7th Sunday of Easter
We gather together this 7th Sunday of Easter, and we are concluding the Easter season of the church calendar today. However, the Easter season may be ending but we are forever and ever Easter people living daily in the resurrection hope of Jesus. This is why we gather every Sunday around Word and Sacrament.
This past Thursday was Ascension Day according to the church calendar. It was 40 days after Easter when the church celebrated our ascended and risen Lord. In today’s Gospel lesson we are hearing Jesus pray for us to God. This chapter is called, by scholars, the High Priestly Prayer. Jesus prays throughout the chapter in His last words to the disciples while on Earth. Jesus prays to God about us saying “protect them, Father, in your name that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (17: 11).
Prayer is the greatest gift God has given us! No busy signal, always an answer, always available 24/7, 365!! Pray often, friends, for me, our congregation and our sister congregation, and each other. May we know of our many, many blessings this day as we gather in the name of Jesus, our high priest, who prays for us.
Please also download Biship Gafkgen's newest letter to read.
Introduction
The gospel for Easter’s seventh Sunday is always taken from the long prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John’s gospel on the night before his death, and always includes Jesus’ desire that his followers will be one as he and the Father are one. This oneness is not mere doctrinal agreement or institutional unity, but mutual abiding, interpenetrating life, mutual love, and joy. This oneness is the work of the Spirit whom we have received but also await. Come, Holy Spirit!
