This year’s week of prayer for Christian Unity runs from 18 – 25 January.
Praying for the unity of the Church involves a recognition not only of the brokenness of
Christian relationships but also how injustice in the world at large separates Christian
communities and impedes our participation in God’s mission. History too plays a part,
casting a shadow over how we live our lives together in community.
All of these issues emerge from the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity materials for
2018. The churches of the Caribbean region describe their own context, how the hand
of God was active in ending slavery, and how God’s mission in the world is a call to us
all to unite together in ending injustice, that which casts a shadow from the past and
current forms of injustice such as poverty, trafficking and discrimination.
This particular Caribbean experience is a challenge to us in our context to reflect more
deeply on the injustices in our own nations in Britain and Ireland which create the
divisions that impede our participation in God’s mission, with the call to actively work
to end all division.
Barrier-breaking God,
You embrace all cultures and lands,
But keep a special place in your heart
For the stranger, the widow and the
orphan.
Grant us the gift of your Spirit
That we may become as You are,
Welcoming all as brothers and sisters,
Your cherished children,
Citizens together in Christ’s kingdom
of justice and peace.
Amen
Stourport Deanery – Rural Dean: Mark Turner; Lay Chair: Andrew Quinn
