You gotta wonder what was going through James' and John's heads when they came to talk to Jesus.

"Teacher," they said, "we want to sit on two thrones, one on either side of you, when you come into your glory."

The audacity, the sheer nerve, of that request are sort of breathtaking. I mean, to James and John themselves, it might have made a kind of sense: James and John, along with Peter, were, after all, Jesus' inside circle of disciples. They were the ones Jesus took with him when he went apart to pray privately. They were the ones who were with Jesus on the mountain when he was transfigured. They were the ones Jesus took with him when he raised Jairus's daughter from the dead. James and John had reason to believe they were like that with Jesus. So it probably made sense to them that, because they had been that close to Jesus in his ministry, therefore they should be that close to Jesus in his glory.

But James and John might not have thought everything quite all the way through. They're seem so fixated on the glory that they seem to have forgotten what Jesus has told them about what it will take to get to that glory.

Three times in Mark's gospel--the third time just immediately before the story we read today--Jesus has told his disciples that the way he will enter into his glory is by going to Jerusalem, and confronting the powers-that-be, and being rejected and arrested and humiliated and tortured and executed on the cross--and then, only then, on the third day, will he be raised into new life in the glory of God.

Jesus has said repeatedly, in his public teaching and in his private instruction to his disciples, that coming to God's glory is not about being enthroned in majestic power, but that coming to God's glory is through denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Jesus on his way.

Were James and John just not paying attention? Did they not hear what Jesus just told them? Even when Jesus confronts them directly, when he puts the question right to them--"Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"--even then they don't seem to realize the gravity of the situation. Their answer, "We are able," is so baldly self-confident it's almost unbelievable.

So we read this story, we look at this outrageous request of James and John, and we have to ask what was going on in their heads? What were they thinking?

But what I find interesting about this story is that Jesus doesn't seem to ask that question. Jesus seems to know what's going on in their heads, and Jesus seems to accept it. "Yes, you will drink my cup," he says to them, "Yes, you will be baptized with my baptism." Thrones at the right hand and the left are not Jesus' to give; but Jesus does assure James and John that they will be on the way to the kingdom with him, and that seems a pretty good promise that they will share the glory of the kingdom with him as well. Jesus seems to see beyond the mere outrageousness of James and John's request, Jesus seems to see something deeper in them--and maybe that means we should look for something deeper in them, too.

Because James and John do get it--maybe not right away, but they do get it--they do understand it's not just about the glory, they do realize it's about being the servant and the slave of all, about not being served but serving, about giving their lives as a witness to many. According to the Book of Acts, James became one of the leaders of the young church in Jerusalem, and was the first of the Apostles to be martyred for his faith, when King Herod laid violent hands on the church and had James executed by the sword. On the other hand, according to ancient church tradition, John lived to a ripe old age, the only Apostle to die of natural causes rather than execution--and yet John also gave his life in witness, gave his life in service to the church, teaching about Jesus, and meditating on Jesus, and pondering the meaning of Jesus, and shaping his own life after the example of Jesus, until (according to tradition) near the end of his long life he wrote his gospel, filled with a whole lifetime of spiritual reflection on the height and depth and breadth of the good news. Even though James and John seem outrageous in today's gospel story, in the end they did exactly what they told Jesus they were able to do: they drank his cup and were baptized with his baptism and they gave their lives, by living and by dying, in witness to the new life in Christ. And if that is not being side-by-side with Jesus in his glory, then it's hard to say what would be.

So maybe James and John are not so outrageous after all. Maybe wanting to be side-by-side with Jesus in the glory of abundant life is something all Christians should want. Maybe being confident that we are able walk the way of discipleship that leads to the glory of abundant life is something all Christians should be confident about. Sure, James and John say it in a kind of over-the-top way, but maybe they're saying something all Christians should be able to say.

How would we say that here at St George's? What is it we want Jesus to do for us? Do we want Jesus to keep us comfortable, in the safe and familiar way we've always done things? Or do we want to share in the glory of abundant life, do we want to be transformed and open and growing in the new life that comes in Christ--and do we want it badly enough to be bold enough to say so?

What are we able to do for discipleship? Are we able to give our lives in witness? Are we able to set aside some of the agendas and habits and customs and traditions of our parish family, in order to open up to new ways of doing things and new people who will have agendas and habits and customs and traditions that may not be like our own? Are we able to be serious about shifting priorities in our budgets and programs and staff and ministries, so that we can focus on serving Christ in the world, not just being served in our own close parish circle? Are we able to make some sacrifices, even painful sacrifices, so that we as a congregation and as individuals can really grow in Christ? What do we want Jesus to do for us, and what are we able to do with Jesus?

That's the question of our gospel today. How we will answer that question is entirely up to us.

"The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Those words from our Epistle lesson today are powerful, almost scary, in the way they depict the Word of God as a living and active reality that gets inside us, that gets right down to the roots of our being, that's not just a sort of external story or statement to be heard "out there," but is a power that comes into our thoughts and intentions "in here."

The Word of God to us is primarily Jesus, the Word of God Incarnate. But there are also words about the Word, the scriptures; and the scriptures also get inside us as a living and active reality. The Bible is not just a collection of ancient stories that we dust off and read every so often; the Bible is the record of the experiences of faithful people in their encounters with God; and as we read those stories and hear them and ponder them and meditate on them, they get inside us, they shape our thoughts and intentions, they become a living and active reality within us. That's why we read from the scriptures out loud in the service: so they can be living and active in our hearing. And that's why we pray the scriptures, that's why words and images and allusions from scripture are so often in our prayers, that's why the shape of the story of the Good News of Jesus is also the shape of many of the prayers we pray.

And of all the prayers in our Prayer Book tradition, the one that prays the Good News most thoroughly is the Eucharistic Prayer. Our Prayer Book includes six complete Eucharistic Prayers, two for Rite I and four for Rite II. The supplemental book of prayers, Enriching Our Worship, contains three more. Each prayer uses different language and imagery and allusions to scripture--but all nine of those prayers have the same basic shape, they all cover the same basic ground in the story of the Word of God. Each prayer begins with a dialogue, so the priest and the people are praying together. Each prayer has a section praising God for God's work in creation. Each prayer has a section thanking God for calling Israel to be a people of the covenant. Each prayer has a section proclaiming that God sent Jesus to be the salvation of the world. Each prayer has a section remembering Jesus' ministry, especially his Last Supper with his friends. Each prayer tells what Jesus did with the bread and the wine and why we do it again to remember Jesus. Each prayer offers our gifts and ourselves in remembrance of Jesus. Each prayer asks the Holy Spirit to bless the bread and wine, and to bless us, so that we may be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ and we may be the Body of Christ in our community. Each prayer looks forward to the consummation of creation in the fullness of Christ. And each prayer ends with the Great Amen--the only Amen in the entire Prayer Book printed all in capital letters!--in which the whole assembly says "Yes!" to all the Good News the prayer has prayed.

Each Eucharistic Prayer in the Prayer Book and Enriching Our Worship has those same basic parts, covering the whole range of the Good News, so that the Word of God can be living and active in us as we pray it. But each Eucharistic Prayer uses different words, different phrases, different images, different quotes and allusions from scripture, in order to express the Good News in a particular way. I often say that the Good News is like a many-faceted jewel, and you have to look at it from different angles in order to see all its truth and beauty; the different images of the Eucharistic Prayers help us look at the Good News from different angles, so that more of its truth and beauty can come to be living and active in us.

So let's take a look at the Eucharistic Prayer we will be praying in just a few moments. It begins on page 6 of your bulletin. This prayer comes from Enriching Our Worship, and it's one we haven't used at St George's before; but you'll see it has all the same parts of a Eucharistic Prayer as the prayers that are more familiar to us.

The Prayer begins with the familiar dialogue: "The Lord be with you... Lift up your hearts." It honors God as the "source of life and fountain of mercy." It includes the song "Holy, Holy, Holy," which is the song both Isaiah and John say they heard the angels singing around the throne of God. The prayer thanks God for creation, noting that God formed us in God's own image--a quote directly from the first chapter of Genesis--that God calls us to dwell in God's infinite love--a reference to John 15--and that God "gave the world into our care" as faithful stewards--which is an allusion to the second chapter of Genesis. The prayer then acknowledges the reality of sin: that we fail to honor God's image in one another and in ourselves, and that we refuse to see God's goodness in the world--a reference to Romans 1:20. The prayer gives thanks that God prepared the way of salvation by calling Abraham and Sarah, by leading the faithful people out of slavery, by sustaining them in the wilderness, and by raising up prophets to renew the promise of salvation--stories drawn from Genesis, Exodus, and all the books of the prophets. There is so much scripture contained in just this one prayer!

Then the prayer remembers all the work and ministry of Jesus: that he was born into the human family in the fullness of time, a phrase drawn from Galatians; that he is the Word made flesh, a phrase from John; that he dwelt among us and revealed God's glory, more phrases drawn from John; and that his death on the cross triumphed over evil and opened the way of freedom and life, themes mentioned repeatedly in the letters of Paul. The prayer then tells the story of the Last Supper and the first Eucharist, reminding us that when we do Eucharist we do as Jesus does, so that we can so that we can live as Jesus lives.

Then we proclaim the mystery of faith: that Christ has died in the past, that Christ is risen in the present, that Christ will come again in the future. We live in the middle time, when we both remember what Christ has done and look forward to what Christ is yet to do. So remembering what Christ has done, we offer gifts of bread and wine, and we pray that the Holy Spirit will make our gifts be the Body and Blood of Christ for us. We also pray that the Holy Spirit will fill us--the image of being filled with the Spirit is one that Luke particularly likes to use--so that we may live as Christ's Body in the world--an image from Paul that is particularly powerful in 1 Corinthians 12. We pray that by the Spirit God will bring us to the everlasting heritage of God's daughters and sons, language from Romans 8. Then we sum up the prayer with the Great Amen, printed, as you can see, all in caps, so that everyone can join in with a resounding voice. And that's our Eucharistic Prayer for today.

This prayer is new to us; but you can see it has all the traditional parts of a Eucharistic Prayer, telling the whole story of the Good News of our salvation. It uses some words and images and allusions to scripture that may be different from the prayers we're more used to--you may notice that it talks about God as creator, holy, life-giving, but it never uses the image of "father"--yet this prayer says all the important things about God and Christ and Holy Spirit that we need a prayer to say. This prayer is a fine expression of the Word, it's a powerful witness to the Word of God that is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart--the Word of God that gets inside us and gives us life in Christ.

And that is what Communion is all about. That's what we pray for in Communion; that's what we act out in Communion. This Eucharistic Prayer, indeed all our Eucharistic Prayers, are really the same prayer, the same prayer expressed in different words. And so that we can experience the whole variety of words that speak the Word, we'll use a different Eucharistic Prayer every week within our Sunday Communion services. Look at each prayer each week: you'll be able to see the different parts of the prayer, the different elements in the story of salvation; you'll see different images for God and for Christ and for the Holy Spirit, different phrases used as pointers to the core mysteries of our faith; you'll be able to see how each prayer is like a different facet of one whole incredibly beautiful jewel. Pray this prayer today, let it get inside you--and do that for each Eucharistic Prayer each week. That way the written prayers will become heartfelt prayers, the living and active Word of God within us, a living and active Communion in Christ giving us life.

So, with all that in mind, when we come to the Eucharistic Prayer today, let us pray.