lesson on prayer that I had used with elementary school aged children. In my dream, I then worried if it would be inappropriate to lead adults in prayer exercise that children could understand.
I woke up from the dream at about 3 am, and then had a good hour or so to contemplate it before I fell back asleep…. When it comes to teaching people prayer techniques, is it inappropriate to instruct adults and children to use the same strategies? I do not think so, because God hears every prayer we say not matter how eloquent or how basic it is.
Today’s reading is another portion of the lengthy sermon and teaching Jesus said to his disciples just before his crucifixion. We read a different portion of it in worship last Sunday. In today’s portion, Jesus prays…Jesus prays for himself. Jesus prays for the Disciples. Jesus prays for the church. And, then Jesus prays for all people.
Although this pray of Jesus is not typically used as a model to base our prayers on, maybe it should be. Jesus was preparing for his crucifixion. He knew he was about to undergo a stressful arrest and trial. He knew he would die a terrible death. I think it is fair that Jesus prayed for himself. He prayed for strength and endurance. He prayed that he would be brave. He prayed that he could endure the pain.
Many of us have also prayed similar prayers for ourselves. When we hear a frightening diagnosis or hear of the death of a loved one, we need to pray prayers for ourselves too. Asking God to be with us amid our time of trial is reassuring. We also need to feel free to ask God for strength and endurance. We also need to ask God to help us be brave and endure the pain. We need to be assured that God will walk with us during our time of fear and suffering.
Jesus prayed for his Disciples. He wanted them to be comforted and strengthened by God’s Holy Spirit so they would be ok as Jesus underwent his own time of trial. And we do this too…. We pray for the people we are closest to in our lives…. We pray for our partners. We pray for our parents. We pray for our children. We pray for the people we love the most. I suspect our tendency is to pray more for the people we love than we pray for ourselves. We want them to be safe, comfortable, and reassured. Oftentimes, we are willing to suffer so that the people we love will not have to suffer.
Jesus prayed for the church. We must pray for the people who make up the church. Here at Trinity, we are a small congregation. We know when the Christ’s are on vacation and when Andy has a cold. We notice when people are away. As members of this little body of Christ, we are called to pray on behalf of each other. We are called upon to bear each other’s burdens and share each other’s loads. When a member of our congregation suffers, we suffer alongside them. When a member of this congregation rejoices, we rejoice alongside them. We must pray for the people of this church, and for the people of the universal church, our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Jesus prayed for all of humanity. We are called to be like Jesus, to pray for people who are suffering and hurting throughout the world. We must pray for people who are hungry and thirsty and do not have access to nutritious food or clean drinking water. We must pray for people who have inadequate housing, the homeless people living in tents, in church fellowship halls, and their cars. We must pray for people who live in unsafe places—people who live in the war-torn cities of Ukraine and Palestine, people who live in countries led by dictators, people who live in neighborhoods with gang violence and turf wars. We must pray for refugees and undocumented immigrants and pray for the end of what caused them to become refugees or risk immigrating to a place they are not invited to live. We must pray for the victims of abuse, for the victims of natural disasters, and for the victims of human-made disasters. We must pray for people who are lonely and those who are depressed and those who are addicted. We must pray for the victims of bullies and for the people who become bullies. We must pray for those who are unjustly imprisoned and that people who are justly imprisoned will be reformed. We must pray for all of humanity.
Jesus’ is a role-model for us in how he showed compassion for the people he loved and for how he showed compassion for himself. When he prayed his prayer that we reflect on this morning, he wanted everyone to feel God’s love and support as they lived through trials and tribulations. Jesus prayed for us. Let us pray for each other and for the people of our world who need support.
Amen.