Why do we pray together?
19 Jan 2013
Back in 2006 I published this
article on the calling of Christians in relation to the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity (WPCU). It is written as a Christian for others who share the faith,
but I hope it will also be accessible to those of other backgrounds and
traditions. Though seven years old now, it still seems pertinent today. I have
made a few small adaptations to avoid anachronism.
---
"Where two or three are
gathered in my name, I am there among them." Jesus, in - Matthew 18.20
(BBE)
According to established tradition,
the dates for the yearly Week of Prayer for Christian Unity are from 18 till 25
January. They are meant to cover those days between the feasts of Saints Peter
and Paul, and therefore carry a symbolic meaning to them. However, many
churches - such as those of Jerusalem - choose to celebrate this week of
enhanced ecumenism one week later, whilst some churches in the southern
hemisphere celebrate it much closer to Pentecost.
What is this prayerful week all
about anyway?
At the heart of the ecumenical
movement striving for unity amongst Christians is the realisation that there is
more that unites us than divides us. Indeed, the greatest rallying point is the
presence of the Risen Christ who promised his disciples he would be with them
till the end of time because he is 'Immanuel, that is God with us' (Matthew
1.23).
The gospels tell us of diverse ways
that Jesus is present in our midst. In a practical sense, the theme of the Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity invites all Christian believers to reflect on
those very ways in which Jesus is with us. Therefore, whenever Christians come
together, they remember Jesus' promise to them, "Again, truly I tell you,
if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by
my Father in heaven" (Matthew 18.19).
What matters is not so much the
plurality of voices, or even their dissonant cacophony, but rather the fact
that those voices are united in prayer. The still voice that speaks in each of
our hearts is strengthened when we come together.
The theme for the ecumenical prayers
in 2006 ["Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among
them"] was proposed by a group from Ireland who met at the Manresa Jesuit
retreat centre in Dublin. Preaching on its relevance, the Rev Samuel Kobia,
then World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, reflected that the
marks of ecumenical spirituality are a "readiness to rethink and to be
converted" and a willingness "to bear the otherness of the other,
including refugees, people of another colour and other faiths, the old and the
poor - all God's people."
He segued, "As we meet, sing,
pray and worship together ... we are one with our brothers and sisters in
Bolivia, in Kiribati, in Botswana ..." Dr Kobia, in underlining the
centrality of this week, was echoing Jesus' prayer "that they may be one,
even as we are one" (John 17.22).
Those intentions are laudable as
Christians strive to focus upon their sense of "unity in diversity".
But how close to reality and practice are those intentions in our contemporary
world? The challenge is not solely one of personal faith, but also of doubt, or
self-doubt even, which together fuse our personal creeds with the collective
consciousness of Christian fellowship. In the words of Marianne H Micks,
Professor Emerita of Biblical and Historical Theology at the Virginia
Theological Seminary, in Loving the Questions (1994), "A faith
unventilated by doubt is as stuffy as a closed room".
Today, there are serious fissures in
our faith. We seem to have lost the keen sense that we must be credible
interpreters and loyal disciples of God's love to humankind. I believe therein
lies the secret of a Mother Teresa, a Father Maximilien Kolbë, a Pope John-Paul
II or an Archbishop Desmond Tutu who changed the world around them. In the
words of St John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople and a contemporary of
St Augustine, Christians are called to "shine like a light in a world of
darkness".
Indeed, for Christians to come
together during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and to walk together
the journey of faith, they need to be grounded in the Word of God, the
revelation of God's face in Jesus Christ, the renewing force of God's Spirit,
the discovery of the love of God the Holy Trinity.
The Church as an institution must
learn how to commune more closely with its assembly of believers - that vast
church of men and women outside the walls - and teach itself to be just a
little less power-friendly and just a little more diakonia-friendly.
What is required, perhaps, is a praxis not unlike that of the Early Church -
more basic, and therefore more grounded.
As far back as 1974, the Lausanne
Covenant (signed by 2300 evangelical leaders) spoke of the church as a
community of God's people, rather than an institution, that must not be
identified with any particular culture, social or political system, or human
ideology.
Yet, we Christians have drifted away
from issues that are pertinent to our faith. Our Faustian bargain for access
and power has largely undermined the overall credibility of our love, witness,
action, and thereby transforming relevance in the world. No wonder Pope
Benedict XVI chose Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) for his first
encyclical on 25 December 2005. In a world of mounting extremism, it is urgent
to struggle against the dictatorship of relativism that feeds on our own egos
and desires, and to learn that both the divine love (agape) and the
physical love (eros) come together in our lives.
The Hebrew prophets might call us
for repentance (shuv and nicham), but are we not too convinced of
our own righteousness to seek true repentance? Are we not missing the
transcendent meaning of love in our ecumenical relations, and are we not
resisting the metanoia within the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15.11-24)?
In short, can we refine ecumenism by
re-defining ourselves during one week of shared prayers, hopes and actions?
----
* More about the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity on Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/wpcu
* The Ecumenical Prayer Cycle (http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/prayer-cycle.html)
enables people to journey in prayer through every region of the world and
through every week of the year.
* WPCU: seeking unity through
diversity and justice: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17828
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© Harry Hagopian is an
international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a
Middle East and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
England & Wales and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in
Politics) in Paris. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian).
Formerly an Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and
Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an
international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to the
Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK), Ecumenical consultant
to the Primate of Armenian Church in UK & Ireland, and author of The
Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net
Follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian
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