Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2011 • 6th Day

Today is the sixth day of this year's week of prayer for Christian Unity. The Church Unity Octave, a forerunner of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, was developed by Father Paul Wattson, SA, at Graymoor in Garrison, New York, and was first observed at Graymoor from January 18-25, 1908. Today, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity invites the whole Christian community throughout the world to pray in communion with the prayer of Jesus “that they all may be one” (John 17:21).

In 1966, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat (now Council) for Promoting Christian Unity began collaborating as a common international text for worldwide usage. Since 1968 these international texts, which are based on themes proposed by ecumenical groups around the world, have been developed, adapted and published for use in the United States by the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute.

The chosen theme for the 2011 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is One in the Apostles’ Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread and Prayer (Acts 2:42). In Taylorsville, our sister parish, All Saints, is in covenant with Taylorsville United Methodist Church and Christian Church of Taylorsville. On the Sunday of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity the covenant churches have a pulpit exchange. I will be preaching at Taylorsville United Methodist Church at their 11 AM service on Sunday, January 23.

The World Council of Churches publishes materials for Biblical reflections and prayers for the 8 days of the Week of Prayer. Even though, we have no covenant or formal celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Saint Francis Xavier, I encourage everyone to participate with our Christian brothers and sisters throughout the world with the daily reflections and prayers posted here.

Deacon Gerry



Day 6 - Empowered to Action in Prayer

Reading:
Jonah 2:1-9 Deliverance belongs to the Lord!
Psalm 67:1-7 Let the peoples praise you, O God!
1Timothy 2:1-8 ...prayers should be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions...
Matthew 6:5-15 Your kingdom come, your will be done...

Commentary:
Following devotion to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship and the breaking of the bread, the
fourth mark of the earliest Church of Jerusalem is the life of prayer. It is experienced today as the
necessary source of the power and strength needed by Christians in Jerusalem - as everywhere.
The witness of Christians in Jerusalem today calls us to a deeper recognition of the ways we face
situations of injustice and inequality in our own contexts. In all this, it is prayer that empowers
Christians for mission together.

For Jonah the intensity of his prayer is met with dramatic deliverance from the belly of the fish.
His prayer is heartfelt, as it arises from his own sense of repentance at having tried to avoid God’s
will: he has abandoned the Lord’s call to prophesy, and ended up in a hopeless place. And here
God meets his prayer with deliverance for his mission.

The Psalm calls us to pray that God’s face will shine upon us - not only for our own benefit, but
for the spread of His rule ‘among all the nations’.

The apostolic Church reminds us that prayer is a part of the strength and power of mission and
prophecy for the world. Paul’s letter to Timothy here instructs us to pray especially for those with
power in the world so that we may live together in peace and dignity. We pray for the unity of our
societies, and lands, and for the unity of all humanity in God. Our prayer for our unity in Christ
reaches out to the whole world.

This dynamic life of prayer is rooted in the Lord’s teaching to his disciples. In our reading from
Matthew’s Gospel we hear of prayer as a ‘secret’ power, born not from display or performance,
but from humble coming before the Lord. Jesus’ teaching is summed up in the Lord’s Prayer.
Praying this together forms us as a united people who seek the Father’s will, and the building up
of His Kingdom here on earth, and calls us to a life of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Prayer:
Lord God our Father, we rejoice that in all times, places and cultures, there are people who reach
out to you in prayer. Above all we thank you for the example and teaching of your Son, Jesus
Christ, who has taught us to long in prayer for the coming of your Kingdom. Teach us to pray
better as Christians together, so that we may always be aware of your guidance and
encouragement through all our joys and distress, through the power your Holy Spirit. Amen.