Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2013 Issue | Page 30

Praying for Christian Unity
The Rev. Christopher Agnew
The 216th Annual Council of the Diocese
of Virginia adopted a resolution
“that individuals, parishes, and localcommunity ministry groups discover and
implement ways of participating” in the
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The
Week of Christian Unity begins each year
with observance of the Confession of St.
Peter on January 18 and ends with the
Conversion of St. Paul on January 25.

The Rev. Paul Watson, an Episcopal
priest, and Sister Lurana White, an
Episcopal nun, co-founded the Franciscan
Friars and Sisters of the Atonement. They
were committed to work of Christian
Unity. In January 1908 at the Atonement
Franciscan Convent of the Episcopal
Church, Watson led the first observance
of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Observing the
Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer has evolved
over the years and today is supported
by Eastern Orthodox churches, the
Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican
Communion, the Lutheran churches and
many others. Each year, a theme on a
particular passage of Scripture is selected
to be the focus of that year’s observance.
The theme for the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity 2013 is Micah 6:6-8: “He
has told you, O mortal, what is good; and
what does the Lord require of you but to
do justice, and to love kindness, and to
walk humbly with your God?”

The theme is selected jointly by
the Commission on Faith and Order of
the World Council of Churches and the
Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
The Vatican and the WCC jointly develop

materials for ecumenical worship and
study of the theme during the Week
of Prayer. In the United States, the
Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious
Institute distributes the material. You can
download or request your own materials
to observe the week of prayer at geii.org
(or by telephone at 212-870-2330).

It is the hope of the Diocese of
Virginia Ecumenical and Interfaith
Relations Committee that services will
take place throughout the Diocese in
observance of the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity. The committee would
like to learn where and when these
services will be held. Please contact
Emily Cherry (echerry@thediocese.
net) and have your service listed in the
e-Communiqué. t

Here in Virginia, the Lutheran, Episcopal, United Methodist and Roman Catholic bishops in Northern
Virginia lead a service observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The service for 2013 will take
place on January 22, 2013 at Resurrection Lutheran Church, 6201 N. Washington Blvd, Arlington. The
preacher will be Bishop Young Jin Cho of the Virginia Conference, United Methodist Church.

Prayers for Christian Unity
From the Graymoor Ecumenical
& Interreligious Institute
Open our hearts O Jesus
Christ, to share more
perfectly in your prayer to the
Father that we may be one, so
that as we journey together
we may draw closer to each
other. Send your Spirit to
empower and challenge us
to answer your call to unity.
Show us what your Father,
the God of Life, requires of us,
and lead us to justice, peace
and oneness in your name,
our Lord, with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, now and
forever. Amen!

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From Ed Jones, President, Region I, St. George’s, Fredericksburg
Dear Lord, we join all those who in the name of Jesus Christ pray for
peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there has been so
much conflict. We pray for the healing power of Christ’s love, where
there has been so much brokenness.

Protect, O Lord, your faithful servants in Christ, including those
befriended during our Diocese’s work in Goma and the rest of the
Anglican Diocese of Bukavu. We pray for all those who in Christ’s
name strive to offer love and solace in a land that has known so
much misery.

Give us the strength and determination to work with our
Christian sisters and brothers, and with all those of faith and good
will, for a better future for that beautiful but troubled land. May our
work together be a model of unity in the face of so much division.

All this we pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.

Virginia Episcopalian / Winter 2013

From Rock Higgins,
St. Andrew’s, Richmond
Lord God, Almighty Father of
all those in Christ, we await
the day when your Son’s one
unanswered prayer may be
realized, that we, the Church,
Christ’s Bride, be one. Forgive
us when we lose sight of that
vision and call, and forgive
us all the more when our
words and deeds separate us
from our sisters and brothers
Unite us, O Lord, closer to one
another and to you. Through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, the
Author and Perfecter of our
Faith. Amen