Week of Prayer

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.

These words were penned by the bishop who was instrumental in establishing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity more than 100 years ago. For decades this week in January has been a designated time for prayerful reflection and a call for the body of Christ to overcome denominational divisions in the common purpose of prayer.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Through the years I have joked that this is the Week of Prayer for Christian Apathy because there is so little enthusiasm for the cause, even though we are all people of prayer. We seem to have far more energy for describing how we are not like other expressions of the Christian community, including those in our own denomination, than for what unites us.

One of the lectionary readings this week is from 1 Corinthians 12

For just as the body is one and has many members,

and all the members of the body, though many,

are one body, so it is with Christ.
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body

--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--

and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

As Dr. Phil would say "what part of this don't we understand?"