Between 18 to 25 January, Christians the length and breadth of the country will join one another to celebrate the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Revd Philip Brooks, Secretary for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations for the United Reformed Church, reflects on how important the week is.
During my time as a student minister, I remember vividly how Christians Together in the town centre of Bolton would cancel Sunday morning worship in their individual churches and hold one united service during this special week. The service would highlight a project where local Christians were engaged in working together to address issues such as homelessness or poverty. It was a powerful act of ecumenical witness and a reminder of the creative force for good that unity in Christ brings.
One of the central strands for churches taking part in the Week of Prayer is that the material used for worship is usually drawn from one source. Each year, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) works in collaboration with a wide range of writers to produce prayers and reflections on a particular theme. This year’s worship material has been produced in the Caribbean highlighting Exodus 15:6, ‘Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power’, as the theme.
This part of the world experienced 500 years of the colonial system, where scripture was used by rulers and missionaries alike to justify the enslavement of people. In a dynamic reversal, those same scriptures became the inspiration and motivation for people to reclaim their liberty. As a result, the hymn The Right Hand of God, reflecting the song of Miriam and Moses in praise of the liberating action of God, has become the anthem of the ecumenical movement in the region.
The CTBI worship material focuses on the way in which churches of the Caribbean address issues of present day enslavement, with separate themes for each day of the Week of Prayer. Topics include welcoming the stranger, resisting modern slavery, upholding human dignity and overcoming violence.
The material underscores that unity is not an end in itself, but the start of a commitment for Christians the world over to answer Jesus’ call to ‘set the captives free’, as he quoted the prophet Isaiah in Luke 4.
In any community, there are those who feel unseen, powerless and left behind by everyone except God. How can we draw attention to people the world overlooks? Perhaps, as we focus on the ‘glorious power of the Lord’s right hand’, we should remember that God also has a left hand?
I leave you with the prayer from day five of CTBI’s Worship Material for the Week of Prayer:
Pursuing economic justice
God of the poor and dispossessed,
You hear the cries of your despised ones.
You look with favour on the lowly
And bring down the powerful from their thrones. Hear our cries for those who are silenced,
Our protests for those pushed to the margins. In our advocacy with them,
May we find the unity to which you call us
In Christ’s name.
Amen.
Click here to download the worship resources.
Pictures: Nina Strehl/Unsplash, Patrick Fore/Unsplash
