Monday 14 January 2008

The 100th Anniversary of the week of prayer for Christian Unity.

My colleague Kersten Storch who works in Faith and Order at the WCC has written a short piece on the history of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which runs from 18-25 January every year (the article is also available in German, Spanish and French). For the past six years she's been involved in preparing the Week of Prayer together with representatives from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Kersten has also guest edited an issue of the Ecumenical Review, with articles looking at the history of the week of prayer and at different traditions of praying together across the world. It will be coming off the presses next week.
We've also been working hard preparing an event here in Geneva with the the local churches. There'll be a service in the chapel preceded by a round table discussion with people from South Africa and Haiti chaired by Swiss Radio journalist Michel Kocher.

2 Comments:

liturgy said...

Greetings

In this week of prayer for Christian unity I want to encourage people ecumenically to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. There may be divisions at the point of Eucharist – but we can unite around praying the Bible together – which is what the Liturgy of the Hours is. As we grow in union with God in prayer we grow in union with each other – and can celebrate diversity.

Blessings

Bosco
Liturgy of the Hours at: http://www.liturgy.co.nz/ofthehours/resources.html

Jane said...

Thanks Bosco
Really love what you have put together on your site on the liturgy of hours. I also believe that through praying together we can experience unity. However I do sometimes experience frustrations in my context when people even question whether it is valid to pray together... probably shouldn't say too much about this in public. Sometimes though it is difficult for female clergy in ecumenical contexts because simply by existing we are perceived as a challenge.
Salaam, shalom
JAne