That They May Be One

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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.

John 17 · chapter mention

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.

John 17 · chapter mention

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?

John 17 · chapter mention

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.

John 17 · chapter mention

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,

John 17 · chapter mention

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,

John 17 · chapter mention

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

John 17 · chapter mention

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.

John 17 · chapter mention

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.

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

John 17 · chapter mention

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.