Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed from the 18th to the 25th January.   The theme for 2020 is “They showed an unusual kindness“, which finds its origins in Acts 27:18 – 28:10.

Hospitality is a much needed virtue in our search for Christian unity. It calls us to a greater generosity to those in need. The people who showed unusual kindness to Paul and his companions did not yet know Christ, and yet it is through their unusual kindness that a divided people were drawn closer together. Our own Christian unity will be discovered not only through showing hospitality to one another, but also through loving encounters with those who do not share our language, culture or faith.

Today many people are facing the same terrors on the same seas. The very same places named in the reading (27:1, 28:1) also feature in the stories of modern-day migrants. In other parts of the world many others are making equally dangerous journeys by land and sea to escape natural disasters, warfare and poverty. Their lives, too, are at the mercy of immense and coldly indifferent forces – not only natural, but political, economic and human. This human indifference takes various forms: the indifference of those who sell places on unseaworthy vessels to desperate people; the indifference of the decision not to send out rescue boats; and the indifference of turning migrant ships away. This names only a few instances. As Christians together facing these crises of migration this story challenges us: do we collude with the cold forces of indifference, or do we show “unusual kindness” and become witnesses of God’s loving providence to all people?

Share your reflection.

Eternal Father,   we praise you for sending your Son to be one of us and to save us.
Look upon your people with mercy, for we are divided in so many ways,
and give us the Spirit of Jesus to make us one in love.
We ask this gift, loving Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

We are called to prayer and action!