Week of January 23, 2000
Pastor Dan

"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."
     Galatians 3:28

Sandwiched every year between January 18 (The Confession of St. Peter) and January 25 (The Conversion of St. Paul), Christians more or less observe the so-called Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Each year's observance or lack thereof leaves me with both a feeling of grief and a feeling of appreciation. I feel grieved because American Christianity is so, so fragmented. If you can't find the brand of church that suits you, you just make up one yourself. I feel grieved because the Church is still one of the most segregated institutions in society. On the other hand, I feel appreciative of the diversity that makes our churches lively and colorful. I delight in a congregation whose folks may be speaking different languages during the coffee hour. I celebrate every meaningful conversation at work, school, or play with a person whose different Christian devotion enriches my own.

As this year's observance of prayer for Christian unity passes, may these words spoken by Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently at Wilmington, Delaware fuel our serious devotion to the cause of Christian unity: "We are called as Christians to be an audiovisual for the sake of the world." For that's what we are already as the baptized, we are an audiovisual expression of unity for the sake of the world's well-being.

Dear God, you fashioned us in your own image to be instruments of unity and peace throughout the world. Help us, the Church, to become a unified, graceful audiovisual in the world, for Christ's sake. Amen

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Published Sunday January 23, 2000
Week 9 of Liturgical Year B