Day 10: As it Is
Our Lord does not just stop in recognizing the present reality of the earth, but moves forward to what He continually prays—for earth and all its inhabitants to be brought into oneness with heaven and all its inhabitants. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is a beautiful example of how these three little words call forth for unity between God and His creation. Jesus prays, “I pray for those who will believe in me, 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 (Jn. 17:20-21).”
The Savior of the world is teaching us to pray from His passionate and beautiful desire to see all people and all of the earth find unity in the only True and Pure Source of unity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In His praying these simple words, He is revealing that the way for us to live is not to completely remove ourselves from the world, but rather to be a place in which heaven invades this world.
The early Celtic Christians of Ireland referred to these locations and moments of the closeness and seeming unity of heaven and earth as “thin places.” These thin places are gracious times and spots in which the veil between heaven and earth is lifted, and one is able to glimpse the glory of God. In praying “on earth as it is in heaven,” we are asking for thin places. We are asking to experience them, and ultimately, to become a thin place in which people encounter the very presence of God sustaining, redeeming, and breathing His life-changing grace and love through us. Some would say these “thin places” lead to a heretical view of heaven, earth, and God, but I would say that Jesus’ prayer, lifestyle, and the very fact that He was both God and human, leads us to a lifestyle that looks like His: in which heaven and earth are unified and demonstrated in us. Amen.
Action: I encourage you today, beloved, to make a list of all the places in your life that are anything but “thin places.” In this list, I would challenge you call these places into alignment with the truth of who God is, and the truth of who You are as the temple of God. Simply proclaim over each place, person, etc. this prayer: Triune God of Love, align us with Your unity.
