"You Are in Me... and I Am in You."

"I ask for the desire to pray and meditate on behalf of my community of faith.  I ask for patience, tolerance, compassion, gentleness and empathy.  May we abstain from anger, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, discouragement, and shame.  May we know and follow Jesus more closely, seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly."

John 17:20-26
20 ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that 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. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³I 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. ²⁴Father, 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. ²⁶I 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.’

1) "...that they may all be one;" "...may they also be in us;" "...so that they may be one;" "...that they may become completely one;" "...see my glory;" "...loved me before the foundation of the world;"

2) Wow, don't try to figure this one out with your head, it talks in circles, but feel for the call to oneness.  We don't do this well as a church.  The Protestant tradition blew this vision of oneness all to smithereens.  though, to be fair, the "oneness" that had been was one of violence, oppression, and silencing of diversity, which is to say a false oneness.  Will we learn to be one in our diversity?  That is what Paul calls for, one body that celebrates the diversity of the parts, in which each part is paid honour.  Do we even want to be one?  I would gladly be one for a kingdom of God that honoured all the parts.  But so many visions of oneness do not include and honour everyone: people of racial minority, aboriginal people, LGBTTQ+ people, women, people living in poverty, or with mental illness... the list could go on and on.  Do we here at Trinity represent oneness on all these issues?  I don't know.  Do the churches of the Loughheed Corridor?  I don't know.  Does the United Church of Canada?  Perhaps the General Council, but honestly, I don't know.  There are ideals, then there is what we are willing to let go of to make real change.

3) What is the invitation in all this.  Humility.  We are not all that.  To remember there is a reason we tell as story of the "fall" and "original sin".  To remember there is a reason we look to God for reconciliation and healing and not to ourselves or our own institutions.  To place all this brokenness and division before God. 

"God help us all."

Breathprayer: "You are in me... and I am in you."