January 12, 2015
Father Tom Ryan, CSP
We are once again approaching the annual International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25. This year’s theme, chosen by the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil, is the request of a tired and thirsty Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Give me to drink” (John 4:7).
Can we imagine the different denominational churches saying that to one another? Each does have life-giving gifts to offer, and the unity we seek is not a uniformity but a unity in diversity in which we will be mutually refreshed and enlivened through our sharing with one another.
Jesus also had water to offer – living water! – but this did not prevent him from either being ready to drink from another well or to receive it from one who was perceived as a “foreigner” by members of his own faith community. The spirit of this encounter invites us to be ready to try water from a different well and also to offer something of our own.
There are various times and places in which we can do that, but the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is a special time in the year for prayer, encounter and dialogue. It is an opportunity to recognize the richness and value that are present in the other, and to ask God to help us realize more fully the unity in diversity to which we are called.
This asking on our part takes the form of prayer. At the very heart of the ecumenical movement is the reality of prayer, for it is Jesus’ prayer “that they may all be one” (John 17:21) that is the basis and goal of our quest for unity. This is what Jesus desires for us, that we might be like him and the Father and the Holy Spirit who are united in their diversity.
And one way for us to make this desire our own is to raise our hearts and minds to God in worship and adoration together, affirming our solidarity not only with members of other churches where we live, but with Christians all over the world, brothers and sisters living in diverse situations and experiencing diverse problems.
The fact that the theme and resources for the Week of Prayer are developed by a different country each year is a reminder to us to enlarge the scope of our prayer. Further motivation for doing so is to be found in another fact: that among the world’s religions, people of Christian faith are currently the most persecuted.
This year’s theme, “Give me to drink,” compels us to recognize that persons, communities, cultures, religions and ethnicities need each other. And for us Christians in particular, “Give me to drink” compels us to change our attitude towards one another, to commit ourselves to seek unity in the midst of our diversity through our openness to a variety of forms of prayer and Christian spirituality.
“Give me to drink” implies an action that recognizes the need for one another in living out the Church’s mission.
Father Thomas Ryan, CSP, is the director of the Paulist North American Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in Washington, D.C.