ONE MORE WALK Jesus Praying for Us?! Really?

On those days when the weight of all that breaks my heart is especially heavy I try to remember that Jesus is praying for me... for all of us. It's one of the many gifts John's Gospel gives us.

"I am praying for them.....Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.....My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. .....My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one," Selected verses from John 17

John's remarkable witness here offers us the invitation, not only to believe that this is so, but to sit with the astounding gift of Jesus praying for the well-being and protection of his disciples.... Just think.... Try to imagine....

Jesus praying for His disciples....

Jesus praying for His disciples....

The Son of God praying for His followers....

It's something to contemplate.

What did it mean to the disciples to have Jesus pray for them?.... to have Him plead, on their behalf, to God? What did that do for them? How did it shape and empower the rest of their lives?

What does it do for US to know that just before Jesus left this earth, He was already praying for us as well?...How is our own faith shaped and informed by Jesus envisioning future followers who would also need God's faithful protection and care?

What does it do for us to know that Jesus is praying for us.......? Just think.... Try to imagine...

Jesus praying for us....

Jesus praying for us....

The Son of God praying for His followers....

It's something to contemplate.

More than this, it’s something to hold on to. 

As we make our way into 2024, I pray we may be blessed by a keen awareness of Jesus praying for us. I pray His prayers for us may bring great comfort in the midst of our turbulent world, encouragement when we are discouraged, stubborn hope for all that lies ahead, gracious challenge where we are complacent, wisdom to keep learning and growing, perseverance when we're worn out, courage when we have none, compassion for those we don't like or understand, mercy for those who hurt us, forgiveness for those we hurt, love for others and ourselves, and deep rest and peace. I pray we may sense the protection Jesus is seeking on our behalf…the intercession for every need…. the love that will never let us or this old old world go. I pray it renews, restores, and encourages our agency, energy, and desire to keep giving, sharing, doing, and being all that we feel led to do and be. I pray that Jesus prayers for us will help us trust and believe we're not alone. With Jesus praying for us, oh how I pray this all may be so.

Friends, as we go forward in faith in the coming days, what does it do for you.... what could it do for you... what might it do for all of us....to believe that Jesus is praying for us?

How might this guide our lives in 2024?

May this astounding, gracious gift comfort, bless, and guide us all.

New Year Blessings, Leslee

ONE MORE WALK Roots of Power and Love

If you're looking for some guidance of how to go about living in 2024, I think Paul's letter to the Ephesians is a good place to go. Here we find Paul not only offering sound instruction for faithful living but we’re granted the blessing of overhearing some of his prayers for this early church. We’re given what Professor Sally Brown of Princeton remembers being given to her when she on occasion overheard her parent’s prayers:

         “Hearing my parent's prayers,” she writes, “I learned that to them, my brother and I were a sacred trust, worth praying for. The simple fact of their daily praying let me know they recognized their limits as parents. There was so much they could not do for us, so much from which they couldn't shield us. Their praying also told me what they believed about God. They believed they could entrust us to hands stronger than their own, a Love wiser than their own.”

Perhaps by overhearing one of Paul's prayers we can see if some of what Ms. Brown experienced is true for us as well:

         “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high an deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to measure of all the fullness of God.

         Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever.  Amen.”

As we listen in, I think we can sense too the “sacred trust,” Paul holds for this church he’s seeking to nurture and encourage. We sense his utter dependence on God, the recognition of his own limits as one of their teachers and leaders and his own faithful knowing that HE alone cannot give this young church everything they need as he points them again and again to lean upon the “fullness of God.”

         Writing this letter from prison as he does, knowing that his days are numbered against the insane mind and tortuous dealings of emperor Nero, Paul knows firsthand that he cannot shield his congregation from the brokenness and evil that lurks in the world.  He cannot promise them that following Jesus will ensure that nothing bad will ever happen to them. So, what does Paul do? He does what HE CAN DO. He points them to God, to the One who is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” He reminds them of the POWER AND PRESENCE they DO have to faithfully respond to every worry, every fear, every failure, every suffering they may know this side of heaven. His prayer assures them, that they too can “entrust their hands and lives to those stronger than their own, a Love wiser than their own.”

All this Paul gives to the Ephesian church. But he gives it to us as well.  And not just by our overhearing of it. . . .”according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever.” Paul envisioned and believed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was far reaching. Not only did he believe it was possible for Christ’s saving power to reach beyond Palestine and the Jews, he believed it would be made real for generations to come. In other words, Paul somehow saw and envisioned a time when you and I would gather together in places for the soul purpose to worship and follow Jesus Christ.  WOW, that’s something. That’s really something.

Only I do wonder if we struggle to trust “what a SOMETHING” it really is. My sense is that Paul was concerned that the Ephesians were losing sight of all that was now theirs by following Christ. Perhaps knowing up close the hardships and suffering a life of discipleship brings,  (the book of Acts records numerous times Paul was beaten- which doesn’t include his imprisonments or being bitten by a viper!!) Paul knew the Ephesians would face their own hardships. . . hardships, that could cause them to trust their circumstances more than the power of the living God in Christ. He knew, perhaps as we know, that while struggle, hardship and loss are a part of our human experience, it can be mighty hard to hang onto our faith in such times. But he also knew that as Christians we serve a God of power and love. So much so, that such power and love can spill over into how we live our own lives. It can help us find ongoing ways to live into our faith, bearing such power and love to one another and the world.

I'm mindful of a story David Roper tells of a friend who had a neighbor who years ago spent most of his spare time planting trees. The man seldom watered the young trees because he thought that too much watering spoiled them. (He came from the "no pain, no gain" school of plant care.) Pampered trees, he said, made for shallow roots, and deep roots were something to be treasured.

 The friend told David that he often walks by the old place and looks at the trees his neighbor planted 25 years earlier. They're rugged, strong, and durable now. Tall and tough. Adversity and deprivation seem to have benefited them in ways that being sheltered and pampered couldn't.


"All of this," David reflects, "makes me think about the way I pray for others. I'm inclined to pray that God will spare my family and friends from hardship, but lately I've changed my praying. I don't ask for an easy life for them, for that may not come in this world. Instead, I try to echo the prayer of the apostle Paul for the believers in Ephesus (3:14-19). I ask that their roots will go down deep into the love of God—experiencing a close relationship with Him—so they'll grow up sturdy and strong. Then when the winds of adversity blow, they won't be swept away but will stand tall as a testimony of faith." With God's eternal help, may it be so, dear friends. Oh, may it be so.

Epiphany Blessings, Leslee

ONE MORE WALK Living Like Magi: Following The Light In The Dark

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." (Matthew 1:1-2)

Matthew’s telling of the magi’s journey to find the Christ child, is for me, an old, old story that continually encourages me in all the ways I hope to begin again… in all the ways I seek and pray to embrace the clean slate of a new year before me. Maybe their witness inspires you as well.

As you probably know, these magi were more like astronomers, star-gazers who intently read and saw signs of God’s activity in the world through the constellations they came to know so well. What you may not know… if you’re like me… or may have missed about their story… is that the star that first guided them to Bethlehem did not guide them all the way there. At some point in their journey, the star they initially saw in the sky disappeared.  That’s why they had to stop and inquire of others for directions, which tragically, brought them to the attention of King Herod. 

If you go nosing around on your computer about the magi today, you’ll find that there are some astronomers, who can pretty much point to the day and month that these Magi first saw the star that initially led them to Bethlehem, know when it disappeared and then reappeared in the same constellation of stars months later over the place of Christ’s birth.  In place of the star in the sky being some supernatural, out of the ordinary occurrence, it was very likely a “natural” appearing and disappearing of constellations that occurred… perhaps like the moon’s monthly cycle, moving from a thin sliver to round and full.

And yet, while I find this science fascinating, what intrigues me most… is how did the Magi do it? How did they continue their journey when the star was not evident… when there was no prevalent light to guide their way? Understanding this… catching some glimpse of their faithfulness when it was dark, is a powerful gift for those of us who want to live into a similar hope and possibility in the midst of darkness.... not only today… but for every day before us.

       As we step forward into a new year, I think Matthew’s telling of the Christmas story is an important one, because it’s real. To understand the magnitude of God’s gift to the world, we have to come to terms with the knowledge that Christ’s coming, while full of wonder, hope and promise, also brought with it the genocide and slaughter of innocent children at the hand of the insane king Herod.  If we only see and know Christ as the beautiful babe in the manger, untouched by the world’s great brokenness, tragedies and sin, then God’s gift to the world is only as good as Cotton Candy…. sweet but of no lasting or life changing purpose and value. If we are to have any hope for our own lives and the world around us, we have to know and see Christ’s coming as not only gracious and good… but powerful, transformative and life altering for all those who seek to love and follow him.

I believe the magi, somehow knew this… even before meeting Christ in the manger…. They trusted and believed that the gift God was sending to the world would not only hold and keep them in every blessing of good, but would be a powerful force of love to unhinge every kind of awful evil. While I imagine they relished and cherished the star’s vibrant light and presence… they did not let its disappearing sway them from their journey… The same, I believe must be true for us…. The darkness of this world… which is indeed great... must not cause our own faith to diminish and sway.  We too must trust that God is present, alive and well, even when we may not always see such presence. More than this, we must find faithful ways to be God's presence and light to one another and the world.... especially when it's really dark.

While I have no easy or certain answers for how best to do this, I have found that trustworthy friendships, staying connected to a faithful community of believers, "stepping out on the word of God" as Maya Angelou is fond of saying, in other words, taking your faith out for a spin by stepping out in faith and moving out of our comfort zone, and finding on going ways to deepen our friendship with God and one another can help us walk faithfully in the dark. Remember, the Magi didn't make their journey alone. They went together, they kept seeking and searching, they stepped out on faith, listening and looking for signs around them as well as within them. Sometimes, I think we forget one of the most important pieces of faithfulness... "listening to our own hearts" where Christ is ever seeking and striving to dwell. The Magi can help us see and remember all of this.... especially when it's really dark.

      Dr. John Rosen, a psychiatrist in New York City, has worked with catatonic schizophrenics. He shaped his practice by moving into the ward with his patients. He placed his bed among their beds. He lived the life they lived. If they didn't talk, he didn't talk. If they moved about, he moved about with them. And if they were comfortable with him doing so, he would also hug them. His being there, being with them, communicated something that they hadn't experienced. The first words they often spoke were, "Thank you."

Though a kind of "darkness" engulfed these fragile and tender human beings, Dr. Rosen offered what he could. I imagine there must have been days where he felt as if he was walking in the dark with no clear visible sign of light anywhere. And yet, he kept walking by showing up, offering his presence and love, and by trusting that the work was not his alone... by trusting that there was a greater Power at work in and around him. His gifts did not end schizophrenia but they did bring light and hope to a people living in darkness. His gifts were "Magi gifts": Following the Light In The Dark

This is what Christ did for us at Christmas. He moved into the ward with us. He placed his bed among our beds. He lives the life we live. He moves about where we move about. And all those who were there, those who saw him, touched him and were in turn touched by him.were changed. Whether they knew it or not they became like Magi: open and willing to following the Light and Love of God.... especially when it was really dark. The first words they must have surely prayed were.. "Thank You."

Christmas is our time to say "Thank you" too. More than this, Christmas is God's gift to us to help us become like Magi: followers of the Light and Love of God... especially when it's really dark. In a time when it seems as if the dark is surely winning, let us courageously live as Magi by traveling together, ever seeking and searching, stepping out in faith, listening and looking for signs around us and within, and by living as if we believe with our whole hearts the Light and Love of God is ever with us.... especially when it's really dark. May it be so.

Christmas Blessings,

Leslee