One Life: Sent by Jesus to Carry Each OtherSample

Is Jesus still answering his prayer in John 17:20-21? If so, what would it look like?

I see it in the transformation of my friend Phyu, in the way she began to trust God. Phyu puts it this way, “I felt the love – love is what drew me to explore and begin to trust God.”

Jesus prayed for all his disciples, those with him then and everyone who would trust him in the future, that they would be one- amongst themselves and with God.

He prayed that Father and Son would be "in us” – just as they are in one another.

But why? What is it that Jesus experienced that he wanted so eagerly for all people to experience? What is this relationship?

Love forms and gives identity to God. It flows between Father, Son, and Spirit, between them and us, and then flows out between humanity.

This transformational caring causes a oneness of heart, purpose, and affection. What happens to one part, happens to the whole, causing the unique individual to live in and for the whole.

We are invited to find our identity and purpose in this flow of love. This brings a rich challenge to our understanding of community.

The prayer of Jesus“that they may all be one” is an invitation of love to humanity, that we might share what the Father, Son, and Spirit experience. As Phyu shared with me, “Without love, we have nothing – everything changes because of love.”

Though she grew up a Burmese Buddhist, her 20-year journey with the YMCA transformed her, inspiring Phyu to start a YMCA in her hometown in Myanmar - as a Christian. It all began with enrolling her three sons in Y programs in the USA, as a way for her to navigate and anchor herself in a foreign land.

Eventually, she became a volunteer with her Y and then joined the staff as a group exercise instructor. Her continual encounters with the way of love through the followers of Christ she met at the Y changed everything for her, and then her hometown.

Jesus is still working to answer his prayer through the Y; like he did with Phyu.

Who is the Phyu in your life that you can become “one” with, and extend God’s eternal invitation of love?

Written by: Janele Nelson, Association Mission Director, YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, WA