Seventh Sunday of Easter May 12, 2024
Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 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 sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:6-19
The words of Jesus and his prayer for his disciples, reminds us that things are constantly changing, people move, they pass away, and what we counted on once is no longer available. Transitions are hard and we are always in some sort of transition. We are invited by Jesus, when we are afraid, when things are changing, when the world seems way off center, Jesus calls us to pray. Pray for others, pray for the world and pray for ourselves. We always need protection, peace and sanctification to get through our rough days, and our God is always ready to pour great measures of love, protection, peace and sanctification upon us all.
Loving Creator, source of strength and resilience
your world is a thing of great beauty and challenge
this verdant orb turns with every season and every day
and we ache from the constant changes that surround us.
Precious Savior, pray for us and teach us to always pray for one another.
War and divisions have torn families and nations apart
the young valiantly raise the voices in protest
too often they are rewarded with violence and arrest
and we are all bowed down from the unsolvable problems.
Precious Savior, pray for us and teach us to always pray for one another.
Yet you are the Creator who is with us from the start
you hold us in the palm of you hand, nestle us in your arms
you light up the sky with wonders, and bless us with plenty
even when we are afraid of tomorrow and fear the worst.
Precious Savior, pray for us and teach us to always pray for one another.
Help us Lord to remember to pray in every moment
laying our troubles and heartache at your feet.
Precious Savior, pray for us and teach us to always pray for one another.
You offered yourself on the cross so we might live
help us live as people of hope and resurrection.
Precious Savior, pray for us and teach us to always pray for one another.
For you prayed for your disciples in turning times
and you hold us and love us in every season.
Precious Savior, pray for us and teach us to always pray for one another. Amen.
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