The

ALPHA
OMEGA HOUSE
Holy Conversation on Purpose
All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no
longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect
them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I
was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. - John 17:10-12a

Have you ever eavesdropped on a conversation, whether unwittingly in the presence of a dialogue in the
next room while youre doing your homework, or secretly as you spy on your siblings or your friends?
Im not advocating that you go ahead and start bugging phones (you could get into a lot of trouble in
doing that). But what if you were invited to listen in on a special conversation? What if you were given
the opportunity to sit on the Presidents National Security Council briefing or a Cabinet meeting in the
War Situation Room? What about being allowed to observe the private deliberations of the nine justices
of the U.S. Supreme Court? Or having the inside track on the next meeting of Federal Reserve Board as
they determine interest rates, which affect the borrowing authority of banks, affecting a $30 trillion (not
billion, but trillion with a T) economy, 300 million Americans, not to mention global financial
markets? Would you want a front-row seat in any of these settings?
In the closing days of Jesus ministry as His crucifixion loomed, He retreated to the Garden of
Gethsemane. There, He communed with our heavenly Father for a holy conversation between a father
and a son, between the Father and the Son. This was a special meeting, the most sacred of
conversations, a dialogue whose impact is more consequential upon all of us and the entirety of the
universe more than any conversation on interest rates or national security policy.
John 17 is a summary of that Father-Son prayer on the mission of God, the purpose of God, and our role
in it. Here, the Lord Christ submits to His Fathers will, reporting that He has fulfilled His Fathers
desire the Lord has taught His disciples about the Fathers will to love love God, love another. The
Lord has shown what the kingdom of God is about. Jesus heads to the cross and will end up in the
empty tomb as the culmination of what He had spent years demonstrating by miracles, by meal
hospitality, and by his vocal teaching on how to live as a disciple.
Here, Jesus prayed for our protection, knowing that His disciples would be challenged on all sides.
He prayed for unity that we would be united in our purpose, united in faith, as the Father and the Son
are united in the Holy Spirit. Note, unity does not mean uniformity nor does it mean unanimity. Only
the triune God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are perfectly uniform and unanimous in their purpose
and in their being.
What He does pray for is a unity of purpose, a unity of mission all of which are anchored in the unity
of God, and in our unity with God.

I greet you a happy 2015 as this is my first opportunity after my family vacation to greet you three
weeks into this new year.
In the midst of what this year will bring, whatever college degree and major you end up with, what
internship or job you land, what friendships and network of relationships you make what is your
purpose? Or more accurately, have Gods purpose as your purpose. Have the Lords mission statement
as your lifes mission statement. What is that mission statement? Its no longer a secret because youve
been let in on the secret. Its to love God and to love one another as Christ has loved you.
Live the secret. Make it real. What was held in ages past has now been revealed in Christ. You and I
have been entrusted with that Good News secret. Why? Because youve been counted as a son and as a
daughter of God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit.

-Pastor Neal Presa

Twitter: @nealpresa
Facebook: nealpresa
Email: nealp@villagechurch.org