The Council of Bishops is urging all United Methodists to join with other Christians throughout the world to participate in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity promoted by the World Council of Churches.
This year’s Week of Prayer (January 18-25, 2018) uses Exodus 15:6 with the theme “Your Right Hand, O Lord, Glorious in Power.” An ecumenical group from the churches of the Caribbean has taken the lead this year in writing the materials and creating the theme.
The contemporary Caribbean is deeply marked by the dehumanizing project of colonial exploitation. During 500 years of colonialism and enslavement, those who brought the Bible to this region used the scriptures to justify their subjugation of a people in bondage. Yet in the hands of the enslaved, the Bible became an inspiration, an assurance that God was on their side, and that God would lead them into freedom.
Thus, Christians are reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe.” (see John 17.21).
Congregations and parishes all over the world are invited to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by exchanging preachers, holding special ecumenical worship or prayer services, or however seems appropriate in your local setting.
Click here to read a prayer offered for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by Bishop B. Michael Watson, Ecumenical Officer of the Council of Bishops, and the Rev. Dr. Jean Hawxhurst and Rev. Dr. Kyle R. Tau, ecumenical staff officers of the Council of Bishops.
A prayer for the unity of Christ’s church
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins Thursday, Jan. 18. Bishop B. Michael Watson, ecumenical officer of the Council of Bishops, and the Revs. Drs. Jean Hawxhurst and Kyle R. Tau, ecumenical staff officers of the Council of bishops, offer this prayer.
Eternal Creator; immortal, invisible, God only wise:
With these words, we quiet ourselves before you again with awe and reverence.
We thank you for this day, a day that is new and fresh, a day we do not deserve, but a day you have given us. We praise you for your graciousness and your steadfast and generous love.
We confess we have not always used the days you have given us to further your Kingdom. We have been selfish, focusing on our own needs and our own advancements. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience to walk in your ways and to further your love in this world.
This day we thank you for our sister and brother Christians within our own faith community and throughout your world. In your creative genius, you have made all of us with different gifts to bring to your table, and your Spirit has given us the unity to appreciate and celebrate all those gifts. Thank you for that unity in the midst of beautiful, challenging diversity. Thank you for the many expressions of following your son’s Way that are making a difference around your world.
Today, we pray for your universal church. We pray for our shared mission to your world. We pray for open eyes and open hearts for those who need to hear your message of grace. We pray for kindness among our faith communions, even when we disagree with each others theology or opinions. We pray for wisdom and insight to maintain unity without demanding uniformity; to celebrate our diversity instead of making it a cause for division, to claim that diversity as a part of your gracious gift to us.
Grant that we may speak, and act, and live, so that the world may see in us the promise of your will, and so that the world may be challenged to move toward that vision, in and through the Christ, who is our source and our goal.
Amen.
(Bishop B. Michael Watson, Council of Bishops, Ecumenical Officer and Rev. Dr. Jean Hawxhurst and Rev. Dr. Kyle R. Tau, Council of Bishops, Ecumenical Staff Officers)
Click here for more details about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Photo: Albin Hillert/WCCTheme for 2018:
"Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power"
At least once a year, Christians are reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe” (see John 17.21). Hearts are touched and Christians come together to pray for their unity. Congregations and parishes all over the world exchange preachers or arrange special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services. The event that touches off this special experience is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Traditionally the week of prayer is celebrated between 18-25 January, between the feasts of St Peter and St Paul. In the southern hemisphere, where January is a vacation time, churches often find other days to celebrate it, for example around Pentecost, which is also a symbolic date for unity.
In order to prepare for the annual celebration, ecumenical partners in a particular region are invited to produce a basic liturgical text on a biblical theme. Then an international editorial team of WCC and Roman Catholic representatives refines this text to ensure that it can be prayed throughout the world, and to link it with the search for the visible unity of the church.
The text is jointly published by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the WCC, through the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order, which also accompanies the entire production process of the text. The final material is sent to WCC member churches and Roman Catholic episcopal conferences, and they are invited to translate the text and contextualize or adapt it for their own use.
Material for 2018
For resources from previous years, please visit the documents section.
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