With all the noise in the world, do you hear the voice of God? Your calendar tells you what to do, but do you remember who you are? Being comes before doing. This is a call to put first things first. Return to the Lord with this daily pattern of prayer and devotion. Set aside this time as a sanctuary. Find a space free of distraction and follow this pattern.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
Risen Christ, by your death and resurrection you brought dawn to darkness. You have made a new way, from death to life, cross to crown, grave to glory. We are frail creatures in a world of change and decay. Rule over us in your resurrection power. Subdue sin and evil, disease and destruction. We have nothing apart from you, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Confession
O Lord, I live a world of dead ends. There is always an end. An end to my energy. My time. My love. My patience. My money. My very life. I am trapped by limits. I am burdened by my frail, finite limits. I have exhausted all other options. Nothing else satisfies. You burst forth from the grave to give me life beyond the horizon. You are my singular hope, my only prayer. Risen Savior, have mercy on my dead ends.
Word: John 17:23
“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15) “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Meditation: United
Today’s meditation is written by Susan Senechal.
Some days I am overwhelmed by everything going on in the world. Vaccines, quarantines, masks or no. Conservatives vs liberals. Hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. Global warming. Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. All lives matter. And that doesn’t even account for the trials, stresses and troubles in my own family: my mom, my siblings, my spouse or my children. The world is a mess. It’s just too much. I want to escape.
Jesus knew the weight of the world, the stresses, the trials. And the night before he died, he took some of that weight to his father. But he didn’t pray to take his disciples (and by extension, us) out of the world. Our work, our mission, is here. Instead he prayed “Protect them from the evil one.”
The evil one, Satan, would like to use the things of the world to divide us, from each other and from our Heavenly Father. For every point there’s a counterpoint. For every yes, a no. We are in a battle. And what is Jesus’ prayer for us? That protected by the power of God’s name, we would continue to be one, united. His prayer is that our groundless bitter divisions cease. That instead, as we go into the world (not out of it), we draw others to him with a message of unity. He prays that others will believe in him because of the message we bring; that we may be one, just as he and the Father are one.
What an opportunity we have, in a time of such division, to be brought into complete unity, that the world may see Jesus, and may see the God who loves them as much as he loves his own Son. What is Jesus’ prayer? “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.” That’s our prayer too.
Dear Jesus, help us meet the crises and stresses and trouble of the world, united in you, so that others will see you and will know the Father and his love for them. Amen.
Benediction
The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (I Pet. 5:10-11)