The Rev. Canon Anne E. Kitch
John 17:20-26
Welcome to the in-between time! Next Sunday is the feast of Pentecost, the end of the great 50 days of Easter, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. Last Thursday was the feast of the Ascension, 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus, when the disciples watched Jesus ascend into heaven. So today is the in-between time, the Sunday after the Ascension and before Pentecost. What do we do with those ten days when Jesus is not here and the gift of the Holy Spirit is not here yet either? What do we do with any in-between times? Times of transition. Times of uncertainty. Time of darkness. Well, one good idea is to pray. But how do we pray in the in-between times?
Recently in the Inquirers’ class I teach someone asked what exactly is prayer? We could answer, “conversation with God” as we often do. But if prayer is conversation, how do we handle it when God doesn’t seem to talk back? I have heard this question from practical seven-year olds and wise sixty-year old alike. So what is prayer? Rather than offering my own definition, I will trust wiser sources: a children’s book and the catechism. First our catechism. Found in the back of your prayer book, the catechism is a teaching. It is a summary of Christian doctrine in questions and answer form. Thus, finding the answer about prayer is simple. On p. 856 we find the question, “What is prayer?” And the answer: Prayer is responding to God by thought and by deeds with or without words. Responding to God encompasses so much more than conversation or dialogue. It can mean making music, singing or drawing a picture. It could be holding hands around the dinner table, watching a sunset or standing in silent awe at the peak of a mountain.
Our catechism goes on to outline principle kinds of prayer and you can read these for yourself. But I want to think of two in particular: adoration and oblation. Adoration is lifting up our hearts and minds to God. We tend most often to pray “help me!” or “thank you.” But what about a response to God that is pure adoration? What is our prayer is asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence, to bask in God’s love and delight of us, and to give ourselves over to that glory? An oblation is an offering. A prayer of oblation is offering ourselves, our lives, our labor and our leisure, to God. For God. For God’s purposes.
I promise to get to the children’s book in a minute, but I want to think of these two kinds if prayer, adoration and oblation, as we look at Jesus’ prayer in this reading from John. What we have today is only the last third of a prayer that Jesus prayers over his disciples. After Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and explains to them again about his betrayal, death and resurrection, he prays for them, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your son so that the Son may glorify you.…” This prayer does many things. But among those I think it expresses adoration and oblation. Jesus sets himself in the presence of God’s glory and love and offers his life and service. He lifts up his heart and mind to be one with God. There is petition in this prayer as well, as Jesus prays on behalf of those who are with him, that they too may be one with God. He also prays on behalf of those who will come later, those who will believe because of the words of these disciples. So Jesus is praying on behalf of us as. Jesus desires his disciples, and us, to be one with him so that we may see ourselves in the presence of God’s grace and love.
This prayer draws us into the image of the Son dwelling with the Father, and in this ten day period between the Ascension and Pentecost, we are drawn into the mystery of the trinity as well. In this in-between time, we can offer prayers of adoration of this mystery and oblation. We can simply allow ourselves to be in awe. But do we have time for that? Episcopal priest and author Suzanne Guthrie asks this question, “We have so little time to contemplate these mysteries. We make so little time. Our culture, even in the church, values this kind of time in prayer so little. We dismiss wonder so ruthlessly. Who encourages simple, prayerful awe?” She goes on to invite us to pause in this in-between time. “Next week, we’ll celebrate the active struggle of life again in Pentecost and the call to go to the ends of the earth as messengers of the gospel. And before we are sent into the world, we will have to remember and understand deeply the implications of Jesus’ prayer that ‘they may all be one.’ But in this brief time, these ten days of Ascension, we are given the gift of waiting in reverence, love, joy, wonder. Even if we sit in adoration of the mystery of the Trinity only once a year, it is enough to remind us why we are so driven the rest of the time. Let us worship in the beauty of holiness.” ( quoted from an article in The Christian Century, May 16, 2001)
I did promise to share a children’s book with you. It’s a wonderful book called Granddad’s Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood. In the story, the grandfather shares with his grandson his love of God’s creation. He teaches the young boy about the prayers of the wind and streams and rocks and trees. He tells him about the wonderful variety of prayers of people as well. The boy asks his grandfather, “Are our prayers answered?” The wise man replies, “Most prayers are not really questions and if we listen very closely, a prayer is often its own answer. Like the tree and winds and waters, we pray because we are here. Not to change the world, but to change ourselves. Because it is when we change ourselves that the world is changed.”
In this in-between time, let us pray, remembering that prayer is our response to God by thought and by deed. Pray in adoration and oblation, allowing yourself to be drawn into the mystery of God. Pray in awe, taking the time to wait in wonder and reverence. Pray not to change the world, but to change ourselves, to become one with God and each other. Because it is when we change ourselves that we change the world. Amen.
Copyright © 2007 Anne E. Kitch
