Today is August 21.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  
 
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”   
  
Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 17. 
 

“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 gave 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.  
 

This reading records the words of Jesus of Nazareth himself praying for me. Praying for you. As God-in-the-flesh-himself is preparing to go to the cross, what seems to be on His heart in this prayer is that you and I would be as knit together in belonging and in unity as God the son is with God the father, through God the spirit. It is difficult – impossible really – for our human minds to grasp the unity that Jesus is praying about here. He’s not just praying about a unity of mind…. A common way of thinking or being in the world. He’s not just praying about an emotional unity: all for one, and one for all. He’s praying about an existential unity: a unity that defines our very being. As you come to prayer this morning, how unified to you feel with God the father, son, and spirit? Take time to slow down, and settle into awareness of God’s with-ness not just with you, but inside of you, right now, wherever it is you find yourself?  
  
The unity that Jesus prays for between believers is, I think, impossible to achieve if we are not ourselves keenly aware of what it means to abide with Christ. To abide in the vine. It is only out of this ‘oneness’ with God, through Jesus, by the spirit of God… that we can ‘be brought to complete unity’ with other believers. Listen again, and mediate on this unity that Jesus prays for…  
  
Are you abiding in God? How long does it take for you to forget to ‘remain in Him’ – and become distracted by the demands of the day, or your frustrations, or all the things that divide and separate?  What habit might you want to build into your day that will help you return to a practice of ‘abiding’? Perhaps an alarm to remind you to slow down and pray? Perhaps a bedtime routine of examine? The more our world speeds up, the more we need to resist the chaos and return to abide in Christ. My prayer for you today is that you are reminded by the gentle voice of your God to ‘resist and return’ to Him over and over, and that you would find unity with Him in a deeper way, today.  
  
Music: "Reign In Me - Vineyard Worship - (YouTube)