Jesus prays for unity (John 17:1-7)
The MessageYou may like to read this story using the Message translation
"Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said: Father, it’s time. Display the bright splendor of your Son So the Son in turn may show your bright splendour." Jesus prays for his friendsAs Jesus approaches his final days, this passage in John 17 reveals what is on his mind — including his love for his his disciples.
Jesus has spent time sharing a meal with them, explaining more about the Father, the Holy Spirit and who He is. Jesus first prays that for himself earlier in John 17, "Father, the hour has come. Glory your Son, that your Son may glorify you." Prayer was important to Jesus and this is one of the longest prayers we have recorded. He then goes on to pray for his disciples, thanking God for them and acknowledging that they are a gift from God. Jesus clearly loved his friends, asking his "Holy Father, protect them in the power of your name" — some translations say "keep them faithful to your name," so that "they may be as one, as we are one." Jesus had an intimate, loving, close relationship with God the Father, and he prays that we will have that too. and to protect them as they go out into the world. He knows that they will face opposition, tough times and spiritual battles, and he prays for faithfulness and unity. Later in the prayer, we see that this prayer is not just for the disciples, but for us too. (verse 20). We too need to pray for a close relationship with Jesus, for protection from spiritual battles and to remain faithful. Game: Get the messageWhat you need/preparation: A list of bible verses or a list of phrases eg. The cat ran under the fence at midnight.
What to do: Get the children to sit in a circle. Ask for a volunteer. Whisper in their ear the first verse or phrase on your list. You can only whisper it once. Then, get them to whisper what they heard to the next person. Keep going until you get to the last person. Ask them to say out loud to the group what they heard. Then get the first person to say what it was. See if they are different! You can repeat this with different people starting. Does God hear us clearly when we talk to him, or does he struggle to hear what we say? Praying to God can just be like having a conversation, and we can trust that He hears us when we talk to him. We can use the words we want to, whenever we want to, and he always hears us clearly. |
Quick questions
Gospel ConversationsWe are continuing through Jesus' wonderful last instructions to, and prayers for, his disciples - which means, amazingly, for us as well. Kelvin, Trish, and Lucy bring their honesty and insights to Jesus' words, exploring in particular both the comfort and challenge contained in the love Jesus offers us. Hosted by Rev. Michael Godfrey and produced by the Diocese of Dunedin.
Praying for the world collageWhat you need:
Recent newspapers and magazines, paper, glue, scissors, felts and crayons What to do. Get the children to go through the newspapers and magazines to find articles on situations that need prayer. Get them to cut them out and glue them on the large piece of paper. Next to each article, have the children either draw or write a prayer to God about the situation in the article. At the end, pray together aloud as a group, all the prayers. You may like to let the adults know what you have been doing and give them an opportunity to look at the prayer collage. SermonIn this reflection for the week, Archdeacon Martin Robinson reflects on the passage from John 17:1-11, in which Jesus prays a High Priestly prayer.
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Jesus' prays (John 17:6-19)
Today's story looks at the words that Jesus prayed to his father before returning to heaven.
Activities
Thy Kingdom Come
Prayer Flip BookI found this prayer flip book for helping guide young ones in ways to pray on the Teachers Pay Teachers website (you'll need to sign up for a free account) at this link.
"This is a flip book that I designed to help guide children with prayer. The front flaps each have a “reason” or the intention of their prayer, such as to pray for forgiveness. The back flaps each have prayer starters or suggestions. So, if a child wants to pray to ask for forgiveness, they can lift that flap and see some suggested ways to begin their prayer. You can use this flip book in any way that works for you!"
Balloons Up!You will need:
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Gospel ConversationsQuestions
Prayer SpiralsThis fun idea is from the Flamecreative website, based on this experiment on Carrots are Orange website
Blowing BubblesBlow bubbles and they have to pop them/catch them, try blowing from low down and blowing them up in the air. If it seems appropriate, you can mention that today we are thinking about Ascension day when Jesus went back up to heaven to be with God and we are blowing the bubbles up to the sky like Jesus going up to God.
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Jesus prays for his followers (John 17:20-26)
This passage of John 17 shares part of Jesus' last address to his disciples, before he is arrested by the soldiers and taken off to Pilate. Jesus speaks of unity, and finishes by saying: “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”
Input for Leaders
Visio Lectio
A beautiful image from the Visio Lectio project, created by the Anglican Diocese of Auckland. © Sarah West. All Rights reserved, shared with permission. PNG Download Terms of Use |
Gospel Conversations 2025: This week a smaller group do their best to give some insight into this beautiful and challenging passage.
Gospel Conversations 2022: Thanks to the Diocese of Dunedin for these great videos! Some conversations are stand-outs, and this is one of them. As Jesus comes ever closer to the cross, his final words are ones of challenge and promise, not only to the disciples sitting around him, but to us as well.
Gathering Prayer (Church of Scotland)
"We come to re-weave the unravelling fabric of community. To re-connect once more with the larger human family. To find once more that place of calm. To remind ourselves that we belong. And to remember what it is we belong to." |
Thy Kingdom ComeThy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement between Ascension and Pentecost that encourages the church to pray for people to become Christians and follow Jesus. There are lots of prayer ideas on our Strandz website, such as praying for 5, labyrinth prayers, and our prayer puzzle.
Thy Kingdom Come also has a series of fun, short videos for kids exploring all the different ways we can pray to God. 
Intergenerational WorshipIntergen Easter 7: A collection of resources and ideas, written and compiled by Rev Beth Nicholls Intergen Australia. Bible references: Acts
Kids TalksMany Parts, One Body (Faith Formation Journeys) - object lesson with lego minifgure
Jesus prays for us (Sermon Writer) Making Peace (Flame Creative) - Lesson on peace with activities and questions. Could easily be adapted for this weeks passage. Unity and Cake!
You will need: a recipe and cake ingredients e.g. flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, eggs, milk. Start out by showing the kids the ingredients. (Hold up a few of the items and comment on them). Would you like to eat a spoonful of flour? How about a spoonful of salt or some vegetable oil? I didn't think so! Most of the items we have here wouldn't taste very good by themselves, but when you mix them all together in one bowl, put them in a pan and bake them in the oven, you can end up with a delicious cake! The church is a bit like a cake! It's make up of lots of different ingredients (or people). Like these ingredients, each person is quite different. But when you put them all together and they work together, it makes something wonderful! In our reading this morning, Jesus prayed that all believers would be one so that the world would see God's love in them. You and I are part of that. Jesus wants us to love one another, help one another, and serve one another. When we do that, we become one, just as Jesus prayed we would be. When we are one, the world can see God's love in us. Sometimes we have a hard time being one with one another at church. People might like different songs, or a different way of doing Sunday services. We might find some people annoying, or boring, or difficult. We need to remember that just like the ingredients we are all different, and we can work together and love each other even when it is hard. Jesus prayed that we would be one, so that people who don't know God yet would see how wonderful he is and how much he loves them. Finish by handing around some cake to enjoy! 
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ActivitiesBake a cake!
Try this basic vanilla cake (Picklebums) or this super easy chocolate cake (Bake Play Smile). You may like to cook the batter as cupcakes in paper cases as they will cook faster and kids can take them home and be reminded of todays lesson. Big Group Art Activity Create something beautiful together! Two easy ideas:
Work as One (Sermons 4 Kids) Try one of these group building activities to show them how important it is to be ONE. If you have an older group, have them all stand on a blanket. Together, they must figure out how to turn the blanket over without anyone getting off the blanket. It can be done (but it’s difficult)! Or make a pretzel - have them stand in a circle and grab someone else’s hands (two different hands). Then they have to untangle themselves. Connections that Stretch (Sermons 4 Kids) If you have a connection with a church in another country, or to missionaries living elsewhere) make some cards to send or email to the children in that church/family. Make sure and write on the letter – WE ARE ONE IN CHRIST!! Pray it!Pray it with Pictures
Gather a collection of pictures from newspapers or online images that represent the differences between people, and people in unity. Spread out the pictures for the children to see. Take time to look and choose one which you feel God is nudging you towards. As you hold your picture in your hand:
Playdough Prayers (Flame Creative)
Give the kids two colours of playdough and getting them to think of someone they find difficult to love. One colour is them and one the other person. As they ask God to help them love and accept this person, mix the two colours together, blending them. Preschool FunHere are some ways you can invite your preschoolers to play their way into the bible story and spend time with God.
The Story - A simplified versions of the Many Parts, One Body Talk or the Cake and Unity Talk may work well with little ones. They both have something concrete (a lego/duplo) minifigure or a cake) to help them understand the idea of putting things together to be one. Most of this week's general 'Activities' can be easily adapted to Preschoolers. |
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