priestly prayer

Good afternoon friends,
First, the nominating committee is meeting tonight; please keep us in prayer as we discern who God is calling to serve as elders in the coming years. Today's reading and the readings for the next couple of days are challenging. The fancy name scholars give this section of John is "the Great High Priestly prayer" because Jesus is our high priest who opens the way to God. This is a long prayer Jesus prays during the last supper with his disciples. It can be hard to follow because the language is repetitive. At the same time it is powerful because Jesus is expressing his hopes and concerns about his church to God. Take your time reading and feel free to read it more than once. For some people it may be easier to get out your Bible and read the whole prayer at once (John 17) rather than study it in pieces as we'll do in our reading together. Whatever works best for you, I hope Jesus' prayer will bless you in your discipleship.

God bless,
Sam

John 17:1-10

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

⁶”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.