I’m (Jesus) praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me.
These words of Jesus last recorded prayer end with a challenge which
gets to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. It isn’t sameness.
It isn’t agreeing on every thing. It is to love as we have been loved.
What ever else this means, it does mean we cannot give up on love as we seek to make a difference in a world so full of hate.
Bertrand Russell, a very vocal opponent of Christianity said it well:
“There are certain things that our age needs...The root of the matter is a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words. The thing I mean - please forgive me for mentioning it - is love, Christian love, or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide in action, a reason for courage, and imperative necessity for intellectual honesty.”
"Someday, after we have mastered the winds,
the waves, the tides, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love:
and then for the second time in the history
of the world man will have discovered fire!"
Teilhard de Chardin
Prayer thought for the week: "Lord, help me to not give up on love this week...and the next...and the next. You never did!"
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