Praying Together 21st January 2024

Epiphany 3

Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
Renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 7: 29-31

Mark 1: 14-20

Last Thursday marked the beginning of the week of Christian Unity. In Kenmare, members of our three Churches met for a time of Praise, Prayer and Pizza in the Gateway Methodist – and we were additionally blessed by the presence of a number of our Ukrainian friends, who happily joined in the signing and the time of open prayer. Our togetherness was a real-life example of the unity we experience at a personal level.

But It did make me wonder if Christian Unity simply means once-a-year worship and prayer together outside the constraints of tradition or denomination. It must surely mean more than that. We need to stop using our energy on idle debating the differences between us – nothing is likely to result in change (at least in the short-medium term). Instead we must regard unity as a challenge – that in collectively accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, we are obliged to join in active service of His creation, using our combined resources to address the real problems of the World – and goodness knows there are plenty of them. Homeless families. Unwelcome refugees. Revenge exercised upon children. Self-serving political ‘leadership’. Prejudice against those who are ‘different’. And many others.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of His God-given message of the service asked of us in His name: to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, release to the prisoners. And by so doing proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

So as we celebrate this week of Christian Unity, let us consider what service we could offer together, that we wouldn’t be capable of achieving on our own – the whole being much greater than the parts.

And then rather than talking about it, let’s make it happen.