Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2022
Original photo of Nablus (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0): Dr. Michael Loadenthal
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was initiated by the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement at Graymoor, USA, in 1908. The Octave (eight days of prayer) gave a new focus to other calls to prayer for Christian unity and it has evolved into a world occasion for such prayer. In some parts of the world, it is celebrated round Pentecost.
The Inter-Church Relations Committee recently listened to a fascinating presentation by Fr Martin Browne OSB of Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick. Fr Martin has, for a number of years, been on the international committee which commissions and prepares the material for each year’s reflection. As he observed, ‘It doesn’t just happen’! A vast amount of prayer and work, with great sensitivity to the national committee choosing the theme and doing the initial drafting, goes into the material which we eventually hold in our hands. We will never again take this for granted…
The theme for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is ‘We saw his star in the East…’ and the prayers and reflections have been compiled by the churches of the Middle East.
Those of us who have had the privilege of meeting people from the churches in the Middle East, and particularly those in the occupied Palestinian territories, will be aware of how poignant and pertinent for them is the story of the enquiring Magi, the tyrannical King Herod and the hasty journey to Eygpt by the Holy Family. We have each been in the region – Roy in his Presidential year and Gillian with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and the World Methodist Council. We have listened to the stories of those in the churches; we learned of the challenging circumstances and restrictions under which they live and of their fears that, all-too-soon, there may no longer be a Christian presence in the land which has seen the birth and ministry, death and resurrection, of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We have met with people whose families have been Christian from the earliest times of the faith, from times when we, on this island, were pagan.
It is with this insight, albeit limited, that we want to commend to you the material for the Week of Prayer which may be found at the link below. Printed material is not provided this year; you are, however, free to print off material for online other events which may be possible in your area.
As well as worship material, there is a scheme of daily readings and prayers for each day of the week, which you will find helpful and thought-provoking.
It is our prayer that, by using this material from Christians in the Middle East, you will share in their life of discipleship as we were privileged to do when we were with them.
Roy Cooper and Gillian Kingston,
Inter-Church Relations Committee