May 9, 2024, the first video featured Right Rev. Stephen Cottrell. the second-most senior bishop of the church and the most senior in northern England.
Key parts
“At supper with his friends on the night before he dies the other Judas asks Jesus a question in John chap 14:22. He says to “Jesus why is it that you reveal yourself to us but not to the world now now thisis a really interesting question in fact ”
“It’s a question that takes us right to because the great focus of thy kingdom come is that we pray for people who do not yet know Jesus but here’s Judas asking Jesus the question that we ask Jesus. So why is it that we need to do this. Why is it that you reveal yourself to us but not to others ? why is that why do we have to pray for these five people ? Lord why don’t you just reveal yourself to them ? Jesus tells us elsewhere in the gospels that our father knows what we need before we ask him so so why do we have to ask him so anyway
“The answer is in John 14:23. Jesus answered him, those who love me will keep my word and my father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them.
“I think he’s saying something profoundly beautiful about the nature of prayer itself. Prayer isn’t just us asking stuff from God, it isn’t what if we could just get enough signatures on the prayer petition maybe God wou ld change his mind on this one.
“It’s about placing ourselves in right relationship with God that God will change us that we will become channels of God’s beauty, God’s goodness, God’s purposes for the world we are praying in this period between Ascension when Jesus Takes our Humanity into heaven to Pentecost the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”
“Come Lord Jesus Come Holy Spirit make your home in us and when we pray thy kingdom come when we pray Lord Jesus take your place at the center of my life when that happens we do indeed become channels of God’s grace, that God is at work through us and we dare to Hope and dare to believe and even see this happening in our world others coming to know Christ and even the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.