[+] Jesus' Prayer for Our Wholeness

by Revrickm

“I in them, and thou in me: that they may be made perfect in one…”

In John 17:23a (quoted above), Jesus prays his vision for humanity. Often referred to as a prayer for ecumenical unity, I believe Jesus’ vision reaches far beyond that. I believe it holds forth a hope for humanity to achieve a spiritual maturity in which we can know, through the way of Christ, an ultimate state of oneness with God.

In 1998, author Hugh Prather gave an interview to Ronald S. Miller, who asked, “Given the emptiness of purely materialistic success, how does realizing our union with God provide lasting happiness?” Prather’s answer is, I believe, both provocative and instructive, as he speaks of the great spiritual mystery he also calls oneness with God.

“[W]e live in a world where two stories are running concurrently. One story, told by our body, involves a separate personality living in a hostile world in which we have little control. The wise person doesn’t expend too much energy in interfering with the personality’s melodrama. The story may center on being rich and famous or living an ordinary life with little fanfare. It may involve a fifty-year marriage to one’s high school sweetheart or a complex path through a series of short-term marriages. Whatever the story line, we need to accept it and cooperate with our destiny,” Prather says.

“While the personality’s story line is unfolding, our spirit tells another story, which is concerned with relinquishing the goals and values of worldly life, turning to God, and soaring. Even in old age, when the body is deteriorating and friends are dying, we still can enjoy the greatest happiness, because the story has shifted away from the body and personality to the spirit and soul. In that story, we’re [becoming] one with God; we see God everywhere and rejoice in our oneness with God. With this realization, we travel more lightly on our journey through life, because the beauty, peace, and joy of God are everywhere.”

Prather adds, “Oneness with God doesn’t necessarily change circumstances in the outer world [but] as we turn to God, we tend to make more peaceful decisions about our health, finances, and relationships, which then manifest as improved outer conditions. But these improved outer conditions are not the goal of spiritual life, but a result of the realization that we’re like little children, asleep in God’s arms, being gently rocked awake under his caring, protective gaze. . .”

“The only way you can miss this wonderful experience is by trying to usurp control, appropriating to your ego what genuinely belongs to God. When you give up the impossible task of controlling life, God will take your hand and lead you through. . . [and] beyond your anguish, into the dawn of a new and joyous day.”

(From “More Notes: An Interview with Hugh Prather,” by Ronald S. Miller, Science of Mind, October 1998, Vol. 71, No. 10, pp. 42-51.) John 17:23 from Douay-Rheims Bible.


[Note: The above was written for the newsletter of a local community church, June 2003.]