John
John 1:1-4Ten Thousand Angels – written by Sandra McCracken
how long you have traveled in darkness weeping
no rest in language, no words to speak
but there in the wreckage beneath bricks and bindings
love has come, love has come for you
against the night sky of your waiting
your face is like starlight when he walks in
everything worth keeping comes through dying
love has come, love has come for you
So lift up your heart now, to this unfolding
all that has been broken will be restored
here runs deep waters for all who are thirsty
love has come, love has come for you
ten thousand angels will light your pathway
until the day breaks fully in the East
they will surround you and make your way straight
love has come, love has come for you
love has come, love has come for you
how long you have traveled in darkness weeping
no rest in language, no words to speak
but there in the wreckage beneath bricks and bindings
love has come, love has come for you
against the night sky of your waiting
your face is like starlight when he walks in
everything worth keeping comes through dying
love has come, love has come for you
So lift up your heart now, to this unfolding
all that has been broken will be restored
here runs deep waters for all who are thirsty
love has come, love has come for you
ten thousand angels will light your pathway
until the day breaks fully in the East
they will surround you and make your way straight
love has come, love has come for you
love has come, love has come for you
This week has been a tough one because I have been wrestling with a lot of personal issues… insecurities, doubts, fears, hopes that I don’t see happening, all kinds of mess. In the midst of all this I even get frustrated that I am not content with what I have, for I have been so utterly blessed. Aside from all of this I fear that I would lose sight the overwhelming gift that Jesus has given me in sins forgiven. Yeah, all of these things tear me in all sorts of directions and time and time again I have come back to the reality of who Jesus is in the gospel of John. He is love, he is light, he is life for me… not just someday when I am home with him, but even now. He has come… and he has not left but is here with me in the Holy Spirit. This song blows me away because it is the absolute reality of the gospel of John. Amidst my being broken and frustrated and wrecked and all the mess… love has come in Jesus… and he is restoring all of these things and will take me home with him. Yeah, I have received such amazing grace in him.
To practically apply this I am not quite sure how to do this. I realized also this week that Jesus’ heart for us is so pure and so beautiful, especially as I saw his prayer for us, his beloved. I rewrote this prayer from the perspective of us as a body, for it is not just me that Jesus came to redeem but also the entirety of his beloved. I want to read this prayer with somebody, perhaps even the class if it so works out.
John 17:1-26
Father, it was time. You displayed the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn showed your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That we know you, The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
He glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned him to do.
And now, Father, he is glorified with your very own splendor,
The very splendor he had in your presence
Before there was a world.
He spelled out your character in detail
To us whom you gave him.
We were yours in the first place;
Then you gave us to him,
And we have now done what you said.
We know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave him was firsthand from you,
For the message you gave him, he gave us;
And we took it, and were convinced
That he came from you.
We believe that you sent him.
He prayed for us.
He was not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for us, whom you gave him,
For we are yours by right.
Everything his is yours, and yours his,
And his life is on display in us.
For he is no longer with us, visible in the world;
we continue in the world
While he returned to you.
Holy Father, guard us as we pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through him,
So we can be one heart and mind
As you are one heart and mind.
As long as he was with us, he guarded us
In the pursuit of the life you gave through him;
He even posted a night watch.
And not one of us got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).
Now he has returned to you.
He said these things in the world's hearing
So we can experience his joy completed in us.
he gave us your word; The godless world hates us because of it,
Because we didn't join the world's ways,
Just as he didn't join the world's ways.
He did not ask that you take us out of the world
But that you guard us from the Evil One.
We are no more defined by the world
Than he was defined by the world.
Make us holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave him a mission in the world,
he gave us a mission in the world.
He consecrated himself for our sakes
So we will be truth-consecrated in our mission.
He did not pray only for us
But also for those who will believe in him
Because of us and our witness about him.
The goal is for all of us to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in him and He in you,
So we might be one heart and mind with you.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent him.
The same glory you gave him, He gave us,
So we will be as unified and together as you are—
he in us and you in him.
Then we will be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent him and loved us
In the same way you've loved him.
Father, he wanted those you gave him
To be with him, right where he is,
So we can see his glory, the splendor you gave him,
Having loved him Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But he knows you, and we know
That you sent him on this mission.
He has made your very being known to us—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for him
Might be in us Exactly as he is in us.
So the Son in turn showed your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That we know you, The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
He glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned him to do.
And now, Father, he is glorified with your very own splendor,
The very splendor he had in your presence
Before there was a world.
He spelled out your character in detail
To us whom you gave him.
We were yours in the first place;
Then you gave us to him,
And we have now done what you said.
We know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave him was firsthand from you,
For the message you gave him, he gave us;
And we took it, and were convinced
That he came from you.
We believe that you sent him.
He prayed for us.
He was not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for us, whom you gave him,
For we are yours by right.
Everything his is yours, and yours his,
And his life is on display in us.
For he is no longer with us, visible in the world;
we continue in the world
While he returned to you.
Holy Father, guard us as we pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through him,
So we can be one heart and mind
As you are one heart and mind.
As long as he was with us, he guarded us
In the pursuit of the life you gave through him;
He even posted a night watch.
And not one of us got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).
Now he has returned to you.
He said these things in the world's hearing
So we can experience his joy completed in us.
he gave us your word; The godless world hates us because of it,
Because we didn't join the world's ways,
Just as he didn't join the world's ways.
He did not ask that you take us out of the world
But that you guard us from the Evil One.
We are no more defined by the world
Than he was defined by the world.
Make us holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave him a mission in the world,
he gave us a mission in the world.
He consecrated himself for our sakes
So we will be truth-consecrated in our mission.
He did not pray only for us
But also for those who will believe in him
Because of us and our witness about him.
The goal is for all of us to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in him and He in you,
So we might be one heart and mind with you.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent him.
The same glory you gave him, He gave us,
So we will be as unified and together as you are—
he in us and you in him.
Then we will be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent him and loved us
In the same way you've loved him.
Father, he wanted those you gave him
To be with him, right where he is,
So we can see his glory, the splendor you gave him,
Having loved him Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But he knows you, and we know
That you sent him on this mission.
He has made your very being known to us—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for him
Might be in us Exactly as he is in us.
