Hello,
My name is Nicho and welcome to a Lectio Divina journey through the Gospel of John.
For those of you who have been following along,
This is the final track in this series of Lectio Divina on John with readings from the First Nations Bible.
I so appreciate you taking the time to connect with Great Spirit and Creator Sets Free with me.
If this is your first Lectio with me,
I am happy to have you here.
Today,
We listen to the prayer of Creator Sets Free,
Jesus,
His words spoken just before entering into immense suffering.
He does not pray in fear.
He prays in love.
He prays for his friends.
He prays for you.
And before we begin,
We start in a prayer of our own.
Great Spirit,
You have given your Son to guide and heal us.
As we listen to this sacred prayer,
Let us feel held in the love that flows between Son and Father through all creation.
Make us one.
Amen.
A reading from the book of John chapter 17 verses 1 through 18 and 24 through 26.
When Creator Sets Free,
Jesus was finished speaking to his followers.
He lifted his eyes to the spirit world above and sent his voice to the Great Spirit.
Oh,
Great Father,
He prayed,
It is time for you to bring honor to your Son so he may bring honor to you.
You have put all human beings under the care of your Son so he can give them life of the world to come that never fades away,
Full of beauty and harmony.
This life comes from knowing you.
The only true and Great Spirit.
And from knowing the Chosen One,
Creator Sets Free,
Jesus,
The one you have sent into this world.
I have brought you honor on earth by finishing the work you sent me to do.
It is now time,
My Father,
For you to honor me with the beauty I shared at your side before you created all things.
I have shown who you truly are to the ones you gave me from this world.
They were always yours and you trusted me with them and they have walked in your ways.
They now know that everything I have comes from you.
The message you gave to me I have given to them.
They have welcomed the truth about who I am and trust that you sent me.
These are the ones I now pray for.
I am not praying for the ones who walk in the waves of the world,
But for the ones you gave to me,
For they belong to you.
My followers bring honor to me.
They are a gift from you,
A gift we share together.
Since I am returning to you,
I will no longer be in the world,
But my followers will still be here.
Oh Father,
Of all that is holy,
Watch over them with the loving care that we share with one another.
In this way,
They will also share the love that makes us one.
During my time on earth representing you,
I kept them safe in your loving care.
Not one of them has been lost,
Except for the one foretold in the sacred teachings,
The one doomed to a bad end.
I am returning to you now,
But while I am still here,
I pray for my followers so they may share in my joy.
Your message,
Which I gave them,
Has taken root in their hearts.
Like me,
They have chosen not to walk in the ways of this world,
And so the world hates them.
I am not asking you to remove them from the world,
But that you keep them safe from the evil one and his ways.
They no longer belong to the ways of this world any more than I do.
Make them holy through the beautiful message of your truth.
Oh Great Father,
I want the ones you have given to me to share this place of beauty that I have with you,
So they can see the power of your love for me,
A love that we shared before you created all things.
Oh Father,
Of all that is good and right,
The world does not know you,
But I know you,
And my followers know you sent me.
I have represented and will always represent who you truly are,
So that the love you have for me will be in them,
And I will live in them also.
Take time now to step away from understanding,
To step away from knowing,
And simply ask yourself what word,
Phrase,
Or image stirred something within you,
And sit for about a minute with that.
Now,
Open your heart and allow for this message to wash over you in yet another way.
Creator sets free looked to the spirit above and prayed.
Father,
The time has come.
Let my life shine with your beauty,
So that I may shine your beauty in return.
I have revealed who you are.
I have cared for the ones you gave me.
They belong to you.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world,
But that you protect them,
Keep them rooted in your truth.
They are not of this world's ways,
Just as I am not,
But I send them just as you sent me.
May they be set apart in truth,
Washed in your word.
Then he prayed again.
Father,
I want the ones you have given me to be where I am,
To see the beauty and power you shared with me before the beginning of time.
I have made your name known to them,
And I will keep making it known,
So that the love that you have for me may live in them,
And I may live in them also.
What does Christ's love feel like when you allow it to be personal?
Can you rest in the truth that you are prayed for,
Protected,
And chosen?
How may you carry this love forward into the world?
Take a moment of silence now to seep in these questions and in these words.
Jesus,
You prayed for us before we even knew you.
You held us in your words and brought us into the flow of love between you and the Father.
Let us now walk in that love,
Rooted in truth,
Protected in peace,
And sent into the world with grace.
Make us one.
Amen.
Thank you for joining me for a Lectio Divina journey through the Gospel of John.
Though this is the final tract in the series,
Let the listening continue in your own heart,
In stillness,
In silence,
In Scripture,
And in every breath where the Spirit is near.
Walk gently,
Abide in love,
Live like dust lit by fire.
Nicho
