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Good morning, everyone. I am Cherubha Prabhakar, and I have been attending Christ Church for almost seven years.
Today's reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 17, as printed in your bulletin.
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They were yours. You gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.
Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
For I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them.
They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
All I have is yours, and all you have is mine, and glory has come to me through them.
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.
None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so that scripture would be fulfilled.
I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world,
so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them,
for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Sanctify them by the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.
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.
I have given them the glory that you have given me, that they may be one as we are one.
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.
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.
Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me.
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.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Good morning, Christ Church.
My name is Andrew, one of the pastors here.
Will you pray with me as we go to God's word?
Lord, we come before you this Palm Sunday remembering our King,
our King who prayed to you for his disciples and even for us.
Would you strike us with what an amazing thing that is that the King of Palm Sunday got on his knees and he prayed for us.
Impress upon us just how gracious of a God you are, how loving of a God you are, how generous of a God you are.
As we look at your word this morning, we pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
You know, as a pastor, I get asked to pray for people probably more than average, right?
It comes with the territory, right?
That couple struggling with infertility.
Could you put in a word with the big guy upstairs, the husband says to me.
Or others, maybe some of us have asked me, you know, pray find a spouse.
Pray I pass my exams.
Pray I win my basketball championship.
It's one of the more recent ones.
And hey, I'm down.
Of course, I don't want us to be treating God like a magic genie.
But if it's not, you know, absolutely contradictory to what the scriptures teach about God's will for us, I'm down.
I'll ask for that.
And not to brag, but Eli Gilbert's middle school basketball team, they did win their city championship a couple weeks ago.
So, Eli, wherever you are, you're welcome, all right?
But, you know, these kinds of prayers, prayers asking for more than our daily bread, prayers for things we really, really want.
A child, a spouse, the fulfillment of our career or academic or our hoop dreams, things God doesn't necessarily promise us.
You know, with these kinds of prayers, I know that I'm at best, I'm shooting 50-50, right?
At best.
And I wonder if many of us feel that way about prayer in general.
Like, prayer is only mildly effective.
Not a guaranteed way to get what we want.
For many of us, even when it's nice to hear people tell us that they're praying for us, you know, it's nice to know that they're thinking of us.
It's nice to know that they're wishing us well.
How many of us actually get our hopes up?
How many of us become filled with expectation that these prayers for us might actually be answered?
You know, even when a pastor as righteous as Jonathan St. Clair prays for us, it's like, well, better than nothing, right?
But we'll see.
We'll see what happens, right?
Well, today on Palm Sunday, we're in John chapter 17, looking at a prayer that Jesus prays.
It's five days after his entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey, after all the palm branches, after all the celebration around his arrival as the Messiah King.
Here in John 17, we have Jesus' final prayer with and for his disciples.
And maybe you're like, okay, Jesus prays, right?
And water is wet and gardeners garden, standard stuff, right?
But what if I told you that what we have here in John chapter 17 is a model for the kind of prayer that God always says yes to?
And what if I told you that in this prayer that Jesus offered in his final free moments of life,
what if I told you that this final prayer that came not just from his lips, but from his very heart,
what if I told you that Jesus prayed not just for his disciples then,
but for all who'd ever follow him, even those not yet born, even those not yet following him, possibly even for you?
If I told you that King Jesus prayed from his heart in the last moments of his life a prayer that his father would surely say yes to
and that he very possibly had you in particular in mind, wouldn't you want to know about this kind of prayer?
Well, that's what we have here in John chapter 17, sometimes called Jesus' farewell prayer.
It's the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the scriptures, more commonly known as his high priestly prayer.
Here in John chapter 17, we have the good news that if you are a follower of Jesus,
or if you will someday become a follower of Jesus,
you can know, you will know that King Jesus prayed for you.
He's more than a prophet king who merely speaks to you on God's behalf.
He's a priestly king who speaks to God on our behalf.
And by the way, the God he prays to also happens to be his adoring father,
his father who always loves to say yes and amen to all his son's prayers.
And this is the good news of John chapter 17 today,
that the exalted King of the universe is also our great high priest who pleads on his knees
for our good before his loving and listening father in heaven.
Now, to put that more succinctly, this is the main point today,
is that King Jesus prays to his father for our good.
King Jesus prays to his father for our good.
So let's dissect that.
Let's talk about how King Jesus prays.
Now, again, it's five days from Palm Sunday,
and everyone's expecting this Messiah king to get to work,
to establish the kingdom,
because everyone knows what kings are supposed to do.
They're supposed to get stuff done.
Meanwhile, Jesus knows that his time is running short, right?
He's about to be arrested and crucified.
The hour has come, he says in verse 1.
And yet, this Messiah king who is rightly expected to establish the kingdom
and to save the world,
what does he do with only a few hours left to live?
Verse 1.
He looked toward heaven and prayed,
Father.
See, as we remember the kingly reception of Jesus on this Palm Sunday,
John 17 also reminds us that we have a king,
we have a king in Jesus,
a king who's on his knees,
that we have in Jesus a praying king
whose gaze was set upward toward his father in heaven.
And I want us to linger,
I want us to linger on this today,
this notion of a king who prays,
this notion of the one true king of kings
who's responsible for saving the world
and yet spending his final breaths in prayer.
Think about that for a second.
Think about it.
Like, this is an imperfect illustration,
but what if nuclear missiles were headed toward this nation
and our only hope was that the commander-in-chief
would devise and execute a plan to save us?
Now, how would you feel with nukes dropping in just a few hours
if your commander-in-chief's only move was to pray?
Not figure out how our, you know, missile defense systems
might protect us, mitigate the damage,
not figure out how to evacuate or shelter the population.
What if you saw that all that they did was just pray?
You probably feel frustrated, right?
Disappointed?
Maybe hopeless?
Like, that's it?
Prayer?
Is that all you have to offer me?
What kind of leader are you?
But a question I want to challenge us with this morning,
the question I want us to consider is,
what if it's actually better?
What if it's actually better than anything else
that Jesus, the King of Kings,
spent his last moments in prayer?
Let's think about this.
Why did the King of Kings pray?
And how might that actually be better news than we think?
What does it indicate about our King?
What does it indicate about prayer
that instead of doing anything else
in his final moments of life,
he looked toward heaven and prayed to his Father?
You know, I think the reason so many of us
are underwhelmed by people's prayers for us
is because we think of prayer often
as just some kind of resignation to fate or chance
or some kind of last-ditch effort, right?
Just a last-ditch effort to get what we want.
Like, think of the nuclear illustration.
If our Commander-in-Chief only prayed
as nuclear missiles came toward us,
most of us would assume that he or she
had just given up, right?
And honestly, this is how many of us see
and how many of us use prayer.
We only pray or ask people to pray for us
when our lives and our circumstances
very apparently have gotten outside of our control.
And it's just a last-ditch effort
to try to get things back under our control.
But you see, this is not at all
what Jesus is doing here with this prayer.
He's not throwing up a Hail Mary to heaven
because this is his last resort.
No, even for King Jesus, prayer is option one.
It's the first play in his playbook
when it says in verse one
that he looked toward heaven and prayed.
This wasn't the first time
or it wasn't even the most desperate time
in his life that he did this.
Now, King Jesus, precisely as the king,
he was always looking up toward heaven to his Father.
He was always in a posture of prayer.
Prayer was his lifestyle.
Here in John 17, he is doing
what he had always been doing,
praying the same prayer.
What was he praying?
Our Father in heaven.
He lived his whole life
in perfect and continual communion with God.
For Jesus, prayer wasn't a last resort
or a wishful means to an end.
It was a way of being in the world.
Even an act of defiance toward a world
that tells all of us
that we need to constantly be on our toes
and sweat and toil to hopefully gain salvation.
Jesus wasn't exhibiting his resignation,
but faith.
Faith that God would indeed use him even unto death
to still save the world.
He was getting things done
the way he'd always gotten things done,
with confident dependence upon his Father.
Unhurried and unworried,
with eyes fixed as ever on his loving Father in heaven,
Jesus chose to be still
and to know that God was God.
Jesus chose to be a king on his knees
and by faith trusted that what was actually
the very way that the world would be saved
would be through prayer.
Would be through prayer.
And so an application question for us this morning is,
if the King of Kings spent his final moments
not trying to eke out one last task, right?
One last sermon, one last miracle,
but spent it on his knees,
looking up to his Father in heaven in prayer,
how much more reason do we have
to devote ourselves to prayer?
And honestly, this is a convicting word for me.
You know, Jonathan's sabbatical coming in just two weeks,
the gravity of pastoring here
for the following four months.
It's really starting to hit me, right?
And I've found myself trying to work ahead,
examine possible inefficiencies
and how I use my time,
try to figure out how much sleep do I actually need,
strategize about what relationships
and responsibilities and ministries
I can give less time to,
identify, you know, who I can delegate this or that
to, ultimately try to figure out
how to maximize myself
in order to accomplish more.
And there is a place for diligence,
but the way of Jesus here in John chapter 17
has really convicted me over the past couple weeks
about how little thought and time and passion
I've resolved to commit to just praying.
Like what if what Christ's church needed
was a praying pastor?
What if God actually desires, right?
What if God actually desires to accomplish more?
What if God is actually more extravagantly glorified?
By people on their knees
than people on their toes.
What if, right?
I mean, can you imagine if,
what if we as the church, right?
If we as followers of Jesus were known,
not just for whatever good things
we've accomplished in this city,
but what if we were known as the people
whose prayers God answered?
Far beyond our imagination.
What if we gave our final,
most crucial crunch time moments
and our most mundane,
everyday moments,
to prayer?
To being,
just being with our Father.
Not to just looking out
at all the stuff that we want to accomplish,
but to looking up,
like our Savior,
to our Father,
apart from whom we can do nothing.
What if, right?
Now, maybe you're here today
and you're not even sure you believe in God,
let alone prayer.
And maybe you don't even understand
what it means to look up
to a Father in Heaven in prayer.
Well, could I suggest to you
that prayer might not be as foreign
or as strange as you might think.
Maybe you don't roll out your prayer mat
every morning,
fold your hands,
close your eyes,
say these and thous
and light candles,
but all of us,
all of us,
we develop dependent relationships
with the things we believe
will save us.
And this is what prayer is.
You might not go up to your boss at work
and say,
oh Lord,
please save me from financial insecurity.
But maybe you are looking up
with a prayer-like dependence
on your career and your income,
hoping they will save you
from financial ruin.
You might not say to your significant other
or your spouse,
Lord, please save me from loneliness.
But maybe you are looking up at them
with a prayer-like dependence
on your romantic partners,
hoping they will save you
from loneliness.
And see,
what I'm getting at is,
Christian or not,
religious or not,
we're all looking up
to something that we believe
to be heavenly.
And I'm just asking,
what is that for you?
What is that for us?
And can we trust it to deliver?
Can we trust it to answer our prayers
and to actually save us?
For King Jesus,
even he looked up.
But you know who he looked up to?
His Father in heaven.
So now let's talk about
how King Jesus prays
to his Father.
Now it might seem superfluous,
you know,
unnecessary to mention
that Jesus prays to his Father
because to some of us it's like,
well, who else would he pray to?
But it's super important
we don't gloss over this
and take it for granted
and miss the implications
of this Son of God
praying to his God and Father.
We cannot miss this
because remember,
John's Gospel has gone to great lengths
to try to persuade us
that Jesus is indeed God,
the Word who was with God,
who was God,
who was in the beginning,
and by whom all things
were made, right?
And so when Jesus prays
to his Father,
if we're paying attention,
this can be quite confusing,
right?
Like how does this work?
If there is only one God
as Jesus himself
surely would have believed
as an Orthodox Jewish rabbi,
how can it be that he is God
and also prays to his God
and Father?
Well, see,
what Jesus is implicitly
acknowledging here
is the explicitly Christian confession
of the Trinity.
Jesus' prayer opens up for us
a window into the essence
of who God is.
His prayer acknowledges
the ultimate foundational reality
of the triune God
who eternally exists
as one God
and somehow also
as three persons,
Father, Son, and Spirit.
Now we could talk about
the Trinity forever,
but the one thing
I want to show us today,
I hope to show you today
from Jesus' prayer
to his Father.
The one thing that shines
especially brightly here
in this prayer
is the glorious beauty
of the triune God.
And I hope you'll bear with me
because we're about to get
a little bit theological,
but please give me a second,
all right?
Because we have to understand
that the God of the Bible,
the God of Abraham
and of Israel,
the God revealed to us
in Jesus Christ,
he is not some generic,
monotheistic God.
He isn't just some
transcendent, unknowable,
first cause and creator.
He isn't just some
impersonal force
or energy in this world,
nor is he the monotheistic
Allah of the Quran
who our Muslim neighbors
worship.
No, he is the triune God
revealed to us
in the pages of Scripture.
So we're going to spend
some time on this
because the Trinity
is not only absolutely
foundational
to the Christian faith,
but it's mind-blowingly
profound.
And it's the basis
of all that is real
and beautiful
and harmonious.
And this is really
beautifully highlighted
here in John chapter 17.
All right, so look
at Jesus' very first ask,
his very first petition
of his Father
in this prayer.
In verse 1, he says,
glorify the Son.
Does that strike anyone
here as odd?
I mean, how many of you
who pray,
how many of you
begin your prayers
by saying,
our Father in heaven,
hallowed be my name.
Right?
Glorify me.
Make much of me.
Exalt me.
Bring me all the glory
and all the honor
and all the praise.
Bring it all to me.
Anyone here pray like this?
Jonathan, do you pray like this?
Maybe sometimes, right?
What the heck is Jesus
praying here?
Wasn't he the one
who taught us to pray,
our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
thy name?
How could Jesus
be so self-centered,
so occupied
with his own glory?
Isn't this counter to
everything that we
know about Jesus,
the selfless Savior
who gave himself
to save the world, right?
How in the world
could he begin his prayer
with,
Father, glorify your Son?
Shouldn't it be,
Father, glorify yourself?
Well, actually,
that's exactly
what he is doing here
if you understand
the Trinity.
In verse 1,
he says,
Father, glorify your Son.
What?
That,
that your Son
may glorify you.
See, his chief aim
is still to glorify
his Father.
It's still the glory
of his Father,
but look at how it works.
It's a Trinitarian glorification.
And don't miss this
because it's so important.
What Jesus is revealing
to us
is that the glory
of the Father
is tied
and wrapped up
and bound
reciprocally
to the glory
of the Son.
And you see,
this is the essence.
This is the beauty
and the harmony
of the Trinity.
Look at what Jesus says
in verse 5.
And now, Father,
glorify me
in your presence
with the glory
I had with you
before the world began.
Do you realize
what Jesus is revealing
to us about God
right here?
He's saying that
at the center
of who God
has always been
is a Father
and a Son
and a Spirit.
Yes,
receiving glory
from one another
as God rightfully
should receive glory,
but how?
Well,
because at the center
of who God is
is a Father
and a Son
and a Spirit
not just receiving glory
from one another,
but a Father,
a Son,
and a Spirit
giving glory
to one another.
Now,
try to process that
for a second.
That at the center
of who God is
is a divine
receiving of glory
because at the center
of who God is
is a selfless
giving of glory
to one another.
And see,
this is the beauty
of our triune God.
It's absolutely profound
if you let it marinate.
Just let it marinate.
Now,
to help us appreciate
just how profound
this is,
maybe it's helpful
to consider
the impossible alternatives.
Like,
what if God
were one
but not triune?
I want us to think about that.
What if God were one
but not triune?
If God were a static,
monadic being,
solitary in and of himself
without three persons,
right?
Like,
sure,
he might be all-powerful,
but he wouldn't be
essentially relational.
He wouldn't be
essentially harmonious.
He wouldn't be
essentially loving
or active.
Think about it.
Who would glorify
and exalt him?
He would either be
glorifying himself
like a self-centered
megalomaniac
or
he would need
and depend
on his creatures,
his creation
to glorify him.
But think about
these two
impossible options.
If he were
a unitarian God
who was glorified
only through
self-glorification,
he and all those
made in his image
would by their very nature
be self-centered beings,
seeking their own glory
above all else,
which is also known
as the very thing
that's wrong
with this world,
right?
But with option two,
if he didn't glorify himself,
but was dependent upon,
in need of creation
to glorify him,
then he wouldn't be
worthy
of glory
in and of himself.
For how could we
meaningfully call
a creator who needed
its creation
a self-sufficient God
worthy
of all glory?
But see,
the beauty of the Trinity
is that God
is inherently relational
without being needy
and inherently glorious
without being
egotistical.
He didn't need
to be
self-centered
and glorify himself
or to create a world
that would glorify him
because the Father
and the Son
and the Spirit
have joyfully known
and actively loved
one another
to the fullest
from all eternity.
And man,
if this doesn't delight you,
if this doesn't at least
intrigue you,
I'm sorry,
I've just failed.
And I wish I was a better,
clearer,
more compelling preacher
and maybe this was
just too abstract
or in the words of my wife
when I was trying
to run this by her,
I said,
is this too much,
Chelsea?
She said,
it's pretty deep,
don't spend too much
time on it.
So I'm sorry,
Chelsea,
and anyone else
who thinks the same,
but I just had to,
I just had to say all this.
I just had to
because I so want us
to understand
this profound truth
about the triune God
because you know why?
And this is the bottom line,
all right?
This is the bottom line.
Love.
True love.
Selfless,
self-giving,
affection and care.
The kind of love
that weaves itself
into a rich
and beautiful harmony
where unity
isn't at the expense
of diversity
and diversity
isn't at the expense
of unity.
This kind of love
is eternal.
This kind of love
is essential
only if
there is a triune God
at the heart of it.
Only if there's a triune God
at the heart of it.
The dynamic
and harmonious unity
that all of our hearts
yearn for,
the sacred union
and communion
that we all long to have
with something bigger,
greater than ourselves,
with God,
with each other,
with the whole creation.
All of this
only makes sense
if there is
a triune God.
A creator
who is himself
the archetypal unity
and diversity,
the archetypal union
and communion,
the world
as we all know
it ought to be
only makes sense
if there is
a triune God.
Because behind
and underneath
all that is living
and loving,
good and glorious,
happy and harmonious,
is a father
glorifying a son,
glorifying a spirit,
glorifying a father
from before
the world began.
This is the triune God
of the scriptures,
the most fundamental reality.
And isn't that beautiful?
Isn't that profound?
Isn't that amazing stuff?
That the highest glory
of God himself
is at the same time
a dynamic of self-giving,
love, joy,
and delight
and admiration
expressed within
the union and communion
of father,
son,
and spirit.
And that this is
the kind of God
who made the world.
That this is the kind
of God
who made you
and me.
And don't you want
to believe
in this kind of a God?
And don't you want
to believe
in a world
made by this kind
of a God?
And I mean,
as much as this
may seem abstract,
right,
and mysterious
and so paradoxical
and mind-boggling
and just hard to believe
that God is one
and three
at the same time,
can I just ask,
if it were not true,
who could make
this stuff up?
Who could be
so profound?
Or on the flip side,
if this were not true,
who would make
this stuff up?
Who would be crazy
enough to actually
think they could
fool people
into believing this?
This is the glorious
reality that's in view
here in Jesus' prayer
in John chapter 17
as he prays
to his Father.
And I know
we're only in verse 1.
But let me close here
by talking about,
let me talk about
why this all matters,
all right?
That King Jesus
prays to his Father
for our good.
Now you may be wondering
if the glorious,
self-sufficient,
triune God
didn't need the world,
why did he create it
at all?
If he didn't need
more glory,
what was his intent?
Well, the Bible
doesn't give us
a very explicit answer
to this question,
but here in Jesus' prayer,
we get a broad hint.
So let's read closely again
from verse 1 again.
Jesus prays,
Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son
that your Son
may glorify you.
For you granted him
authority over all people
that he might give
eternal life
to all those
you have given him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they know you,
the only true God
and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.
I have brought you glory
on earth
by finishing the work
you gave me to do.
Do you realize
what Jesus
is indicating here?
He is indicating
that for some reason,
though our Father
in heaven
was content
from all eternity
with the triune
hallowing
of his own name,
he still willed
to glorify the Son
on earth
as in heaven.
Even though he had it all,
he willed
to glorify his Son
on earth
as it is in heaven
out of love for us.
He chose to do so
by sharing eternal life,
his communion,
his joy,
his love
with his creatures,
his chosen people,
even us.
Like, look at us.
Do we look worthy
of this kind of communion?
I don't.
Do you realize
what this means?
Do you realize
what this means?
Look at verse 13.
King Jesus prays
that we might know
the very joy
of the triune God.
Verse 20.
King Jesus prays
that we,
his creatures,
creatures who've all
walked in darkness,
that we might be in him,
united as one
with the triune God.
Verse 24.
King Jesus even asked
that we not only
be with him,
but get this,
that we would see
his glory.
The eternal,
triune glory
that he had
and enjoyed
from before
the creation of the world.
The glory that Moses
and all of Israel
could not even bear
to see and still live.
This is mind-blowing stuff
and perhaps most
mind-blowing of all.
Look at verse 23.
Jesus prays,
I in them
and you in me,
then the world
will know
that you sent me
and have loved them
even as you
have loved me.
Yo!
Do you have any idea
how much the Father
loves the Son?
Do you have any idea
how much the Father
loves the Son?
It's more
than we could possibly
imagine
and guess what?
He wants us
to know that love
as well.
He wants you
to know
that love
as well.
This prayer
in John 17
is the good news
that King Jesus
prays
to his Father
for our good
and not just
for some superficial good.
He doesn't pray
we can afford a house,
find a partner,
or even enjoy good health.
The Son of God
asks his Father
who has eternally
adored him,
his Father
who has always
said yes to him.
He asks his Father
that we might be
united with the
triune God,
communing with
Father,
Son,
and Spirit
in the eternal life,
love,
joy,
and glory
that we never deserved
but always longed for.
And guess what?
He doesn't just pray
for us to be united
in the glory
of the triune God.
He dies on a cross
for sinners
like us
to be united
in the glory
of the holy
triune God.
The self-giving
Son
who gave himself
to the Father
from all eternity
with his whole
Spirit in heaven,
this same Son
gave himself
to us
with his whole
Spirit
on a cross
here on earth.
And this is the gospel.
This is the gospel.
Now Christchurch,
what if we believe this?
What if we believe this?
That the Son of God,
Jesus Christ,
prayed this kind
of a prayer
to his loving,
listening Father
for us
and at his own
expense?
How then might we live?
Will you pray with me?
Lord,
blow us away
with all that you are.
Blow us away
with the truth
of who you are,
the triune God,
perfectly content,
self-sufficient
in and of himself,
glorious and beautiful
love itself.
Blow our minds
that you would
invite us
into that fellowship.
That you would
send your Son
to pray
that we might be
grafted in,
united to
this wonderful,
harmonious
reality.
Strike us,
Lord,
with what a privilege
it is
that Jesus Christ,
the King,
prayed for this
for us.
And that he didn't
just pray for it,
but he wanted for us
by dying for our sins
and rising again
and giving us
his very spirit.
Lord,
who are we?
Who are we?
The world would tell us
we are nothing.
And if you were
only a holy God,
you would tell us
the same,
though we are nothing.
But thanks be to God
that you are a holy
and gracious God.
And you tell us
that though we were nothing,
you made us everything
and you brought us
into yourself
in a love
that we can't even imagine.
Make us people
who believe that,
Lord.
Help us to live
like we believe that,
we pray.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen.