We are in that sacred time between Ascension and Pentecost, waiting and asking for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are also in the week when we pray intentionally for Christian Unity.
Something that I find magnificent and unsurprising is just how much doctrinal differences cease to matter when people come together to pray. It is no longer surprising to me as I have had the tremendous gift of working across church contexts for over 20 years. In recent days I have accompanied Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals and non-denominational Christians on retreat,
each of whom was seeking a deeper relationship with God. I have been awed yet again by what unites us – the longing for a deeper relationship with God.
Those trained by the Jesuit Institute South Africa as spiritual directors, from across the Christian churches, are joining together this week to pray for one another and the ministry of spiritual accompaniment. This past week prayer guides from many different Christian churches around the country have also been accompanying church leaders in a local Dutch Reformed congregation. It is
when we pray together and when we engage in ministry together, that we experience the reality of our shared faith in Jesus Christ and the gift of ecumenical sharing. What could potentially divide us enriches us.
We share many of the same struggles in our churches right now; financial concerns, people not returning to church after Covid; churches bitterly divided between those who take a more “conservative’ stance and those who take a “progressive” stance on controversial issues. There is the sex abuse crisis we have faced and are continuing to have to face in the Catholic Church, but also in
other churches – the Southern Baptists are facing recognition of this in their own church with a report released only last week. Many of our churches right now have clergy and lay workers who are burnt-out and exhausted – stretched to breaking point. We are struggling and desperately need one another’s support and prayers.
The work for Christian unity is not primarily the work of Christian theologians and scholars or church leaders. It is the work and mission of ordinary Christians building up relationships of friendship and trust and recognising that we are fellow-pilgrims on a journey. I think this “work” is the work of the Spirit within us as it slowly draws us all over time into a union of love that mirrors
the oneness of Jesus with the Father.
Could you invite a Christian friend of a different denomination to your home to pray especially for each other and for each other’s churches during this week of Christian unity?
