Slices
Prepare
Bring to mind people from different churches, perhaps around the world, that you have visited or where you have friends. How do they reflect God’s glory where they are?
Bible passage
Jesus prays for all believers
20 ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – 23 I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 ‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’
Explore
We end our reading of this pastoral yet deeply theological text where we began: with glory. There seems to be a mysterious relationship between unity and glory: we are given Jesus’ glory to bring about unity, so that the world will know him (vs 22,23).
Jesus has given us his glory (v 22), and yet he prays for us to see it (v 24). If this part of Jesus’ prayer is summarised as a prayer for all believers (v 20), how then do we apply Jesus’ words directly to us? How do these words remain relevant when I’m having a coffee in a sunlit park, or watching the rugby, or washing up? How do I participate in glory when I am rocked by a wave of grief, or fall asleep exhausted, or go to a party, or do something I regret…?
We have been looking backwards, seeing how Jesus prepared the disciples for his death. Now, as witnesses ourselves, we look ahead. We are brought into the story and into his love (v 26). There is even more waiting for us when we see Jesus as he is, in all the fullness of glory and love and life that has been there from the beginning.
Respond
In what different ways do you pray? You could write your own prayer based on one of the themes we have seen in John’s Gospel.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 4,5; James 1
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray that the Support Worker for the south east region, Tsvetelina Smale, will have the knowledge and wisdom she needs to support the team to the best of her ability, as they prepare for end-of year projects and activities and that God will be glorified in all they do.
