John 17:13-26

13-19Now I'm returning to you.
I'm saying these things in the world's hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn't join the world's ways,
Just as I didn't join the world's ways.
I'm not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I'm consecrating myself for their sakes
So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

20-23I'm praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they'll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they'll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent me and loved them
In the same way you've loved me.

24-26Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
Having loved me
Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But I have known you, and these disciples know
That you sent me on this mission.
I have made your very being known to them—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them.

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This is a prayer of a God who aches for us, who longs to be near us, with us in our midst. When we talk about our God, we don't have to point high into the heavens; we can point to the cross, and to this prayer, and say that, yes, our God loves us so strongly that God comes to us, holds us and sustains us, loves us beyond measure, treasures us each and every day, prays for us, cries with us, laughs with us. Our God loves deeper than the ocean and higher than the highest mountains. God created us out of joy (Can you hear God's excitement: "It is good!") and sustains us out of joy (Can you hear God's joy: "The same glory you gave me, I gave them") and promises to be with us forever (Our God is joyful: "So they might be one heart and mind with us"). Indeed, we proclaim Good News of great joy in our God!

Blessings