Completely One

Jesus prayed, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:20-26 

It is hard to be one with our closest and dearest friends, let alone with our partners and families, who we love dearly. Jesus' prayer for his disciples is that we be one as he and the Creator are one. We humans, embrace and celebrate one minute, and pull away and have tug-of-war battles with each other in the next. Yet this is the most loving and tender prayer, an aching desire poetically put in the form of a prayer. It is the prayer of a troubled parent, a chaplain during war, a mother's desire for her dearly loved children, and a priest looking at the congregation. We cannot make ourselves one. We need God's love and the will to reach out over gaps and differences to be one.

Gracious Creator, parent of us all

you look upon us and sorrow

as we weaponize our tender world

and demonize our friends and neighbors.

You desire that we become one each day

that we begin with love for our neighbor

that we always have love for ourselves

and we love you who authors all love.

Help us in our weakness to love

help us in our strength to be humble

help us in our fearful times to pray

so that we might, for the love of Jesus, be one. Amen.