Our Unity
Old Testament reading: Psalm 33:1-22 (NRSV)
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Praise the Lord with the lyre; make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and all their host by the breath of His mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; He put the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him, for He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His heritage.
The Lord looks down from heaven; He sees all humankind. From where He sits enthroned He watches all the inhabitants of the earth—He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.
Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and shield. Our heart is glad in Him because we trust in His holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
New Testament reading: John 17:6-23 (NIV)
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. 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. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 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—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.