Christians throughout the world will be gathering in the upcoming week to pray for the unity of the Church that Christ desired in order for the world to believe. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was first observed in January 1908 in the chapel of a small Atonement Franciscan Convent of the Protestant Episcopal Church on a remote hillside fifty miles from New York City. The Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement could never have imagined that this simple gathering would blossom into a worldwide observance involving many nations and millions of people.
Here in South Jersey, we will gather at Grace Episcopal Church, 19 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield, this Sunday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. Parking is available in the back of the church. Through the kind invitation of Bishop George Councell of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, Bishop Joseph A. Galante and other Christian judicatory heads and representatives will gather to celebrate at Grace Church. The homily will be delivered by Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, leader of the United Methodist Church in New Jersey. All are welcome to attend and light refreshments will be offered in the parish hall. We would like to thank Father Pat Close, rector of Grace Church, for his kind hospitality and welcome. I would also like to thank Mrs. Patricia Sandrow and the Ecumenical Commission for all your planning and service to unity.
The theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is taken from Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.” The call for unity this year comes to churches all over the world from Jerusalem, the mother Church. The 2011 prayers for the week of prayer were prepared by Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem. The theme is a call back to the origins of the first church in Jerusalem; it is a call for inspiration and renewal, a return to the essentials of the faith; it is a call to remember the time when the Church was still One.
Within this theme four elements are presented which were marks of the early Christian community and which are essential to the life of the Christian community wherever it exists. Firstly, the Word was passed on by the apostles. Secondly, koinonia (fellowship) was an important mark of the early believers whenever they met together. A third mark of the early church was the celebration of the Eucharist (the breaking of the bread), remembering the New Covenant which Jesus has enacted in his suffering, death and resurrection. The fourth aspect is the offering of constant prayer. The Christian community in the Holy Land chose to give prominence to these basic essentials as it raises its prayers to God for the unity and vitality of the church throughout the world. The Christians of Jerusalem invite us to join them in prayer as they struggle for justice, peace and prosperity for all people of the Holy Land.
At present in Jerusalem today there are 13 churches with an episcopal ministry: the Greek Orthodox Church, the Latin (Catholic) Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church, the Maronite (Catholic) Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Chaldean (Catholic) Church, the Episcopal Evangelical Church and the Lutheran Evangelical Church. As Christians we all turn to the Holy Apostles as the standard of faith and orthodoxy. They were the first charged with keeping the holy unity of the church. To their successors falls the divine command to restore unity to the church.
The church in Jerusalem finds itself in a political climate that is in many ways similar to the life of the early Christian community. Palestinian Christians have become a small minority facing serious challenges that threaten their future in many ways, while they are longing for freedom, human dignity, justice, peace and security. They call us to pray for Christian unity, as we lift up our voice as one family of faith to God in anticipation and hope for itself and the world so that all may be one in our faith, in our witness and in our love.
Please come out and join us this Sunday 2 p.m. at Grace Church in Haddonfield to pray for that unity that Christ so ardently desires of us so that the world may come to believe.
Father Joseph D. Wallace is coordinator, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.
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