NOTES: 1] Chapter 17 is usually referred to as Jesus' 'High Priestly Prayer'. 2] Jesus isn't speaking to us. He's praying to God the Father. His friends are privileged to hear him sharing 'the love that flows between the Father & the Son' (Blake)

WARMING UP:  How do we know when to pass on information and when not to?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
6-8        In what ways has Jesus 'made God's name known .....' to us? Does God's 'name' (what isGod's name, by the way?) have any special significance? What about the way we make God's name known to others - or is that Jesus' job, not ours? Do we think of the disciples as those who 'kept God's word', or more as those who meant well but blew it? Do we have as much difficulty in grasping God's truth as the disciples had? Is their or our failure a matter of blame, or more than that?

9 - 13    When Jesus compares his followers with 'the world', does he appear to mean what we mean whenwe talk about 'the world', or something else? What do we mean when we talk about 'the world'? (See 14-17 below, too.) Do we spend more or less time praying for others than for ourself? What does it mean that God has 'given us to Jesus', & vice versa?
              Can we ever have that same 'one-ness' with Jesus & God that Jesus speaks of here? Do we think of God being a protective force? If so, what if that force doesn't appear to be 'working' in our interests?
               Is it possible for us to be 'lost' to the extent that Jesus refers to (apparently meaning Judas) here? Does the so- called Gospel of Judas make any difference here? What is joy? Is it more a matter of experiencing than defining? Do we use the word 'joy', or hear it used much these days, except in the odd hymn, maybe? Why is it (joy) dropping out of use?

14-17     Does the way we define our 'world' have anything to do with the deep divisions across the geographical world - the hatreds, violence, power-plays, issues like globalisation, right wings v centrists & left wings, poverty, AIDS, etc.? From our understanding of God revealed in Jesus by the Spirit, how do we imagine God sees the world? Is the way we put people or things into categories more to do with us trying to keep control of our lives (or other people's) & not allow God to rule? Are there any clues here as to how we can improve our performance in this regard? Do we ever want to escape from the world?
              How do we understand 'the evil one'? Does our understanding allow for the enemy within as well as any enemy out- side? Does our understanding of 'the enemy' depend on our 'world view', or vice-versa? Do we have a prayer for the world?

18-19     What does being 'made holy' ('sanctified') have to do with 'truth'? Seeing all of this passage is a prayer, does 'being holy' have anything to do with the way we pray? Does acting truthfully?