Friday, 6 May 2016
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John 17:20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will trust in me because of their word, 21 that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are united with me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 The glory which you have given to me, I have given to them; so that they may be one, just as we are one — 23 I united with them and you with me, so that they may be completely one, and the world thus realize that you sent me, and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.
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24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am; so that they may see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these people have known that you sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will continue to make it known; so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I myself may be united with them.”[Complete Jewish Bible]
Loren Eiseley, the great naturalist writer, tells in his memoir, "All The Strange Hours," how when he was a graduate student in 1936 in Philadelphia he and his best friend, a Japanese-American citizen, decided to visit our national monuments in Washington D.C. along with a carload of other international residents. Minor car trouble caused them to seek overnight lodging, but they were rudely refused hospitality at the YMCA and private rooming houses when the receptionists looked over Eiseley's shoulder and saw his companions. So they drove through the night ending up back at their favorite Chinese restaurant. At that point Eiseley said to his friends, "If one man can apologize for his nation, I apologize." We now know the violence and hatred that was soon to burst upon our world after 1936.
When Jesus prays for us to his Father that we may all be one, as he and his father are one, we are saddened by the violence and racial hatred that still threatens to consume our nation and world in 2016. Can we as Christians make a difference in our communities by building conversational bridges with those who are different in race and religion and gender?
"May the oneness and unity that is gifted to us as the body of Christ, across all ethnic and political divides, become more real to us than our lingering tribal identities." In the prayer of Jim Wallis, let our Christian faith be more real than our ethnic identity. Amen.
Glen Wheeler
Retired
Master of Divinity , 1966
John 17:20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,
21 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.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,
23 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.
24 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.
25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.
26 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."[New Revised Standard Version}---------------------
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