Hello

For Jesus, prayer wasn’t just about asking for things.  When Jesus prayed, the beloved son was communicating with his loving Father in a very deep way.  This loving communication between Jesus and his Father is so outside our normal human experience that it is, probably, impossible for us to fully understand it.  But we can get glimpses.  Jesus told his followers that he and the Father are one (John 10:30).  Jesus also told them that he is in the Father and the Father is in him.  OK, here’s the amazing bit, Jesus prayed that we, his followers, would become part of this oneness experienced by the Father and the Son and (here’s the even more amazing bit) when we become part of this oneness – one with the Father, one with the Son and one with each other – the effect is going to be that the world will be convinced that God sent Jesus, and that God loves his human children the same way he loves his son.

“My prayer is not for them (Jesus’ disciples) 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. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23).

So, when we start learning to pray we are taking our first steps into joining the indescribable relationship that the Son has with his Father.  It is very difficult to even begin to imagine what communication in that relationship might be like.  So, let’s talk about something that, hopefully, we can begin to grasp.  Let’s talk about communion (and I’m not talking about the communion we celebrate in our church services).  I Googled the word “communion” and the first definition I got was “the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level”.  That’s a good definition of what “communion” means.  When we love someone, we want to share thoughts and feelings with them.  We want to be intimate with them.  Sometimes when we are with someone we love, and know well, we can share thoughts and feelings by using touch, looks and gestures as well as words.  This is what it means to be in communion with them.

Prayer, at its deepest and best, is being in communion with God.  It may not involve words.  It is sharing thoughts and feelings with God.  It is being completely honest and truthful with God.  It is being intimate with God.  It is loving God in practice.

 

May our loving Father bless us and guide us as we come closer to him.

Peter O

 

 

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