The Week of Prayer for  Christian Unity January 18-25, 2008 (May be used throughout the year)

But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters… Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The biblical text for this centennial Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is taken from 1 Thessalonians. The text “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5: 17) stresses the essential role of prayer within the life of the Christian community as its members grow in their relationship to Christ and to one another. This text is one in a series of ‘imperatives’, statements in which Paul encourages the community to live out its God-given unity in Christ, to be in practice what it is in principle: the one body of Christ, visibly one in that place.

The letter to the Thessalonians, dating from 50 or 51 AD and considered by most exegetes to be the earliest of Paul’s known letters, reflects Paul’s intense relationship with the Christian community in Thessalonica. Fresh from persecution in Philippi – where Paul and his companions Silvanus and Timothy had been attacked by a mob, beaten at the command of the town magistrates, and thrown into prison (Acts 17: 1-9) – Paul had established the church in Thessalonica in a few weeks of concentrated work before fresh attacks drove him on to Beroea and from there, to Athens (17: 10-15). Paul had high hopes for the church in Thessalonica; its growth in faith, hope and love, its reception of the word despite suffering, and its joy in the Holy Spirit all drew his admiration and praise (1 Thess 1: 2-10). Yet he was concerned. His hasty departure had not left him time to consolidate the work he had begun, and he had received disturbing reports. Some challenges were external, notably, persecution of the community and its members (1 Thess 2: 14). Others were internal: some were behaving in ways typical of the culture around them rather than of the new life in Christ (4: 1-8); some in the community had raised questions about those in positions of leadership and authority, including Paul himself (cf. 2: 3-7, 10); and some despaired at the fate of those who were dying before the return of Christ. Would they be denied a place in God’s kingdom? Was the promise of salvation, for them and perhaps for others, empty and void (cf. 4: 13)?

Fearing that his work had been in vain and “able to bear it no longer” (3:1) Paul, unable himself to return, had sent Timothy to Thessalonica. Timothy had returned with news of the community’s strong faith and love, and its continued loyalty to Paul himself. 1 Thessalonians was Paul’s response to this good news – but also to the challenges facing the growing church. He wrote first to thank the community for its strength in the face of persecution. Second, for all his relief and joy at Timothy’s report, he recognized in it the seeds of division within the church, and thus hastened to address the diverse questions raised within the community about personal behaviour (4: 9-12), leadership (5: 12-13a) and the hope of eternal life in Christ (4: 14-5: 11).

One of Paul’s central aims was to build up the community in its unity. Even death does not break the bonds which unite it as the one body of Christ; Christ has died and risen for all, so that at Christ’s coming both those who have already fallen asleep, and those still living “may live with him” (5: 10). This brought Paul to the imperatives in the text (1 Thessalonians 5: 13b-18), which have been chosen from a slightly longer list of exhortations to form the basis for this year’s week of prayer. The passage begins with Paul’s plea that the members of the community “be at peace among yourselves” (5: 13b) – a peace which is not simply the absence of conflict but a state of harmony in which the gifts of all within the community contribute to its thriving and growth.

Strikingly, Paul did not offer abstract theological teaching nor did he speak about emotions or feelings. Just as in the famous text on love from 1 Corinthians 13, he called rather for specific actions, actual ways of behaving, through which members of the community reveal their commitment and accountability to one another within the one body of Christ. Love is to be put into practice and made visible.

The imperatives themselves, the ‘things that make for peace’, he lists as follows: ensuring the contribution of all and encouraging the fainthearted, helping the weak, being patient with all, not repaying evil for evil but doing good to one another and to all, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances (5: 14-18a). The section chosen then concludes with the affirmation that, in doing these things, the community is living out “the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (5: 18b).

The appeal to “pray without ceasing” (5: 17) is embedded within this list of imperatives. This emphasizes that life in Christian community is possible only through a life of prayer. Further, it shows that prayer is an integral part of the life of Christians precisely as they seek to manifest the unity which is given them in Christ – a unity which is not limited to doctrinal agreements and formal statements, but finds expression in the things that make for peace, in concrete actions which express and build up their unity in Christ and with one another.

In our baptism we commit ourselves to the following of Christ and the fulfilment of his will. This will for his followers was expressed in a prayer for unity so that others would come to believe in him as the one sent by God. Prayer that joins Jesus’ prayer for unity has come to be referred to by some churches as an expression of ‘spiritual ecumenism’. This prayer is most intense during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity but needs to flow out of this observance into our daily lives. We realize that Christian unity cannot be solely the fruit of human efforts, but is always the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot as humans make or organize it. We can only receive it as a gift of the Spirit when we ourselves are prepared to receive it.

Spiritual ecumenism calls forth an exchange of spiritual gifts so that what is lacking in each of our traditions finds its needed complement; this enables us to go beyond denominational labels to the Giver of all gifts. The surprising thing about prayer is that its first effect is in us. Our own minds and hearts are shaped by prayer as we seek opportunities to translate that prayer into practice, the true test of its authenticity. Spiritual ecumenism leads us to a healing of our memories. We face those difficult events of the past that give rise to competing interpretations of what happened and why. As a result, we can go beyond those things which have kept us divided. In other words, the goal of spiritual ecumenism is Christian unity that leads us into mission for the glory of God.

If believers are to follow Jesus, they must work and pray for Christian unity. However, the churches have differing visions of the visible unity for which we are praying. For some, full visible unity is the goal, bringing churches together in common confession, worship and sacraments, witness, decision-making and structured life. Others look to a ‘reconciled diversity’, with the present churches working together to present a coherent witness to the world. For still others unity is found rather in the invisible bonds linking us to Christ and with one another, with an emphasis on personal ways of living one’s faith in the world.

In this context, prayer for Christian unity is a challenging prayer. It is prayer that effects change in our own personal identity as well as in our confessional identity. Ultimately it means that we will give up our way of seeing unity in favour of concentrating on seeing what God wants for his people. However this does not mean that we will divest ourselves of our uniqueness, for unity naturally expresses itself in diversity. It is unity in diversity which reflects the mystery of communion in love, as seen in God’s own being.

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