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28 February 2008
Word on the Web
John 17 v 6-12
"I showed what you are like to those you gave me from the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your teaching. Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. I gave them the teachings you gave me, and they accepted them. They knew that I truly came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for people in the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And my glory is shown through them. I am coming to you; I will not stay in the world any longer. But they are still in the world.
Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they will be one, just as you and I are one. While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me. I protected them, and only one of them, the one worthy of destruction, was lost so that the Scripture would come true.
What is God like? Well, there's a little discussion starter for a Thursday morning!
At a meeting of the Inter-Faith Council a Muslim member told us that her daughter had run away from home to get married. She wanted to know why the police would not intervene and bring the daughter back home. The answer was that the daughter was 18 and could make her own choices. We began to talk about the religious implications of this.
A Christian member said that there was story Jesus told of a son who ran away from home and how his father spent a long time waiting, longing for him to return. (Eventually the son did return: the father ran out to welcome him, having spotted him in the distance). In Christian belief, he said, God is like that: he shares the pain of the parent whose child has run away. The Muslim lady replied that that could never be her understanding of God.
At the beginning of today's passage Jesus says he shows us what God is like. For Christians, God can be compared to a human being. That human being is Jesus. What Jesus is like, God is like. In humility and with the greatest respect, this is the unique belief you can share with your friends and colleagues of other faiths.
Dear God, thank you for revealing what you are like through your Son Jesus. Help me to share this belief with care and clarity. Help me to grow into the likeness of Christ so that my life too reveals you to those around me. In the name of Jesus the incarnate God. Amen.
Written by Richard Martin
Word on the Web
John 17 v 6-12
"I showed what you are like to those you gave me from the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your teaching. Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you. I gave them the teachings you gave me, and they accepted them. They knew that I truly came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for people in the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And my glory is shown through them. I am coming to you; I will not stay in the world any longer. But they are still in the world.
Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they will be one, just as you and I are one. While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me. I protected them, and only one of them, the one worthy of destruction, was lost so that the Scripture would come true.
What is God like? Well, there's a little discussion starter for a Thursday morning!
At a meeting of the Inter-Faith Council a Muslim member told us that her daughter had run away from home to get married. She wanted to know why the police would not intervene and bring the daughter back home. The answer was that the daughter was 18 and could make her own choices. We began to talk about the religious implications of this.
A Christian member said that there was story Jesus told of a son who ran away from home and how his father spent a long time waiting, longing for him to return. (Eventually the son did return: the father ran out to welcome him, having spotted him in the distance). In Christian belief, he said, God is like that: he shares the pain of the parent whose child has run away. The Muslim lady replied that that could never be her understanding of God.
At the beginning of today's passage Jesus says he shows us what God is like. For Christians, God can be compared to a human being. That human being is Jesus. What Jesus is like, God is like. In humility and with the greatest respect, this is the unique belief you can share with your friends and colleagues of other faiths.
Dear God, thank you for revealing what you are like through your Son Jesus. Help me to share this belief with care and clarity. Help me to grow into the likeness of Christ so that my life too reveals you to those around me. In the name of Jesus the incarnate God. Amen.
Written by Richard Martin
