A Pastor and Energizing Prayer (John Frye)

By John Frye:

A charming mechanical bunny beating a bass drum crosses our TV screen. Known affectionately as the “energizer bunny,” it is hawking long-lasting batteries that have more energy than the competitors. What gives long-lasting energy to prayer?

Scot McKnight makes this observation: “As the Son of the Father, Jesus shows the disciples how he himself prays to the Father. Using this prayer, then, is a way of entering into the perichoretic, or inner-relational life, of the Trinity: this prayer reveals how God communicates with God” (SGBC: Sermon on the Mount, 170). The prayer Scot has in mind is “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:7-15).

Perichoresis, popularly translated as “circle dance,” is a term used (primarily) in the Eastern Orthodox Church to describe the “the inner-relational life of the Trinity.” Without going into a lengthy definition, perichoresis offers us a way of visualizing the inner-participation of the Persons of the Trinity as God Three in One. The Three Persons of the Trinity don’t live in separate rooms of being. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally invading, penetrating, participating in the being and works of each other.

Here’s how Jesus put it to his disciples on one occasion: “I [Jesus] have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.  He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.  All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you” (John 16: 12-15 emphasis added). Note the sharing, the giving and receiving among the Father, Son, and Spirit. What the Father has, the Son has. What the Son has, the Spirit has. What the Spirit has, the Father and Son have. Circle dance.

In John 17, Jesus’ “high priestly” prayer, we get a glimpse into the inner-relational life of the Trinity as “God communicates with God.” Profound unity permeates the Trinity. Deep joy resonates among Father, Son, and Spirit. Infinite love saturates Trinitarian relationships. Oneness (unity), joy, and love. But wait! There’s more! The Father, Son, and Spirit are in an eternal, unified, joyful, loving conversation. This conversational reality is vital to energized prayer.

Prayer begins with, is sustained by, and resolves in God. The loving Trinitarian God. As pastors, it might serve us well to pay attention to Jesus’ prayers as recorded in the New Testament. His prayers were shaped by the Psalms (Holy Spirit-touched poems), were marked always by love, unity, and (promised) joy. “For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross.” We possess energizer prayers given to keep us faithful to the task of prayer. (I would appreciate your comments on this post. Thanks!)