Minster Abbey Talk on John 17:1-11

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “to talk of many things:…”
Lewis Carroll

And if we were having a conversation over some coffee and cake (hint hint) that is precisely what would happen. We would have a conversation; maybe about the weather, the coronation, a television drama, … all sorts.

Some of us find it easy to converse, some of us find it more difficult and communicate in other ways. Some of us are good at listening and for some of us it “goes in one ear and out the other”.

But, how do we pray?

There are many different ways we can pray, but ultimately, if we think about it, prayer is just the same as that conversation over coffee … isn’t it?

If not why not?

We have the opportunity to talk to God about anything and everything; and not just when we’re worried or in need or when things aren’t going as we’d like but also when we’re thankful, joyful and when things are going well.

We can do a lot of talking to God but we need to remember to listen as well. If we are honest none of us listen as much as we should.

Prayer is vitally important in our lives. An oft repeated quote “seven days without prayer makes one week (weak!)”.

Today’s Gospel reading is part of one of Jesus’s longest prayers.

In short it summarises Jesus’s relationship with the Father and the relationship He wanted His disciples to have with Himself and the Father.

Like the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) this prayer is in three sections.

Jesus prays for Himself
Jesus prays for His disciples
Jesus prays for all believers past, present and future

Despite us having celebrated Jesus’s Ascension on Thursday, this prayer passage takes place before His arrest. But it is significant because it becomes Jesus’s evaluation of the purpose of His life, death, resurrection and ascension.

God’s glory and Jesus’s glory are one and the same. Through the death of Jesus God is glorified and all believers receive eternal life.

Eternal life is knowing the one true God; being in a living fellowship with God. And this life we receive when we accept Jesus into our hearts and lives. Jesus’s purpose, His mission, is salvation.

Jesus prays with great concern for His disciples. He was not concerned about Himself – He knew God’s plan, He knew He had to suffer and die to be victorious. Jesus’s victory was unquestionable. The disciples were just like us. They were not infallible. Jesus had predicted the disciples would desert Him. And so He prayed for them, that they would be kept safe and protected by the Father’s power and that they would fulfil their future ministry. The disciples were about to be tested and Jesus prayed that this would not separate them from Himself or from each other.

Again, like the Three-in-one, Jesus mentions three things about His disciples:

They had accepted His teaching
They had accepted the knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God
They believed

Jesus prayed that the world would stop being opposed to God.

“All I have is Yours and all You have is Mine.” Jesus has equality with the Father.

He prays that, as He and God are one, the disciples and believers will remain as one.

In unity.

Not divided.

Division is the result of the failures of Christians.

God is awe-inspiring and loving. Jesus’s prayer is an outpouring of love and concern.

Jesus was shortly returning to the Father and to the glory He has before the world began. He had completed His mission. The Holy Spirit had been promised. With the help of the Holy Spirit it is now our turn.

Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to bring glory to God through all we do in His name.

Are we ready?

Do we accept this mission?

Cake

Cake is really the simplest thing to bake. Obviously I am talking about really basic cake (like what I bake) and not the really amazing designs you can buy from experts for special occasions.

It follows the basic rule of three (like The Holy Trinity):

150g butter (3×50g)
150g sugar (3×50g)
150g self raising flour (3×50g)
3 eggs (3×1)

Mix it up and bake in the oven till cooked – yum yum yum.

So with cake being so popular in today’s society, if Jesus came to us today, what if He said “I am the cake of life” instead of “I am the bread of life”?

Would it have the same effect? Would it have the same meaning? Would it be more popular?

Okay, so we know that unless someone really hates cake the likelihood is that it would definitely be more popular. The thought of being able to live on cake is certainly popular around here.

But Jesus wasn’t trying to win a popularity contest. He came to save us. And if we are honest, if we want to be healthy, we can’t actually just eat cake (sadly). We have to accept that we must eat healthy food to live. So cake goes back to being bread and for this we are thankful as the sacrifice of Jesus and God’s forgiveness saves us from spiritual death. Trust in God and He will provide for us and sustain us.

The Exploding Birthday Cake

Author’s note: Back in Lockdown when the children had to do Home Learning, one of them had to write a story and kept saying they didn’t want to. So Mummy challenged them that she could write (a not very good story) quicker than they could and to see if they could win the story race! Well it worked, they wrote a story, but it’s not this one. This one is the one Mummy wrote to get them to do theirs.

In a remote forest lived a very noisy elephant called Freddie. If he didn’t get everything how he wanted it, as well as more food than he could eat, he would stomp about trumpeting and upsetting all the other animals.

It was a lovely quiet day and Naughty the Monkey was enjoying resting on his favourite branch. But then, oh no, Freddie started rampaging…again!!! The other animals were getting very distressed and fed up with Freddie and his behaviour and Naughty Monkey thought enough is enough! Naughty Monkey hatched a cunning plan. It was soon going to be Freddie’s birthday and he was being very demanding about wanting a mahoosively giant cake. Naughty Monkey was determined it would be a cake Freddie would never forget. Having volunteered to make it, Naughty Monkey teamed up with all the other animals to get all the ingredients he needed – including some surprise ones.

When everyone was asleep Naughty Monkey started work. He baked and baked and iced and iced. Finally, it was complete and it was a wonderful sight to behold. Naughty Monkey spread the word to the other animals to make sure they knew not to share the cake, despite some saying it looked “just too good not to eat”.

It was not long before everyone was gathered and Freddie, in podium position, looked grandly on as the other animals were obliged to wish him “Happy Birthday”. Freddie closed his eyes to make a wish, which is why he didn’t see the other animals moving discreetly away, took a deep breath and blew…

{BANG} went the cake and Freddie the noisy elephant became Freddie the cake. He was so surprised but before he could so much as stomp Naughty Monkey said “Maybe now you’ll learn your lesson!”

And now every time Freddie starts to stomp the animals look him in the eye and say “cake!” Will he be a quieter elephant from now on? Only time will tell.

The End.