Some of the wording from today’s gospel, — just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,   reminded me of a song that was sung when I was growing up:

I'm with you and you're with me, And so we are all together,
So we are all together, So we are all together.
Sing with me, I'll sing with you, And so well will sing together,
As we march along.
We are marching to Pretoria, Pretoria, Pretoria,
We are marching to Pretoria, Pretoria, Hurray!

I couldn’t really remember all the words so of course googled ‘We are marching to Pretoria” on the computer and found them on the web site from the YMCA of Lincoln, Nebraska. But here’s the reason I looked up those words. When I was in seminary my ethics professor gave that song as an example of people singing a catchy tune – with easy words but not knowing the history behind it. At the time it was sung in my hometown we actually had no idea where Pretoria was…South Africa.

Here is a truth about that piece of music. It was short marching song which was sung by the Naval Brigades of the British Empire during the South African Zulu Wars of 1879 and also during the Boer (Dutch) war of 1899. The British troops sang "Marching to Pretoria" as they marched toward Pretoria, the Boer capital city. Today there is some controversy because the name Pretoria – the administrative capital of South Africa – which for many people is a symbol of the old white government which did not give credence to the former neighboring black or Indian townships – may be changed to Tshwane – Shwa Nay – which comes from the Ndebele tribe or language and will give recognition to the heritage that existed before the Dutch or the British inhabited the land.

This train of thought reminded me of how easy it is to ‘march together’ without understanding what we are marching together for. At my seminary we told we were adult learners – and therefore responsible for own learning. We were encouraged to ask questions, not just accept the ‘party line’. If we were reading an article written by a prominent person we were to read about that person as well, because as my professor put it, ‘there is no value free space.’ We all bring ourselves, our baggage, both good and bad, to the conversation or to the written page.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is praying, not for himself but for his disciples…that they might be one – unified – as Jesus and God are one. The disciples knew Jesus, walked with Jesus, shared their lives with him, and yet in some ways still did not know him or understand him. And here we are, some 2,000 years later, singing and praying about this person, Jesus of Nazareth, who love his disciples, loved all people so much that even when he knew his end was approaching, he prayed for them... that they might know within their core beings how much they were loved by God in Christ, and because of that love, give new life to the world.

I imagine Jesus praying that same prayer for humanity today. May all know the deep love, the deep peace, the shalom of God, and live together unified in their actions toward each other and the world.

The more we can read about and talk about Jesus, his life and ministry, the more we will come understand who he was, who he is for us today, why we ourselves should pray for unity in his name. And perhaps really struggle with what the concept of unity means for us and the world.

Does unity mean that we are all the same, that we become ‘assimilated’ like the Borg on Star Trek where everyone who encounters that entity looks the same, talks the same, acts the same as that one being? I don’t think Jesus meant that unity with God meant imposing the “melting-pot” mentality that could destroy cultural, theological, and social distinctions. In our country this was the norm for a long time. Anyone who immigrated here was expected to take on the ‘culture’ – speak one language, look like, dress like, act like, everyone else.

Today, for the most part, we are more like a huge tossed salad where our diverse backgrounds are like ingredients which add zest and flavor to our lives. But of course there are still pockets of ‘we and they’ that exist around the country.

This unity in Christ is not something that we win at the expense of others. It is not imposed upon, forced on, or made into law. In the Episcopal Church we are fond of saying, ‘you don’t have to check your brain at the door.’ Unity in Christ is a gift offered to us by God…a gift that is freely given if we but accept it. This is what the unity of God’s realm could look like; a realm – an eternal place - where the diversity of God’s creation is honored and celebrated. But of course there are areas of the world where ‘we and they’ are still at war and debase and destroy God’s creation.

Jesus prayed for his disciples and for the world. We church people often talk a good talk about prayer and how to do it correctly. Personally I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to pray to God. Story about cow herder.

How often in our prayers do we pray for the welfare of others rather than always asking for our own needs to be met?

Tom Fox, 54, a peace activist and a member of Langley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, Virginia, was kidnapped in Iraq in November 2005 along with three other members of Christian Peacemaker Teams. James Loney, one of the others who was rescued later that year, wrote this about Tom Fox. “During those first days of relentless, terrifying, excruciating uncertainty, Tom Fox dove into prayer the way a warrior might charge into battle. He turned his captivity into a sustained, unbroken meditation. The chain that bound his wrist became a kind of rosary, or sebha (the beads Muslims use to count the names of God). He would picture someone: a member of his family, a member of the Iraq team or the CPT office, one of the captors – whoever he felt needed a prayer. Holding a link of the chain, he would breathe in and out, slowly, so that you could hear the air gushing in and out of his lungs, praying for the person he was holding in his mind. With the completion of each breath, he would pass a chain link through his thumb and index finger. During his first breath he would say to himself, with the warmth of my heart. In the second, with the stillness of my mind. In the third, with the fluidity of my body. And in the fourth, with the light of my soul. At the end of each series of four breaths, he would pause and simply rest in the light with the person he was praying for.” Tom’s prayers were profound. They brought our suffering into dialogue with the vast suffering of the world. Again and again his prayers brought to mind other prisoners – security detainees in Iraq, illegal combatants in Guantanamo, the lost and forgotten souls in American penitentiaries. And every time we heard a bomb explode, near or far, Tom would stop to pray for those whose lives had just been destroyed. Every time, without fail.”

Tom Fox was practicing what Jesus prayed for – unity with others through the love of God in Christ.

The story we heard from the Acts of the Apostles is another example of this kind of unity. Paul is a prisoner but he is in prayer with the others in jail. When the opportunity arises to escape – which would free them but surely bring death to the guards, Paul stays put and show that the love of God surpasses personal freedom. And the guard and his family are converted on the spot.

Some of that kind of praying sounds very hard and undoable. So here is something I learned about praying for others. A while back I attended a rather large event in a place where noise bounces off the walls. It was hard to hear the small class I attended because the noise from the room next to us was so great – it was filled with joyful teens playing a shouting game. I thought it can’t get worse than this. Then a steel drum band started up. All I could hear from the speaker was ‘wha-wha-wha-wha-.’ In other words – nothing. I ran into the person planning it and spilled out my frustration. After I got home I thought about prayer. I could have prayed for the success of that event – knowing what a nightmare it can be to plan for large gatherings. Not that my prayers would have caused God to make sure things ran smoothly – but the person in charge might have felt some strength from my prayers and for sure I would have approached the day with more insight and understanding and empathy for the those planning the event.

The more we learn about Jesus, about his ministry, the more we learn about each other, and the more we learn about other cultures, places in the world, the closer we will get to that sought after unity through the love of God in Christ. And in our praying for the welfare, the health, the freedom, the well-being of others, the closer we will become to experiencing that unity in our own lives.

One of my favorite hymns is Hymn 24 - the day thou gavest. It is a hymn about the unity of the church, the realm of God, that place where prayer is always being offered. It is a hymn that reminds us that the Church, which would be us and all who love and believe in Christ, is never silent but always keeping watch – so that all might be unified and benefit from God’s love. If we were to have a ‘marching song’ for Christians, this could be it. We sang the hymn –

The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended, the darkness falls at thy behest;
to thee our morning hymns ascended, thy praise shall sanctify thy rest.
We thank thee that thy Church, unsleeping while earth rolls onward into light,
through all the world her watch is keeping and rests not now by day or night.
         As o'er each continent and island the dawn leads on another day,
         The voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away.
So be it, Lord; thy throne shall never, like earth's proud empires, pass away;
Thy kingdon stands, and grows forever, till all thy creatures own thy sway.