Prayer is often seen as a key part of our walk of faith. At its simplest, prayer is talking with and listening to God. Yet for many Christians, prayer remains a source of guilt and anxiety. We feel that we should pray more, or pray better, or pray more effectively. Some people view prayer as largely a waste of time that serves no practical purpose in the world. Despite these doubts, prayer remains a core element of Christian practice the world over and a source of blessing and encouragement.

Jesus completes his farewell teaching to the disciples by praying what is often called the High Priestly Prayer. In this prayer he prays for himself in the light of his impending death on the cross, for the disciples and for the later church (those who will come to believe based on the witness of the disciples). The prayer includes many of the key themes of John’s Gospel – glory, eternal life, faith, truth, Jesus’ origins and relationship with God. It also looks ahead to the time of the church as Jesus prays that his followers would be protected from evil, would be united in heart and purpose and would know the love and joy that comes from God as they witness to Jesus.

As humans, our life depends on breathing. We breathe in and we breathe out from the moment we are born until our dying breath. If our actions of compassion and service and witness in the world are how we breathe out spiritually, then prayer and worship are key parts of how we breathe in spiritually. It is through prayer that we are refreshed, encouraged, unburdened and remain connected with God.

There is no one right way to pray, or place to pray, or time to pray. Try to find a way, a time and a place that works for you and don’t be afraid to change it around occasionally. Listen out for God’s whisper in your heart that you are indeed a precious child of God and deeply loved by God. As you listen and talk, prepare to be surprised where prayer may take you.

This Sunday is celebrated as Mother’s Day in Australia. It provides an opportunity for children to make their mother breakfast-in-bed, to give a bunch of flowers and a ready excuse for a family get together. There is of course also the commercial pressure to buy Mum this or that gift that she may or may not really want.

The odd thing about Mother’s Day is that we set aside just a single day to pause and remember all the amazing things that mothers do each and every day of the year … nurturing, caring, catering, managing, encouraging, helping, sharing common sense. And that’s not to mention that each of us only came to be born into this world through the painful labour of childbirth endured by our mothers.

It’s interesting that when Jesus is wanting to share the news about how his impending death will affect the disciples, he uses the illustration of childbirth. They will feel great pain – just as a mother feels great pain during labour. But just as the pain turns to joy for a mother when her child is born, so the disciples’ pain will turn to joy when they see Jesus alive again after the resurrection.

These pangs of childbirth are what it will take to bring Jesus’ vision for new life fully into being … a vision where every person is welcomed with respect and dignity, where loving and serving one another irrespective of our status or gender or background are the norm, where suspicion and animosity are replaced by kindness and acceptance. Wouldn’t it be great if this vision was lived out not just on a day like Mother’s Day but every day.

In our digital age, connections are all important, whether it’s the level of bars on our phone reception or the performance of our nbn connection. Problems arise when the connection is weak or broken. Just this week I was trying to set my Mum up with a new bank account and was trying to fill in all the details required at a computer at the bank. Despite trying several times, the internet connection kept dropping out so that I had to go back to the start of the form each time. We then tried a different computer with a better connection and it all worked okay.

Chapter 15 in John is all about connections, especially our connection with Jesus and through Jesus to God. John uses the metaphor of a grapevine, with Jesus claiming himself to be the vine, God as the gardener and followers of Jesus as the branches. The purpose of a grapevine is to grow and produce grapes of course with all these elements staying connected and working together. In a spiritual sense, we must stay connected with Jesus if we are to produce fruit in our lives.

How does this happen? Jesus teaches that his words and his ways must remain in us, especially the command to love one another. We are called to follow the example Jesus set of washing his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper and later his willingness to lay down his life on the cross for the sake of his friends.

This is hard teaching that may make us anxious about how we will in fact remain connected with Jesus through all the ups and downs and trials of life. The good news is that Jesus is wanting to hold on to us, through the gift of God’s Spirit, just as much as we want to hold onto Jesus. So we do not have to strive or be anxious, but rather live into the relationship that Jesus makes possible.