Holy Eucharist Rite II - Seventh Sunday in Easter, May 17, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Pieces and the Picture

Jesus prayed for unity while staring at the cross. He asked the Father to protect His disciples “that they may be one as we are one.” Picture a half-finished puzzle—scattered shapes, disjointed colors. Like the pastor who needs the box’s image to place pieces, we need Christ’s vision to see how our differences form His body. Unity isn’t uniformity. [30:59]

Jesus’ prayer anchors us in divine relationship. The Trinity’s oneness—Father, Son, and Spirit sharing perfect love—becomes our blueprint. We don’t erase our edges but fit them together under His gaze.

You sit beside believers who baffle you. Their struggles, politics, or joys feel foreign. Yet their piece matters to the whole. How might your irritation today mask a missing part of Christ’s portrait?

“Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”
(John 17:11, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to show you one person’s value in His puzzle that you’ve overlooked.
Challenge: Text someone you find difficult: “I’m thankful you’re part of our church.”

Day 2: As We Are One

The Trinity’s love is a dance—Father, Son, and Spirit giving, receiving, delighting. Jesus prays we’d join this rhythm: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” No coercion. No erased identities. Just shared life flowing from divine communion. [33:10]

God’s unity isn’t a doctrinal checkbox but a relational reality. We mirror heaven when we honor others’ sacred worth without demanding they mirror us.

Your differences with fellow believers aren’t threats. They’re invitations to lean into the Triune mystery. Where have you demanded sameness instead of seeking shared purpose?

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me.”
(John 17:22-23a, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one judgmental thought about another member. Ask for Trinity’s love to replace it.
Challenge: Share a meal or coffee with someone who votes differently than you.

Day 3: When Pieces Don’t Fit

The woman at the well argued theology. Peter rebuked Jesus. Thomas doubted. Yet Christ leaned into their jagged edges. His prayer covers our friction: “protect them so that they may be one.” Unity isn’t a lack of conflict but commitment through it. [35:32]

Jesus didn’t pray for ease. He prayed for endurance. The Spirit helps us stay at the table when every instinct says to walk away.

Who tests your patience in the pews? What if their “difficult” trait is a grace to stretch your love? Will you let Christ defend them rather than your criticisms?

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
(1 Corinthians 12:26, NIV)

Prayer: Thank God for someone who irritates you, naming one strength they bring.
Challenge: Write a note affirming a “prickly” person’s contribution to the church.

Day 4: One Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

The Nicene Creed’s “we believe” binds centuries of saints. Martyrs, mystics, and misfits confess the same faith. Your voice joins Augustine’s, Teresa’s, and the single mom in the third row. [39:18]

The Creed’s “one church” isn’t a human achievement. It’s the Spirit’s work through bread, wine, and water. We’re stitched into a story bigger than our preferences.

What part of the Creed feels hardest to affirm alongside those here? How might your doubt or certainty be a bridge, not a barrier?

“We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”
(Nicene Creed)

Prayer: Pray the Creed slowly, pausing at “one church.” Surrender one division to Christ.
Challenge: Memorize the Creed’s “one church” line. Whisper it when tensions rise.

Day 5: Spirit’s Tapestry in Red

Pentecost’s flames birthed unity from Babel’s fragments. The Spirit didn’t erase languages but harmonized them. At Saint Andrew’s, red vestments and jazz hymns declare: our differences glorify God. [55:44]

The Spirit weaves without erasing. Your story, wounds, and quirks matter to the tapestry. So do the quiet widower’s, the teen’s angst, the immigrant’s accent.

What thread of yours feels too frayed or bold for God’s loom? Will you offer it anyway?

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.”
(John 14:26, NIV)

Prayer: Ask the Spirit to highlight one way your uniqueness serves the body.
Challenge: Wear something red tomorrow—a sock, lipstick, tie—as a prayer for unity.

Sermon Summary

John lets Jesus’ prayer be overheard. After farewell words to his friends, Jesus turns to the Father and opens what is closest to his heart. The line that carries the weight is simple and daring: protect them so that they may be one as we are one. The ask is not small. It is protection with a purpose. It is oneness measured against divine life, not human convenience.

Jesus’ prayer names what sounds unrealistic on the ground. The pews hold puzzle pieces that do not look like they belong together. Young and old, secure and scrambling, PhDs and folks who never went to college, people who vote differently and think differently and sometimes grate on each other. Individuality is prized and guarded. Oneness sounds exhausting. Yet he prays it. So the thing must be both important and possible.

The prayer’s last clause gives the picture on the puzzle box. As we are one sets the measure. The unity asked for is not sameness but shared life. The Father and the Son dwell in love that is mutual, free, and overflowing, and in the church’s speech that circle of love widens to name the Spirit too. Richard of Saint Victor says, Love by definition is directed toward another. Therefore, cannot exist without a plurality of persons. That plurality is not a problem to fix. It is the place where love is real.

Unity often gets pitched as a strategy, a means to evangelism or growth. Jesus is asking for something deeper. William Temple’s line helps: the church’s oneness lets souls participate in the life of heaven. The point is not optics. The point is communion.

That kind of oneness costs something. Lives must be seen not as floating singularities but joined. Scripture’s cadence sets it plainly. When one suffers, all suffer. When one rejoices, all rejoice. It will not be perfect. It will be messy. But love keeps offering itself.

The picture helps those who cannot force shapes to fit. No one needs to yank the pieces into place or throw away the odd ones. The church can look at the picture Jesus hands over as the intended image and practice what is seen there. A community where difference is not just tolerated but honored as inextricably linked to the whole. This confounding puzzle is beautiful when the pieces stay themselves and still belong.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus prays protection for unity Jesus’ intercession does not treat oneness as optional. He asks the Father to guard a people into a shared life that will face pressure and fracture. Protection signals spiritual vulnerability, and it also declares God’s agency as the source of lasting unity. The church’s oneness begins in prayer before it shows up in practice. [28:42]
2. The Trinity sets the pattern “As we are one” gives the church a living template, not a slogan. Divine life moves with reciprocity, delight, and self-giving, so ecclesial unity must be relational before it is organizational. Richard of Saint Victor’s insight means plurality is the condition for love, not its obstacle. Difference is where love has room to be itself. [34:03]
3. Unity is participation, not strategy Oneness is not a marketing plan for mission or an efficiency play for growth. It is a gift ordered to communion with God, a foretaste of heaven’s life shared on earth. When unity is instrumentalized, people become means; when it is received as participation, persons are honored as ends. Joy becomes deeper than agreement. [34:42]
4. Difference belongs to the whole The puzzle image refuses both uniformity and fragmentation. Real faces and real stories stay distinct, yet they find their place by looking at the picture Jesus gives, not by forcing fit. Suffering and rejoicing are shared because belonging runs deeper than preference. Courage holds space for the piece that seems not to match. [36:54]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[10:54] - Collect for Purity
[13:11] - Ascensiontide Collect
[13:45] - Children’s Chapel Blessing
[27:15] - Overhearing Jesus Pray in John 17
[28:42] - “Protect them… that they be one”
[29:08] - Dyscalculia and getting lost
[30:07] - Puzzles and needing the picture
[31:17] - Real faces, real differences in pews
[33:10] - The Trinity as the model of oneness
[34:03] - Richard of St. Victor on love
[34:42] - Unity for the life of heaven
[35:32] - Suffering and rejoicing as one body
[36:54] - Honoring difference within one community

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
John 17:11 (ESV)
“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

1 Corinthians 12:26 (ESV)
“If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

Observation Questions

What specific request does Jesus make to the Father in John 17:11, and what is the purpose of this request?
The sermon compares the church to a puzzle with diverse pieces. What examples of differences among believers are mentioned? [31:17]
According to the sermon, how does the unity of the Trinity differ from human ideas of uniformity? [33:10]
What practical challenge does 1 Corinthians 12:26 present for a community of believers?

Interpretation Questions

Why might Jesus connect protection with oneness in his prayer (John 17:11)? What does this imply about the obstacles to unity?
The sermon says, “Plurality is not a problem to fix. It is the place where love is real.” How does this idea challenge common assumptions about unity in the church? [34:03]
How does the analogy of a puzzle (and needing the picture on the box) help explain the role of the Trinity in guiding the church’s unity? [30:07]
The sermon claims unity is “participation, not strategy.” What might it look like to treat unity as a gift rather than a tool? [34:42]

Application Questions

Jesus’ prayer for unity begins with God’s action (“protect them”). What practical step could you take this week to rely less on your own efforts and more on God’s power to foster unity in your relationships?
Think of someone in your faith community who is very different from you. How could you intentionally honor their God-given role in the “puzzle” of the church? [36:54]
When have you experienced the truth of 1 Corinthians 12:26 (suffering or rejoicing as one body)? How might this shape how you respond to others’ joys or struggles?
The sermon says, “Difference is where love has room to be itself.” Where do you feel resistant to differences in the church? What would it look like to see those differences as opportunities to grow in love? [34:03]
Unity “costs something.” What habit, preference, or assumption might you need to surrender to better reflect the self-giving love of the Trinity?
The puzzle metaphor assumes every piece matters. Who in your life or community might feel like an “odd piece,” and how could you affirm their belonging this week? [36:31]

Sermon Clips

A community where difference is not only tolerated but honored and seen as inextricably linked to the whole. This whole confounding puzzle we call the church. I'm thankful you are here, willing to be a piece of that puzzle and willing to see others as pieces of the same puzzle. It takes courage and faith and grace to do that, and this picture wouldn't be the same without you. Amen. [00:36:54] (51 seconds)

Falling on the heels of Jesus' farewell words to his disciples, it's a kind of parting prayer. So in it, we get to listen to what's closest to Jesus' heart in this moment. The entire seventeenth chapter is this prayer spanning 26 verses, theologically rich with so many words and images to mind. But here's what grabbed my attention. Jesus prays, protect them so that they may be one as we are one. He prays for protection so that we might be one. He prays for oneness, for unity. [00:28:08] (46 seconds)

And if you were to comb through some of these words, you would discover images of the trinity that are marked by relationship, sharing, affection, reciprocity, giving, and love. Richard Saint Victor was a medieval Scottish theologian and mystic. He wrote these words in his work on the trinity, Love by definition is directed toward another. Therefore, cannot exist without a plurality of persons. A plurality of persons. Kinda like what we have here. [00:33:36] (45 seconds)

We're overhearing Jesus pray this morning in the seventeenth chapter of John's gospel, which is interesting considering John doesn't pay much attention to Jesus' prayer life. Not like the other gospels do where they have him, you know, sneaking off away from the crowds to pray or instructing his disciples how to pray. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. There's not even a Garden Of Gethsemane moment in the gospel of John where Jesus is pleading in prayer, suffering through prayer. There's none of that. But we do get to overhear this prayer. [00:27:26] (43 seconds)

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