Christians the world over are in the midst of the annual week of prayer and intention for the whole of the Church. This year’s focus is on the Church in the Middle East, with particular attention on Jerusalem.
Ekklesia has a report about how the week was observed in Geneva Switzerland, the home of the World Council of Churches:
“Dr Tveit observed that the New Testament portrayal of the Jerusalem church ‘describes the original oneness of those early believers in Jesus. Being one means being together, breaking bread, praising God, but also giving and sharing, according to who is in need.’ He described the image of sharing around the table as a striking image that ‘gives great spiritual energy’ to ecumenical endeavours.
He continued: ‘The table is also a place and space that demands that we think about justice and the way food and access to power are shared in the world, especially at a time when speculation with food prices will mean that the poorest will become poorer, and go hungry.’
The WCC chief noted that ‘there is still sadly one table where we as Christians do not yet eat together,’ referring to differences among churches that mean all Christians cannot share together in the eucharist. ‘Yet here too the witness of Christians in Jerusalem, the mother church of us all, can help us. They show us that it is possible to work together despite divisions, to carry forward prophetic calls for justice and peace, and try to be one in action together.'”
Full article here.