Always with us - let us pray

May I speak in the Name of God : Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN

I recently read some comments made by children about prayer to their vicar. They included – I know God loves me and I ask for His help but I wish He would give me an A in my school report; we say grace in our house every night even if we are eating leftovers from the night before and I say my prayer before we eat our supper but my Mum still makes me eat spinach and drink milk no matter how much I pray that she won’t.

Prayer is a very important thing. In our gospel reading (John 17:6-19) this morning we heard Jesus’ prayer at the garden of Gethsemane. This prayer is perhaps one of the most humbling prayers ever. Jesus was waiting his arrest, He knew what was going to happen to Him but He prayed for His followers. This prayer is beautiful because in it Jesus prayed for protection for His disciples. He passed them back to His Father and prayed that they would remain one, He prayed that they would know unity and that they would be protected from the evil one who would try and split them apart.

I find this both incredibly humbling and a moment when I just want to say thank you. Jesus at the end prayed for us, He prayed for the disciples who had followed Him, those that He had been closest to, those whom He had taught about eternal life, about joy, about healing, about hope, about love and He asked that they would be protected. 

In the reading from the Acts of the apostles (1:15-17,21-26) we heard about the early followers, the disciples for whom Jesus had prayed realised that they needed to replace the one who had broken their unity by betraying Jesus and they did this by praying and then by casting lots. Following their leader Jesus - they turned to prayer. 

I often think that prayer is the best gift that we don’t use enough ! To pray is an opening up of our hearts and our concerns to God. God knows what we want to pray for before we even pray. Prayer is not easy when we don’t seem to have our prayers answered in the ways that we would like. But prayer is as much about us having a conversation with God as it is about asking God for His will to be done. This may not always be in the way that we would like.

I was once a leader on a youth camp and in our dormitory prayer time the one evening I was really pleased when one of the girls who was 12 asked me to pray for her. She asked me to pray that a boy called Peter would go out with her.  I was just deciding how best to answer this when another 3 girls asked me to say the same prayer for them. I explained that Peter couldn’t go out with 4 girls at once and also that it might not be God’s will for Peter. They weren’t convinced. 

On another occasion when I was chaplain to the Air Training Cadets some of the Cadets asked if I would pray a blessing for them - I did this. A month later one of the boys told me that my prayer was amazing as he had got a girlfriend the day after I prayed, one of the other boys felt that this was clear proof that God exists as there is no way he would have got a girlfriend otherwise.

Prayer is hard and it can be difficult when the things we really want to happen don’t and it is not that God doesn’t hear us but He knows that sometimes what we want may not be the right thing. This can be a fun thing but it can be very hurtful when we have prayed for someone we love and there doesn’t seem to be a good answer to the problem but God is still with us even in pain even when things don’t seem to make sense-He is with us. 

The disciples must have been hurt and confused by Judas’ betrayal but they turned to prayer in the hope that everything would be ok. Jesus at Gethsemane turned to prayer for His followers not just the 12 but for all who would follow Him. This means that He prayed for usas well that we would be protected and would always know God’s love.

Last Thursday marked the ascension of Jesus. I often think that this must have been another very confusing time. The disciples had been through the pain of the crucifixion the joy of the resurrection the belief that Jesus was physically going to be with them always but  then they watched Him being taken away again as He ascended to heaven. This time Jesus had promised that He would be with them always. Jesus who prayed for His disciples, Jesus who said that He would always be with them is always with us. Jesus will never leave us, He protects us. 

William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury wrote,’ In the days of his earthly ministry, only those could speak to Jesus who came where he was. If he was in Galilee, people could not find him in Jerusalem; if he was in Jerusalem, they could not find him in Galilee. But his ascension means that he is perfectly united with God, and we are with him wherever we are present to God, and this is everywhere and always.’

This means that as a result of the ascension Jesus who had prayed for His followers, who had sought to protect them would never now be away from His people.  Jesus had not gone away but had ascended into a place where nothing could separate us from Him. On earth separation would come simply from being aJesus prayed for our protection, Jesus is with us now and we have this amazing gift or prayer where we can turn to God and praise Him, to ask for His help and to enjoy time in His presence. It is the best gift. Jesus has never left us and He will never leave us and we can turn to Him knowing that He is there. May we be ready to use the greatest gift of prayer evenmore. AMEN