Why, and for what, do we pray? And what did Jesus pray for?

 Scripture:  Acts 1:15-17, 21-26  • Psalm 1  • 1 John 5:9-13  • John 17:6-19

Today we have John's account of Jesus' prayer for us - not what we call "the Lord's Prayer." In "Pearls and Grit" The Rev. James Liggett tells us Jesus, the night before his arrest - his last evening with his disciples,  his friends, prays for them, for us, knowing how difficult things will be for his followers in the pain, suffering, crime, hate, and violence of the world, then, here, and now. He likens it to that of an oyster who must produce a pearl, or die, when a grit is ingested. 

Debie Thomas, in "A Lover's Prayer," asks why do we pray, and what do we pray for? If you find yourself praying more, or with more urgency these days as I do, or if you rarely, or never do, you owe it to yourself to read her article as she examines her journey in praying.

The Rev. Dr. James C. Howell tells us, "God doesn't sow cancer cells in people's bodies, God doesn't crash planes into buildings, God doesn't prescribe one child to live under a bridge while my children are in soft beds. God is not in control, or let's say, God does not choose to be in control--because God is love, and love just can't or won't control. Paul says, "Love does not insist on its own way." God could have made us like marionettes, so God could manipulate us and everything to suit God. But God yearns for our love, and cuts the strings, risking the wounds Jesus was about to incur when he prayed for us."