A Prayer

Here we are, Father. We are all Your people, Your children, all related to You. But we are so very different from each other.

Some of us are younger, and some of us are older. Some of us are male and some of us are female. We work in different kinds of jobs, in the home and out. What some of us look forward to is really quite different from what others of us look forward to.

We are all so very different. And yet, You call us to be one.You call us to be one in a way that is actually quite profound.You want us to be one just as Jesus and You are one.

When we take that seriously we are overwhelmed. It seems so impossible. And yet, it is what You have called us to.

Some of us see that as really important and others of us - well, not so much. And the temptation for us all is to settle for something less than what You call for. It is, after all, relatively easy to be pleasant with each other as we chat. And while that is a good thing it is not the oneness that You call us to.

So, Father, the first thing that we ask is that You would forgive us. Forgive us for failing to make our being one (as You define it) the priority that You want it to be. Forgive us our failure to take this desire of Yours as seriously as we should. Forgive us, and then change us. Help us to see that this is what You want and so it needs to be something that we want.

But this will be hard. It will require changes that go far beyond what happens on a Sunday morning or at a Bible study. But it's something that You want. So, Father, we look to You. You always provide whatever we need so that we can pursue what You want. We ask that You would do that now. Change in us what needs to be changed so that we would be one in the way that You have called us to be one.

We ask this for the sake of the honor of your Name before the watching world, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

John 17.20-23