Tag: Faithfulness

Why It Takes Faith to See Christian Principles In the YMCA

So when does a life of faith with Christ matter, when does Christian principles matter in a Y, when do you “see” them, when does it become obvious of their presence and reality? When we go through hard times together, as friends and colleagues, members and in a community. So stop avoiding the suffering of others, let’s be healing hands and faith-full hearts in light of our mission.

If you go looking for trouble, you’re going to find it eventually.

An Hebrew rabbi put it this way: “seek and you will find.”

But if you go looking for success, victory, the power to overcome, the strengh to endure, while nothing is guaranteed, the odds will usually be in your favor.

An old Hebrew saint made a big deal about a common principle: “you reap what you sow.”

When it comes to the mission of the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), here are a couple observations:

If it’s important to you to put Christian principles into practice in your YMCA, then do it, and don’t worry about those who you don’t think about doing it, just do it in your little corner of the Y: you will reap what you sow! (This includes your attitude: hope or resentment, joy or despair, love or indifference, etc.)

If you’re not sure what it means to put Christian principles into practice in your Y, and you’re a little tentative about it, you really want to do it the right way and not offend anyone in the process: “seek and you will find” what you are looking for. (This is shaped by your attitude: expectant or timid, energized or doubtful, expansive or stingy).

If you’re always worried about those who are worried about “Christian principles” in our mission, guess what: you’ll pretty much only notice and get fixated on that and their worries, which only creates more reasons to worry and self-fulfilling prophecies. And if you’re looking to do battle in the Y over the “C”,you’ll find it.

But let’s be honest about Christ’s Presence and Christian Principles in the YMCA: it takes faith to see it (obviously).

What do I mean? Well when Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, people first saw a man from Nazareth, very few in the crowd could also see he was the Christ. Why would that be different today?

The New Testament Gospels are explicit: Jesus ascended from our sight into the clouds – we literally cannot see the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ in the world or the YMCA.

Apostle Paul explains, however, that those who trust Jesus mystically become part of the Body of Christ in the world. This reality only happens by faith, can only be experienced by faith, can only be seen with eyes of faith. Thus, obviously, it’s hard to see the “C” in the YMCA – it takes faith.

Hence without eyes and attitude of faith, all the actions and commitments of the YMCA can be explained away sociologically, economically, culturally, psychologically, etc.

Christian Principles can easily become “religious principles” which then become “common ethical principles” – but for Christians participating in the YMCA, how to see those same actions as embodied faith, hope and love in Christ?

That’s, frankly, what’s so daunting and divisive about living by God’s grace through faith in Christ: sometimes our everyday lives look like everyone else’s: get up in the morning, get family off to school or yourself to work, do chores at home, serve your community, enjoy a tasty dinner, try and get some good sleep and do it all again tomorrow, hoping for a little fun and relaxation on the weekend.

Apostles Peter and Paul advocate in different ways for this kind of quiet solid peaceful honest way of life for Christ’s little ones wherever they had homes across the Roman Empire.

So when does a life of faith with Christ matter, when does Christian principles matter in a Y, when do you “see” them, when does it become obvious of their presence and reality?

Maybe you won’t like my answer, maybe you’ll come up with a better suggestion, but here’s my take on it from my experience:

When we suffer.

When chaos breaks out.

When the pain crushes our soul.

When the sick and dying are abandoned by the healthy.

When the lonely and broken are overlooked by the strong.

When the violence and the tears seem unstoppable.

This might seem overly dramatic, but it’s how history has played itself out for those that trust Jesus enough to imitate him in life, in sufferings, amidst humanity as it really is.

This has also been the YMCA at its best.

It’s also the source of the YMCA, our foundation, our roots.

So if you’re not seeing Christ’s Presence in the Y, maybe you’re avoiding suffering and the pain of others too much.

If you’re not seeing Christian Principles put into practice in the Y, maybe you are playing it too safe in the Y.

Budgets matter, safety matters, cleanliness matters, but what’s the point of it if not to create a welcoming AND healing place for all – which means being with people in their brokenness, hurt, worries, confusion, sorrow, and despair.

Which is not easy. It can often require faith to see them with eyes of compassion and have a heart full of love to do whatever it takes for them when you are already worn out and a little broken yourself.

It’s easy to point out the many faults of a local Y, of ways they let members and staff down; those observations and experiences take no faith to see.

What does take faith though, if you’re a Christian in the Y, is how Christ is at work in every volunteer, member and staff bringing good out of every situation.

It takes faith to see God bringing about his will and desires through the individuals and organization, especially when there’s so many things going wrong.

If you want to see stronger Christian Principles put into practice in your Y, first use your eyes of faith to see how you are embodying them there. The temptation to focus on what others are doing (or not) can distract us from acting according to our conscience.

If you want to move beyond just your personal actions in your Y, ensure that what you are doing is with excellence and integrity, exemplary and inviting. If you’re going to be a role model for it, be a good one!

Depending on your role in the Y, you might feel a little helpless about making a difference. Ironically I know Y leaders at every level who feel hampered: a CEO who feels lack of support, a front desk staffer who feels isolated, coordinators and directors who feel on their own. Yet, if every single one of them just started to be a little more intentional, confident in Christ, and open-hearted to all around them, over time they’d see some amazing results.

Faith as small as a seed is still more than enough to start growing!

What are some tangible and productive actions you can take as a step of faith to personally put Christian principles into practice:

  • pray for one or two diffferent people at the Y everyday
  • have a key Scripture verse top of mind as you go about your work each day
  • keep an inspiring praise song/hymn in your heart as you encounter each task and responsibility
  • be prepared in your spirit to truly listen to each person that has something to say: a critique or complaint, a suggestion or improvement, a story or testimony
  • connect with a few Christians each week for encouragement and feedback
  • run your program / department / office / projects with loving excellence, wise competence and faithful consistency
  • see Jesus at work in you, helping you grow in grace and wisdom through hardship and difficulties in the Y and life
  • look for opportunities to give credit to God when sharing about success, overcoming, enduring, and making sacrifices.
  • keep digging deeper into the story of the YMCA, of George Williams and his Christian faith and how it built a foundation for our organization
  • enjoy talking about what “Christian principles” can mean in your Y experience – avoid a “right/wrong” approach; instead pursue an ongoing conversation that both includes a continuing grounding in the life and person of Christ Jesus while also becoming more inclusive and welcoming for all.
  • cultivate personal habits of abiding in Christ, of building awareness of the presence of God in the Y, of becoming attentive to the prompts of the Holy Spirit towards actions of service, caring and leadership.
  • don’t underestimate the powerful influence of one person acting under conviction and with compassion; over time this yields compelling outcomes as it draws in more individuals who together accomplish more good for all in the Spirit of Christ
  • be patient, be kind, don’t be envious of others success and avoid boasting about your achievements; putting Christian principles into practice requires faith, hope and love not coercion, haste or worry
  • have confidence that God will complete what is started in Christ through the Y – I know, I know, sometimes it’s hard to see it or believe it, like we’ve been saying, that’s why it requires faith, hand in hand, together!

“Prayer, the Presence of Christ, and a Power to See: “The Morning Watch” by John R. Mott

The Morning Watch is Mott’s dynamic publication that reveals the practices of abiding in Christ at the start of every day, a personal discipline which transformed his life, fueled a fruitful ministry, and inspired thousands upon thousands of young global Christian leaders to answer the call of God to rise up and serve in the power of the Holy Spirit.

You are invited to read and take to heart the compelling implications of keeping The Morning Watch – a simple set of habits – a subversive set of habits – a sustainable set of habits for building a healthy spirit that makes available through you the transformational energy of God.

“The true object should be – and it is necessary to remind ourselves of this constantly – to meet God, to hear His voice, to receive guidance and strength from Him which will enable me to please Him today in thought, in word, in activity.”

What do you think you are doing when you pray? Who are you becoming when you pray? What happens when we pray? Does it matter?

John R. Mott is one of the most influential Christian leaders in the 20th century; yet now largely forgotten – by the YMCA and the Church.

John R. Mott

Prayer and attending to the presence of Christ Jesus were central to Mott’s powerful accomplishments for the Kingdom of God with the YMCA.

It’s my hope that many of us will look up again to this respected visionary as a model for high-integrity, high-influence spiritual leadership.

Enjoy this extended and practical invitation to pray by Mott, written to young Christian leaders to be alert, ready, able to do God’s will by the power of the Holy Spirit, that we might join in the unceasing work of Christ Jesus. Especially in and through the YMCA. Not just in the 1890s, but in these days too.

The high-capacity legendary accomplishments of Mott are attributed by him to the keeping of The Morning Watch.

First edition printed 1893 by The International Committee Young Men’s Christian Association

“The Morning Watch”

There is no more encouraging fact in the life of the Church at the present time than the increase in the number of Christians who observe the morning watch. This tendency is most marked among students in all parts of the world.

By the observance of the morning watch is commonly meant the spending of at least the first half hour of every day alone with God in personal devotional Bible study and prayer.

What are the advantages of keeping the morning watch?

Without dwelling at all upon the general helpful results which come form the devotional study of the Bible and from communion with God, it should be emphasized that at the very beginning of the day the soul is in its most receptive state.

The mind has been refreshed by the rest of the night, and is also much less occupied than it will be at any subsequent hour of the day. Moreover, the outer conditions in the early morning are most favorable.

The first hour is preeminently the still hour, the noises of yesterday have receded, and the din of the world of today has not yet broken in upon us.

It is easier to say, “My soul be thou silent unto God.” It is easier to heed the command, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Furthermore, by having secret prayer and Bible study for spiritual growth the very first thing, we make certain of them.

By assigning these important exercise to a later hour in the day, we multiply the chances of the being abridged, interrupted or crowded out entirely.

In this connection we should heeds the words of McCheyne: “I ought to spend the best hours of every day in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is no, therefore, to be thrust into any corner.”

The morning watch prepares us for the days conflict with the forces of evil with in us and around us.

We do not wait until the enemy is upon us before we gird on the armor and grasp the sword.

We fortify ourselves before any avenue is opened through which Satan might assail us; for example before reading the morning paper, before entering into conversation with others, before turning our own thought currents upon the plans and work of the day. It is always wise to gain a march upon the enemy.

The keeping of the morning watch is the credit of largest and most enduring achievement in life and in service.

Without doubt our failure to prevail with man and against evil in the world during the day is too often due to our more fundamental failure to prevail with God at the beginning of the day.

When Miss Havergal was asked to explain why the Church does not accomplish more, she attributed it to the fact the Christians are not spending the first hour of the day alone with God.

Let us never forget the vital truth expressed by Faber that “the supernatural value of our actions depends upon the degree of our union with God at the time we do them.”

Therefore, if our lives and words and acts throughout the busy day are to possess supernatural value, we must take the earliest opportunity in the day to establish a vital and complete union with God.

Why delay the forming of this union a single hour?

Why be satisfied with having man alone work a part of the day if the energy of God may be manifested all the hours of the day?

Notwithstanding the great importance of the morning watch, there are Christians who say that they do not have the time to devote a full half hour or more of every day to such a spiritual exercise.

It is a striking fact that the busiest Christians, both among laymen and among those who are devoting their lives to direct Christian work, constitute the class who pleads this excuse the least and who most generally observe the morning watch.

It may be questioned seriously whether there is any Christian who will not, after honestly and persistently following this plan for a month or two, become convinced that it is the best possible use of the time, and that it does not interfere with his regular work.

He will find the time that the morning watch promotes the wisest economy of his time.

It makes him more conscientious in the use of time. He learns to redeem it. It helps him to see things in true perspective.

He enters the day well poised, under the control of the Spirit, not distracted; and thus he works without friction, strain, uncertainty and waste.

This suggests an adequate and satisfying reason for the oft-mentioned custom of Luther, who, if he had a peculiarly busy or trying day before him, would double or treble the amount of time which he ordinarily spent in prayer.

To promote the most profitable observance of the morning watch, certain points should be borne in mind and incorporated into practice.

First of all, form an inflexible resolution to keep the morning watch.

It will prove most dangerous and disastrous to permit any exceptions. Special caution and foresight should be exercised, therefore, to guard against such possible exceptions.

Nothing but the unmistakable will of God should be permitted to prevent us form the beginning the day with conscious and unhurried communion with God.

Be sure to be thoroughly awake before entering upon the observance of the morning watch. If necessary, first take a brisk walk in the open air. Let us present unto God for this all-important exercise not only the body, but also the mind, as a living sacrifice.

Have some general plan to follow in this devotional hour.

Many persons begin with a few moments of prayer, follow this with a season of Bible study, then spend some time in meditation, and close with special prayer.

It is possible, however to be over methodical. Beware of formalism at such a time above all times. It is also wise not to attempt to crowd too much into this hour.

Make sure at the very outset of the devotional hour each morning that you are right with God.

If there be any unconfessed sin, wrong motive, or spirit contrary to Christ, it must be made right before we can receive what God has in store for us for the day.

Sin is a terrible thing. It completely insulates us from God. It is vain, then, to expect real spiritual help from Bible study and prayer unless we are willing to give up any known sin.

Happy is the man who closes each day in fellowship with God, and who is able to say with David, “When I awake I am still with Thee.”

Recollect morning by morning the real object of the morning watch. What is it?

It is not simply to enable me to say that I have observed it. It is not to satisfy conscience by observing it because I had formed a resolution to do so. It is not to enable me to prepare Bible studies and spiritual meditations with which to help others.

The true object should be – and it is necessary to remind ourselves of this constantly – to meet God, to hear His voice, to receive guidance and strength from Him which will enable me to please Him today in thought, in word, in activity.

Select and arrange in advance the portions of the Scripture upon which to meditate at the time of the morning watch.

We should keep as much purely mechanical work as possible out of the devotional hour.

The portions selected should be taken from the more devotional and practical parts of the Bible.

They should be brief.

They should, so far as possible, be complete in themselves; and yet often it will be desirable to have portions which, though each is complete in itself, will be related to some common theme.

The follwing examples are meant to be suggestive:

  • the best thirty or sixty Psalms; thirty or more biographical portions; selected Epistles, especially some of the shorter ones; thirty of the exceeding great promises of the Bible; thirty portions bearing on each of such topics as prayer, faith, the Holy Spirit, temptation, our conversation; thirty commands of Christ; thirty or sixty portions of the Gospels bearing on the character of Christ as our example.
  • If a person will take a few hours on three or four Sabbaths during the year, he will be able to outline subject enough for use throughout the entire year.
  • He will then come to his Bible each morning with something definite. It will prevent drifting around and loss of time. It will also promote a more symmetrical spiritual development.
  • The pamphlet “Bible Study for Spiritual Growth” gives many suggestions as to the manner and spirit in which the Bible should be studied for the greatest devotional profit.

Give prayer a large place in the morning watch.

There needs to be prayer not only at the beginning and close of the hour, but the Bible study, meditation, and self-examination also should be conducted in the spirit of prayer.

As this aspect of the subject is treated so fully in teh pamphlet “The Secret Prayer Life” it is not enlarged upon here.

Only by filling the quiet hour with prayer can we keep out formalism and make the morning watch a great reality and force in our lives.

Remember that the hour of the morning watch is the still hour.

After praying and during Bible study it is well to pause and listen to what the Lord shall say.

Too often we fill up the devotional hour with our own thoughts and prayers and leave no still place for listening.

Our actual attitude might often be characterized better by the words, “Hear, Lord, for Thy servant speaketh,” than by the words, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.”

It is difficult to obey the command “Be still and know and know that I am God.” After we shut out the voices of the world’s turmoil, after we banish the suggestions of the tempter, after we cease to listen to the thoughts about the morrow, after we silence the sound of our own cares, questions, and prayers, then we hear that still, small voice which His true followers always know.

His voice is not like that of the fire, or strong wind, or earthquake, but is like unto “a sound of gentle stillness.”

Do we wonder that Paul exhorted us to study or to be ambitious to be quiet? He knew that it would require study and resolution to learn this great secret.

Who keeps the morning watch?

At once we think of some of the men of Bible times: Moses, who knew God face to face, and to whom in the early morning hours God revealed the Law: Isaiah, whom God wakened morning by morning to hear as a true disciple; Jeremiah, to whom God’s mercies and compassion’s were new every morning; and David, who declared, “In the morning will I order my prayer unto Thee, and will keep watch,” who reiterated, “I myself will awake right early” and “will give thanks,” and who learned from experience that “it is a good thing to show forth Thy loving kindness in the morning.”

The example of Jesus Christ is most impressive.

We are told that “in the morning, a great while before day, He arose up and went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

Tradition teaches that the observance of the morning watch was widely prevalent among the early Christians. Rev. Web-Peploe has said that “All the great saints have been early risers”; and he might have added that they rose early primarily to begin the day with unhurried communion with God.

There come to mind such men as Rutherford, McCheyne and Andrew Bonar, Wesley and Whitefield, David Brainerd and Henry Martyn, George Mueller and Hudson Taylor. It is said of Joseph Alleine, that wonderful preacher of the seventeenth century, that he devoted the time between four and eight o’clock every morning to prayer and Bible study, and that if he heard a blacksmith at his work before he himself began his morning watch, he would exclaim, “How this noise shames me! Doth not my master deserve more than theirs?”

On our recent journey around the world we were deeply impressed by the large number of young men and women who entered into covenant to keep the morning watch.

All the men and women who have gone out from the universities of America and Britain to lead the Christian movements among the students of India faithfully observe this watch. In Ceylon we were impressed, not so much by the beautiful and luxuriant tropical vegetation, nor by the heathen shrines and temples, as by the sigh which greeted our eyes very early one morning of Tamil students walking under the palms with open Bibles in their hands, and their lips moving in silent prayer.

We visited one college in the Levant where, according to the last report, over two hundred boys and young men keep the morning watch. We know of no college in Christian lands of which this could be said. There are ten great student movements in the World’s Student Christian Federation, but that of China is the only one of them of which we could say last year that practically all of its active members began the day with Bible study and prayer. It was visiting a college, not in America or England, or Scandinavia, but in Japan, that we were wakened over an hour before daybreak, and taken through the city, across the valley, and to the crest of the famous Flowery Hill, to meet with the members of the Christian Association of that institution for special prayer, as was their custom.

The practical question for each one of us is, Why should not I keep the morning watch?

Next to receiving Christ as Saviour, and claiming the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we know of no act attended with larger good to ourselves or to others than the formation of an undiscourageable resolution to keep the morning watch.

Is there anything which an stand before the bar of my own reason or conscience that should be allowed to keep me from forming this life-expanding resolution?

Is there any excuse or reason acceptable to God which I can plead why I would not devote at least the first half hour of every day to secret prayer and devotional Bible study?

What would keep me from it? God? Certainly not.

Is it not far more likely self, with its love of ease and its shrinking from the formation of a difficult habit; or Satan, who, if he cannot keep us from studying the Bible and from prayer altogether, is anxious to have us place them as late in the day as possible, because the only things which have ever defeated him have been prayer and the Word of God?

Am I willing to pay what it costs to form this important habit? What will it cost?

Readjusting habits of sleep, which means earlier rising and, it may be, earlier retiring; economizing of time; more than one failure possibly, repeated and persistent efforts; increasing vigilance and real watching unto prayer.

Am I willing to pay the price in order to form this habit, which has so much to do with triumphant life and fruitful service?

If so, when shall I form the resolution?

And how shall a resolution be formed which shall stand?

“It is God that energizeth you, both to will and then to work for His good pleasure.”

For more about Mott, read this inspiring and informative biography by Hopkins

Prayer In The Y.M.C.A. Paradoxes: Both/And/More Than?

Who are we these days and how to live up to our name in these complicated times? How can our Y movement fulfill our mission amidst the contentious complexities in our culture? Can we? Who believes it anymore? Who is praying for it still? Is there a way forward “that they all may be one”? Yes!

One of the contributions to the longevity and vitality of the Y is its ongoing embrace of Both/And/More Than.

In 1844 George Williams (age 22) and his 11 friends founded the Young Men’s Christian Association, a prayer movement for the conversion of souls, dignity in labor, and industry reform. (like Jesus & Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10)

It didn’t take long for these founders and leaders to innovate and adapt along the Both/And/More Than reality.

Eventually both young and old were welcomed into the movement, (George was active until his death…) both men and women, both Christian and non-Christian, both individuals who wanted to associate widely and narrowly.

Sir George Williams

And obviously it has always had some sense of More Than: it’s more than just young and old adults, but all of those in-between; nowadays it includes adults indentifying themselves with categories more than just men and women; for over a hundred years we’ve been including more than just Christians, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Secularist; and how people participate is more than just through wide or narrow associations, with many creative collaborations and participation opportunities.

By 1855 the Y.M.C.A. was an international cross-cultural Christian movement that needed to define some core beliefs and practices which allowed them to articulate a vibrant identity through which they could also expand their associations.

The Paris Basis is a genius expression of how the Christian men of the Y envisioned their diverse traditions working together fruitfully and harmoniously for the Kingdom of God in a rapidly changing and increasingly contentious century.

original draft copy of The Y.M.C.A. Paris Basis, 1855

The Y has always eventually embraced paradox: it exists within multiple cultures and draws creative strength from diverse traditions of its global leaders and communities.

Ironically, the more concious and concentrated it is on its core in the Paris Basis, the more purposely inclusive the Y can be amidst diversity. When the core identity gets thinly diluted instead of thickly enriched, the weaker the associations become and less benefits the inclusion brings. (Ask the EJY about this in Palestine.)

The current paradoxes in our YMCA mission can be a creative surge of innovation in our movement to thickly enrich our core identity, or we can fuel antagonisms which erode our core and thin or weaken what holds us all together.

In our mission it sometimes seems that “Christian principles” and “for all” are pitted against each other, especially the dimensions of diversity like “faith” and “sexual orientation” or “gender identity”.

YMCA lobby in KY

It also seems there is a split between “healthy spirit” and “healthy mind-body” – do they go together or not?

These two sets of paradoxes are good for the YMCA; they keep us energized and alert to the ways we strive to live out our values and how we also fall short of our promises. To point out failures, though, with a condescending and condemning spirit with no plan of redemption and friendship is neither Christian nor sustainable for our movement.

A purist mentality is ironically toxic, while a pluralist society can actually embody harmony.

Why? One is focused on vigilantly excluding toxins, which is a negative-oriented approach to existence based on prejudices, assumptions, and glossing over truths – the other is focused on awkwardly including differences and slowly embracing change, clumsily thickening their identity while lovingly becoming more concious of their adapting legacy and innovating traditions as they pursue truth.

It’s maybe too dramatic to declare the Y is at a crossroads, but with the violent upheavals surging through our cultures and environments, we’d be wise to more quickly embrace our paradoxes.

Ironically, let’s celebrate our clashing! Let’s also humbly insist on learning from our “antagonists” and commit to telling the true story of a Y.M.C.A. that has imperfectly endured, has elicited affection and generational gratitude in communities across the globe, has too many examples of falling short, yet continually (not without struggle) commits itself to confession and repentance, redemption and conciliation.

For Christians in the Y today, out of all the paradoxes we struggle to embrace, understand, and put into the practice, the most severe and compelling one is Jesus and his prayer in John 17:21. Either it’s a core guiding vision for the Y.M.C.A. or it is not.

old Y logo, Fort Wayne IN

If it is, then we have before us a disturbing paradox which both inspires and dejects us, empowers us yet exhausts us. What do I mean?

Well, is Jesus going to answer his own prayer for unity or not?

Is Jesus answering his prayer in our generation or not?

Do I like how Jesus is getting along with it? Do I have some serious concerns about Jesus’ tactics and strategy? Am I disappointed and frustrated with Jesus and his complicated and lengthy approach to answering his prayer?

Don’t say that you’re fine with Jesus, it’s his people you have a problem with. Jesus is the Head of the Body of Christ, he is with his people in spirit, mind and body – holding all things together and with us to The End.

And yes, this painfully heightens the frustrating paradox of the prayer “that they may all be one” and our trust in God’s Son that it will be answered.

paradox of the crucifixion of God’s anointed one…

To participate in the Kingdom of God and the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus-prayer for unity is to exist within a divinely difficult to grasp paradox that births: remarkable Faith and doubt, persevering Hope amidst despair, and transformative Love through our suffering. (see St. Paul’s prayer to his friends, 2 Thessalonians 1:2-4, 11-12)

This is the Young Men’s Christian Association at its best- since June 6, 1844, both courageously and humbly seeking to live out its name through more than 18 decades, both globally thickening its legacy and embracing the paradoxes in love, while being more than just an authentic guide for our tumultuous times but also as gentle imitators of the suffering Christ Jesus, as patient and faithful participants in his own proleptic prayer “that they all may be one.”