CANORA - Together with the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity celebration around the world, from Jan. 22-26, Canora churches will take turns be hosting a simple soup lunch which will include a devotional and prayer. The theme for this year is “Love the Lord your God…and your neighbour.”
Arranged by the Canora Ministerial Association, the daily lunches will begin at the St. Andrew’s United Church on Monday. Other locations include: Parkland Christian Centre on Tuesday, St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, Good Spirit Community Church on Thursday, and ending with lunch at the Gateway Community Church on Friday.
According to the weekofprayer.ca website, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an annual ecumenical celebration. Christians around the world are invited to pray for the unity of all Christians, to reflect on scripture together, to participate in jointly-organized ecumenical services, and to share fellowship.
“In the Gospel of John, Christ prays for his disciples before going to the cross. He asks that his followers ‘may all be one,’ as he and the Father are one, ‘so that the world may believe’ and ‘have life in his name (John 17). Christian unity is here made central to the very being of the church and to its mission and witness,” the website said.
“Today, we live with divisions even as we yearn for the unity promised and commissioned by Christ," continued the website information. The long and often painful history of Christianity has separated churches for theological, liturgical, and political reasons. Many Christians now strive to heal these divisions, yet honour the church’s diversity, through ecumenical dialogue, common action, and relationship-building. They also come together to pray for unity, joining Christ in his prayer to the Father.
“The worldwide celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is both the seed and the fruit of this striving for ‘unity in diversity.’ This time of shared prayer, reflection, and fellowship invites Christians of different traditions to deepen our relationships and to live and witness together throughout the year.”
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was first proposed in 1908 as an observance within the Roman Catholic Church by Fr. Paul Wattson, founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement in Graymoor, New York. In November of 2014, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops endorsed the cause for Fr. Wattson’s canonization.
Since the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948, many other Christian denominations around the world have come to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and since 1968, the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity have collaborated to produce materials for use during the celebration.
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