7 Easter/Year C
June 2, 2019
Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17: 20-26
A Prayer of Invocation (based on John 17)
~ from One in Love and Mission, written by Rev. Susan A. Blain (adapted).
Mysterious God, You reveal yourself in Jesus, your Beloved Child who gives us a glimpse of your glory and invites us to share in the unity of all that is Holy: the holiness that is You, your creation, your people, united in the Spirit that breaks through all boundaries of fear and injustice.
Meet us here today, O God, and teach us to be one:One in love for each other, One in understanding with all who find in Jesus the Way to You, One in peace with all who find other paths to your Truth. We ask all this in the name of Jesus, whose fervent prayer was ever: “May they all be one.” Amen.
When you hear that prayer, Jesus’ fervent prayer, “may they all be one”…what does that bring up for you?
What words of hope and promise do you hear in these simple words of prayer?
How does this prayer challenge you in envisioning this oneness that Jesus is praying for? Especially, when you look at all the daily news that keeps focusing on how much we are all so divided and disconnected from one another…
Is it possible for you to hear these words of prayer, afresh and anew…as a song and a prayer that has the power to unite us in love for one another?
Is it possible for you to imagine a world, in which there would be no more hunger, no more divisions, no more hatred, no more, “us vs them”?
Is it possible for you to imagine…and hope in Jesus’ fervent prayer: “May they all be one”?
I believe with all of my heart and soul and mind…that prayer has the power to open a way for us, to become this one, diverse family, united by the love of God, revealed to us, in Jesus Christ, and in his fervent prayers for us….
I believe with all of my heart and soul and mind…that prayer has the power to set people free…from the things of this world that makes us fearful, and afraid….the things of this world that hold us hostage to anger, and violence as a way of life…
I believe with all of my heart and soul and mind…that when we believe and hold fast to the hope and prayer of oneness in Jesus’ fervent prayer…that nothing…can separate us from the love of God….nothing can keep us from singing the songs and praises of God…whose love has the power to unite us, all…and open up a way of freedom…that sets us all free to love one another, as Christ has loved us…
This past week, those gathered for the Book group, finished up the last 2 chapters of The Way of Love: Pray…
Chapter 5 focused on the question: How can I pray when I’m angry? It was noted that for some people, anger and hurt and grief can draw some closer to God, and the desire to pray fervently for God’s help and comfort…
For others…the anger and hurt and grief drives them away from God and other people who care for them…These are the times, when the fervent prayers and faith of others, has the power to carry them, and hold them close, in the abiding presence of God…when they may doubt that God is there…or that others really care…
Chapter 6 was entitled “Becoming Prayer”. The chapter spoke about prayer and imagination. In the first pages of this chapter, the author reflected on an excerpt from “Through the Looking Glass”.
Here is that excerpt: The Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass said that she had learned to imagine six impossible things before breakfast every day and wanted Alice to try it.
We might want to argue that, because nothing is impossible, her statement was a contradiction of itself. Imagination is a door to adventure, and never limited by numbers. Even if you were chained to a wall in a dungeon, you could, in imagination, run through a field of dandelions. Or juggle flaming swords. Or talk to God face to face. Or any number of amazing events; why stop at six? A few things may have been enough for the Red Queen, but the person who longs for God and is learning to “do” prayer uses imagination in every second of prayer, done or spoken.
Christian hope is one of the most important virtues your imagination can capture.
And once we capture it, this hope, in our prayers, what will we do with it?
Do we dare to imagine and believe in the fervent prayer of Jesus, that we all may be one?
Do we dare, to become this prayer, and go out into the world to proclaim this good news…through our words and actions?
· By praying for and supporting the grieving widow
· By praying for and supporting the lonely
· By praying for the survivors of abuse, and working to support a way forward, encouraging healing, healthy and respectful relationships among all people…
· By praying for those struggling with addictions, and supporting them in their work of recovery
· By praying for an end of the way of violence as a solution to our divisions and struggles to understand one another…and to pray for justice and a way of peace that builds bridges of understanding and a way forward together…
Do we dare to be as bold and hopeful with our prayers as Paul and Silas were in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles’ today…when they continued to pray and sing hymns, in the midst of their being beaten and thrown into prison….
Do we dare to become that fervent prayer of Jesus, for all the world to see, sharing it freely and abundantly, in hopes of spreading the good news that all may be one…that all may be set free to love God and one another…
Jesus prayed on our behalf, and on behalf of all those who may not yet have captured the Holy imagination, the promise of hope in a different way of being in the world together… and for those who have yet dared to hope in a world where all may be one, diverse family…united by the love of God….
We pray every week…thy kingdom come, thy will be done…on earth as it is in heaven…
Come, Lord Jesus…Come…
This is our fervent prayer, too…
Jesus promised, before he left this earthly place, that we would not be left without a prayer, without help, without a comforter, without an advocate…we were promised…that the Holy Spirit would be sent to us…to keep that fervent prayer and song alive in our hearts and imaginations…for us…and to be shared with all the world…
That’s a good reminder for us…that we were never meant to navigate this world alone…We were created out of God’s love for the world and his people, to love one another, and all of creation…it has always been about being one family, uniting us together as one…one family under the banner of God’s love…
IN the hope and promises fulfilled in the hearing of this good news today – Let us continue to pray and sing our hymns to God….Let us use our Holy imagination and faith, in daring to believe and hope in Jesus’ fervent prayer: “May they all be one.”
Let us pray: My Life Flows on in Endless Song
My life flows on in endless song; above earth’s lamentation, I catch the sweet, though far off hymn that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to the Rock I’m clinging. Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear the music ringing. It finds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to the Rock I’m clinging. Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
What through my joys and comforts die? The Lord my Savior liveth. What through the darkness gather round? Songs in the night he giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to the Rock I’m clinging. Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing! All things are mine since I am his! How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to the Rock I’m clinging. Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
Rev Julie Platson, Rector
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska