Sanctify Them

Jesus prayed, “I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:9-19

Sanctify Them

We stand up or kneel down
waiting, praying and hoping
to be saved from the evil one
to be rescued from our baser selves.

The beloved One heart of God
has entered into the violent breach
has offered himself for us all
as we continue to assault others.

We separate our children by race and class
we deny them understanding of real love
we preach a gospel of abundance
turning away from the need on the street.

Like the Incarnate present One
we have gone deep into the water
submerged in the variegated light
filtered through stream of baptism.

As a child of the living God
despite our cruelty and brokenness
we are sanctified for sharing love
renewed for service in the world.