Jesus the Christ once prayed to the Father, "As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world ... that they may be one as we are one."
That all may be one! What a magnificent hope for this new year, or for any year!
"Naïve!" says one. "Impossible," states another. "Who cares?" asks still another. "Let's pray for such," cries a believer.
Take your choice -- and live it!
Among the plausible explanations for celebrating a week of such prayer for Christian unity are:
1) Abbe Paul Courtier's abiding passion to integrate all Christian values. Courtier took to heart the text known as "The Testament of Cardinal Mercier," which contains the following insight:
In order to unite with one another, we must love one another;
In order to love one another, we must know one another;
In order to know one another, we must go and meet one another.
Courtier, who popularized its observance in 1935, has been called the Father of the Week of Prayer.
2) Geoffrey Curtis attributes the concept to the World Evangelical Alliance, which presented a call to prayer to Christians all over the world for the "outpouring of the Spirit." Curtis points to two sources for inspiring the idea of spiritual ecumenism, including the liturgical expressions in the Eucharistic rites of the Roman and Eastern Church traditions, "that our Lord will grant to his Church `that peace and unity which is according to his will,' " and a similar prayer in the "Book of Common Prayer," in which God is constantly besought "to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord."
Secondly, Curtis points to certain organized movements of spirituality which he considers as preludes to the later crusades of prayer for unity. Amongst these may be recalled the great movement of "United Prayer for the Holy Spirit and Revival," finding prophetic expression in the work of New England Congregationalist, Jonathan Edwards (1705-58).
3) The eventual institution of the Week of Prayer derives from a recommendation from the Lambeth Conference, in 1878, for "the observance of a special season of `prayer for reunion.' " It was observed by the Church of England on Whit Sunday -- Pentecost -- in 1894-95. In 1895, the Roman Catholic Church in England joined its Anglican neighbors in this observance.
Pope Leo XIII had previously encouraged all Catholics to celebrate the first "Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity" within that same time frame. It was not until 1908 that the octave was observed on the January dates with which it is now commonly associated.
4) Spencer Jones, a Church of England clergyman, and Lewis Wattson, a later convert to Catholicism (and founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement), jointly initiated the observance as January 18 to 25, the feasts of the Confession (or Chair) of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul.
In 1909, Pope Pius X approved the observance of the new octave, and extended its observance to the whole Roman Catholic Church. However, it was not until the Second Vatican Council's "Decree on Ecumenism" (1964) that Roman Catholics were permitted, and indeed, encouraged, to meet together with other Christians for common prayer for unity.
But what about spiritual togetherness right here, in the Greater Danbury area? We may all be aware of a few church communities celebrating a prayer service among themselves. We need to applaud and honor that. But I am referring here to many Christian churches gathering for a paraliturgical (non-sacramental) celebration of prayer, praise or study, and eventual "unity in the Spirit."
Yes, I am quite aware that some Christian communities do not have an open altar table for communion. I am not addressing such an issue here.
Attempts were made in past years to celebrate our Christian unity but there were usually more leaders present than laypeople, as when local communities gathered on Good Friday for prayers, hymns and spiritual reflections. So, too, was the situation when, for over 20 years, an "Ecumenical Way of the Cross" took place on Danbury's Main Street.
May we one day sing, and live out, the words to a song: "We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord and we pray that all unity may one day be restored. And they'll know we are Christians by our love."
We have come a long way. Why stop now?