Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2011 • 8th Day

Today is the eighth and last 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.  On January 23rd, Pastor Bill Dunning from First Christian of Taylorsville preached at All Saints Catholic Church. Deacon Gerry Mattingly from All Saints preached at Taylorsville United Methodist, and Pastor Marco Ballesteros from Taylorsville United Methodist Church preached at First Christian of Taylorsville.

Even though the 2011 Week of Prayer for Chistian Unity ends to day, I encourage everyone to continue to pray for Christian Unity throughout the year.

Deacon Gerry

Day 8 - Called for the Service of Reconciliation

Reading:
Genesis 33:1-4 Esau ran to meet Jacob, and embraced him...and they wept
Psalm: 96:1-13 Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is King!’
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 God...reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation
Matthew 5:21-26 Leave your gift before the altar, and go: first be reconciled to your
brother or sister...

Commentary:
Our prayers of this week have taken us on a journey together. Guided by the scriptures, we have
been called to return to our Christian origins - that apostolic Church at Jerusalem. Here we have
seen devotion - to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the
prayers. At the end of our reflections on the ideal of Christian community presented to us in Acts
2:42, we return to our own contexts - the realities of divisions, discontents, disappointments and
injustices. At this point the Church of Jerusalem poses us the question: to what, then, as we
conclude this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity are we called, here and now?

Christians in Jerusalem today suggest an answer to us: we are called, above all, to the service of
reconciliation. Such a call concerns reconciliation on many levels, and across a complexity of
divisions. We pray for Christian unity so that the Church might be a sign and instrument for the
healing of political and structural divisions and injustices; for the just and peaceful living together
of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim peoples; for the growing in understanding between people of
all faiths and none. In our personal and family lives, too, the call to reconciliation must find a
response.

Jacob and Esau, in the Genesis text, are brothers, yet estranged. Their reconciliation comes even
when enduring conflict might have been expected. Violence and the habits of anger are put aside
as the brothers meet and weep together.

The recognition of our unity as Christians - and indeed as human beings - before God leads us
into the Psalm’s great song of praise for the Lord who rules the world with loving justice. In
Christ, God seeks to reconcile to Himself all peoples. In describing this, St. Paul, in our second
reading, celebrates a life of reconciliation as “ a new creation”. The call to reconcile is the call to
allow God’s power in us to make all things new.

Once again, we know that this ‘good news’ calls us to change the way we live. As Jesus
challenges us, in the account given by St. Matthew, we cannot go on making offerings at the altar,
in the knowledge that we are responsible for divisions or injustices. The call to prayer for
Christian unity is a call to reconciliation. The call to reconciliation is a call to actions - even
actions which interrupt our church activities.

Prayer:
God of Peace, we thank you that you sent your Son Jesus, so that we might be reconciled to
yourself in Him. Give us the grace to be effective servants of reconciliation within our churches.
In this way help us to serve the reconciliation of all peoples, particularly in your Holy Land - the
place where you demolish the wall of separation between peoples, and unite everyone in the Body
of Jesus, sacrificed on Mount Calvary. Fill us with love for one another; may our unity serve the
reconciliation that you desire for all creation. We pray in the power of the Spirit. Amen.