Going to northern Canada? Bring your parka.

Going to the pool? Do not forget your swimsuit.

Going to the big game? Put on school colors.

Going to the beach? You better remember the sunscreen. It is important to know where you are going. Then, you will know what to wear.

Jesus was going to die. So, he wrapped himself in prayer. Throughout the gospel accounts we see Jesus praying, whether with his disciples or alone. Like a priest who offers prayers for the people and himself, Jesus "offered up prayers and supplications" to his Heavenly Father. Well-practiced in prayer, it should come as no surprise that Jesus is the one to whom the disciples turned when they wanted to learn how to pray. To that particular request, Jesus taught them the Lord's Prayer, which has been handed down to us today: "Our Father, who art in heaven...."

Jesus was going to die. There is no place in the scriptures where Jesus is more focused in prayer over his future than when he is in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion. Surely it was this singular experience to which the writer to the Hebrews refers with these words, "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission." In Gethsemane we find Jesus clothed in prayer. Jesus is grieved and agitated, so he covers himself in prayer. The future is before him, but the silhouette of a cross looks so bloody and bleak. So, to get from here to there, Jesus prays.

Prayer is the bridge that Jesus builds in order to talk with his Heavenly Father. The Latin word for "priest" is pontifex, which means "bridge builder." Jesus is described in the Letter to the Hebrews as "a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek." As a priest, Jesus builds a bridge of prayer between heaven and earth. He crosses that bridge not once, not twice, but three times in that short span of time in the Garden of Gethsemane, as the future stared him straight in the face and straight through his heart.

Getting his will in line with the will of his Heavenly Father was so important to Jesus that he invested his last hours as a free man on his knees. He wore prayer like a comfortable flannel shirt. Jesus understood how important it was to be in conversation with his Heavenly Father, if he were to take any steps forward into his future. Three times he prayed in the garden, searching for that perfect union of wills.

The number three is often used in the Bible to express completeness. Jesus was given three precious gifts by the Magi who had come to worship him. Jesus was tempted three times in the wilderness and three times he defeated the Devil's trickery. The gospel writer Matthew reports Jesus telling his disciples on three separate occasions about his impending suffering and death. Jesus is in the grave three days. What Jesus experiences in worship, in temptation, in suffering and death is complete. When Jesus prays three times to his Heavenly Father, he is completely in prayer. For he knows that is the only way he can get from Gethsemane to Golgotha.

Notice the content of Jesus' prayer. It is not about himself. It is about the will of God. "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." And again, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." Jesus wanted only to put his life in line with the will of God. If it be God's will that Jesus suffer and die for the sins of the world, so be it. It will be hard, yes. But it will not be impossible; for with God all things are possible.

It is God's will that accomplishes what God wills to accomplish. When God desired to create a world, he stepped out into space and willed the world into being by the power of his word. "Let there be light." And there was light. When God desired to free a people from slavery in Egypt, he stepped onto the stage of history and willed it so. "Let my people go." And they went. When God desired to save the world that had turned its back on him, he found a manger and a way to make visible the very love of his heart. "For a child has been born for us." And the Word became flesh. Jesus knew that to go anywhere with his life or even for his death to have any meaning, it would be important to be in sync with his Heavenly Father, who is able to accomplish what he wills to accomplish. Therefore, not my will, but yours be done, he prayed. Jesus literally prayed his way into the future. Even when that future looked gory and grim, when Golgotha and the specter of crucifixion lay in front of him, he lined up his life with his Heavenly Father's vision for him.

The Father's vision for him was this: that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son, as Paul expressed it, to die for the ungodly, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children of God. Life will come through death; a resurrection will come after crucifixion. Jesus had to accept his cruel and painful death as the means by which God would save the world. Jesus had to surrender his will over to the will of his Heavenly Father. He prayed his way from here to there. Jesus bridged his present to the future with prayer. He prayed his way into the future. Jesus himself followed the advice of scripture, where it says in the Psalms, "As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray."

Now the question for you is: How do you get from here to there? How do you find your way into the future? Are you going into the future? Maybe the prospects don't look that encouraging to you, just like they did not look encouraging to Jesus. Are you concerned about your health, your very life? Does aging have its grip on you? Is there a medical prognosis that casts the shadow of a cross over you? Do you have financial struggles, either because you have too little or because you want too much? Is money becoming the driving value in your life, determining the decisions you make? Is your anxiety over the things of this world? Do relationships bring you heartache? Have people disappointed you and hurt you? Do you find family and friends drifting outside of your sphere of influence? Has work lost its meaning? Or have you lost your work? Do you wonder what to do with your life in terms of any meaningful enterprise, either in employment or in retirement?

There are real, human situations with which to wrestle. Jesus wrestled in the Garden, but not alone. He teaches us how to get from here to there; he shows us how to pray our way into the future. We do not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. With our prayers, like Jesus did, we can place our lives in the hands of God.

Prayer is built on the premise that God has a will for our lives. Prayer prepares us to receive that will and live according to it. Prayer empowers us to be the people God wants us to be. In prayer we are in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Just as he was with his Son, Jesus, all the way to the cross and into the grave and then most gloriously beyond the grave into new life, just so he will be with you.

There is no garden so far removed that your Heavenly Father cannot find you in prayer. There is no bedroom so dark or tear-stained that your Heavenly Father cannot comfort you in prayer. There is no burden so crushing that your Heavenly Father cannot lift you up in prayer. There is no future so impossible that your Heavenly Father cannot lead you there according to his will.

"Prayer is an invitation to God to intervene in our lives, to let His will prevail in our affairs," according to Abraham Joshua Heschel. Let prayer clothe you with a desire only to do the will of your Heavenly Father. It is the best way to get from here to there. It is how your future can be addressed and dressed most perfectly. Amen.