Week of Prayer for Christian Unity resources focus on healing divisions

Resources have been put together by churches in Korea for the 2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The Korean churches have taken Ezekiel 37 as the supporting text for the theme "Reconcile your people".

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a major calendar highlight for churches worldwide, traditionally takes place 18 - 25 January, between the feasts of St Peter and St Paul.

A different country is invited each year to write the initial worship material before it is reworked by the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) Writers Group.

The Rev Bob Fyffe, General Secretary of CTBI, said of next year's theme, "The churches in Korea have found that this passage in Ezekiel resonates with their own sense of sadness over the division of their own country since the Korean War, and have brought some of the insights they have gained to the worship for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity."

Each day of the week of prayer will bring Christians "Face to face with ..." sources of division, such as violence, poverty, prejudice and pain. The week will end on a positive note with a day of study and prayer dedicated to hope.

"Hope," the resource book says, "is fundamental to a resurrection faith, where all is made new and the chaos of conflict, division and separation is contradicted and healed, but it is hope born out of brokenness."

Resources for the 2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity include a liturgy for public worship and study material for the eight days of the octave, made available on the CTBI website.


On the web:
www.ctbi.org.uk