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(Jer.31:31-34;\xa0\xa0 Ps.51:3-4,12-15;\xa0\xa0 Heb.5:7-9;\xa0\xa0 Jn.12:20-33) \u201cFather, glorify your name.\u201d Jesus cries out in supplication to Him who is \u201cable to save Him from death,\u201d but He prays not to be saved from death, not to be saved from the sacrifice He must make, but only that in His death the Father might glorify His name.\xa0 His \u201chour has come,\u201d He knows.\xa0 He hears from His apostles of the Greeks who seek Him, and He knows it is now time for Him to return to the Father and for His apostles to take over the work He has begun \u2013 to carry His salvation to the nations.\xa0 And though He is \u201ctroubled,\u201d knowing \u201cthe kind of death He would die,\u201d knowing that it is the only path to the Father, yet He does not ask to be saved \u201cfrom this hour.\u201d\xa0 His only desire is to fulfill the Father\u2019s will by being \u201clifted up from the earth\u201d in crucifixion and resurrection that He might \u201cdraw everyone to [Him]self\u201d and to the glory in the Father He knows. And of course \u201cHe was heard because of His reverence.\u201d\xa0 Because His cry is sincere, is a laying down of His life in perfect humility and perfect love, the Father readily answers His prayer.\xa0 Even in \u201ca voice c[o]me from heaven\u201d He responds, speaking not for the sake of His Son \u2013 who needs no such assurance, who is dead to Himself and serves the Father perfectly \u2013 but for those whom the Son would save by His \u201cfall[ing] to the ground\u201d in death.\xa0 For them, for us, the Father answers, for this is the Son\u2019s wish. And if we are holy as He, we \u201call, from least to greatest, shall know\u201d the Lord our God just as He knows Him \u2013 we shall have our prayers answered as readily as the cries of supplication of our Savior.\xa0 And so we shall be saved; and so we shall be preserved from death\u2026 and so we, too, shall glorify the Father\u2019s name.\xa0 As the Lord listens to David when he cries out in his penitent psalm, so shall God come and make our hearts clean: so shall He come and write His name upon them as we cry out to Him.\xa0 And we shall be blessed as Jesus, and we shall stand just as steadfast.\xa0 Renewed in spirit, our offenses wiped out, we shall stand in the Son\u2019s stead upon the cross and in the kingdom. \u201cYour Holy Spirit take not from me,\u201d O Lord, for it is the proof of your presence within me; it is the seal of your Son and His blood upon my soul.\xa0 By your Spirit I know I shall be protected from death; by His touch I am led to my salvation.\xa0 Father in heaven, glorify thy name in me as in thy Son. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The Sunset Bleeds Me Clean" (1st half) from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, may we be made perfect as your Son as we join Him in His sacrifice. YHWH, the Cross of your Son is the source of our eternal salvation.\xa0 In His blood is written the New Covenant you promised your people.\xa0 For by His sacrifice our sins are removed and our hearts made new, that your Name might be written upon them.\xa0 Our sins are forgotten by you that we might remember your glory forever. And we are called to lay down our lives with Him: where He is, so shall His disciples be.\xa0 And so, upon a cross we must find ourselves, a grain of wheat fallen to the ground.\xa0 If we hold to our lives in this world, what shall we do but die, LORD?\xa0 But if we hate the world and even our own lives, we shall find eternal life in you through your Son. Jesus is our Savior.\xa0 In Him your Name is glorified, O LORD.\xa0 May your Name be glorified in us as well, as in His blood we are cleansed of our sin and joined to Him in your kingdom.