To those organizing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Adapting the text

This material is offered with the understanding that, whenever possible, it will be adapted for use at the local level. In doing this, account must be taken of local liturgical and devotional practice, and of the whole social and cultural context. Such adaptation should normally take place ecumenically.

In some places ecumenical structures are already set up for adapting the material. In other places, we hope that the need to adapt it will be a stimulus to creating such structures.

Using the Week of Prayer material

• For churches and Christian communities which observe the week of prayer together through a single common service, an order for an ecumenical worship service is provided.
  
• Churches and Christian communities may also incorporate material from the week of prayer into their own services. Prayers from the ecumenical worship service, the "eight days", and the selection of additional prayers can be used as appropriate in their own setting.
  
• Communities which observe the week of prayer in their worship for each day during the week may draw material for these services from the "eight days".
  
• Those wishing to do bible studies on the week of prayer theme can use as a basis the biblical texts and reflections given in the "eight days". Each day the discussions can lead to a closing period of intercessory prayer.
  
• Those who wish to pray privately may find the material helpful for focusing their prayer intentions. They can be mindful that they are in communion with others praying all around the world for the greater visible unity of Christ's church.

The search for unity: throughout the year

The traditional date for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is 18-25 January. Those dates were proposed in 1908 by Paul Watson to cover the days between the feast of St Peter and the feast of St Paul, and have therefore a symbolic meaning. In the southern hemisphere where January is a vacation time churches often find other days to celebrate the Week of Prayer, for example around Pentecost (which was suggested by the Faith and Order movement in 1926), which is also a symbolic date for the unity of the church.

But the search for Christian unity is not limited to one week each year. We encourage you therefore not only to be flexible concerning the date but also to understand the material presented here as an invitation to find opportunities throughout the whole year to express the degree of communion which the churches have already received, and to pray together for that full unity which is Christ's will.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life

(John 14: 6)

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know the way to the place where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'.

Introduction to the theme

In the Prayer for Christian Unity for the year 2000, we celebrated the many gifts which bind us together in the one body of Christ, including our common baptism into Christ, the Scripture as foundation of our faith, and our common recognition of Christ’s call to mission and service in the world. Together we recommitted ourselves to the goal of our ecumenical pilgrimage, the full visible unity of all Christians.

In the Prayer for Christian Unity for the year 2001, we focus upon the way by which we travel together towards this goal. We pilgrims are not alone on this path; Christ, who is the way, is our companion and guide on it. We walk in Christ and with Christ on the way toward unity and only through him will we find this visible unity.

This year a local group in Romania was asked to prepare the initial draft of the material. Prayer for Unity has a long history of observance in some parts of Romania where it has been celebrated annually since 1948, and the Week of Prayer since 1964. For many years, the practice of Christians gathering has been popular in some areas, and for several years the heads of churches have marked the annual observance of prayers for Christian unity. In the face of the cultural, political and economic changes since the Second World War and the dramatic changes of 1989, the churches are seeking how best to witness and serve the gospel in Romania. Therefore the local ecumenical group from Romania took as a starting point for their work Christ’s words in the Gospel of John: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life". These words will accompany us throughout the eight days.

This year’s text, Jn 14: 1-6, must be understood in the context of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his followers in which Jesus prepares them for his immediate future, namely his cross and resurrection. At the same time, Jesus prepares them for their ultimate future, his coming and taking them home in glory.

Jesus responds to the disciples’ confusion at the announcement of his imminent departure by calling them into renewed faith in God and in himself (days 1-3). Jesus continues by revealing the grandeur of God whose unique "house" affords dwelling places for all who believe (day 4). Jesus completes his revelation by assuring them that he will return to bring them home to himself (day 5). The disciples know from Jesus’ example (day 6) in his farewell meal that they are to live a life in loving service to one another and the world. On our journey together towards unity, we as human beings sometimes lose sight of the goal and become uncertain of the way (day 7). Jesus responds by reminding us that he is the way and it is through travelling together with him that we will reach the goal (day 8).

The last century, which has been called the "ecumenical century", saw remarkable achievements on the way to our goal of visible unity, foretastes of unity which are the gift of the Spirit. If the past millennium was one of division among the churches, they have in recent years laid a foundation for the new millennium to be one of unity. The ecumenical experience of the churches in Romania shows that, while the search for Christian unity concerns all Christians in every place, the path to unity must be travelled in a particular way in each place, according to the local situation with its unique opportunities for common worship, confession, witness and service and the distinct problems rooted in its history and culture.

As we travel together it is important to mark milestones on our way. The year 2001 offers ample opportunities for this. Of central importance is the fact that the date of Easter is common to all churches in the year 2001. Thus all Christians around the world celebrate the common feast of the resurrection of our Lord on the same day. This is a providential event which should inspire the churches in their search for a common date for Easter.

Another occasion for ecumenical celebration will be the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church of the foundation of the first Christian state 1700 years ago. Additional opportunities for ecumenical celebration and cooperation include the reception of the Carta Oecumenica, a text growing out of the 2nd European Ecumenical Assembly held at Graz in 1997, and reflecting the increasing common life of the churches in Europe. The churches can continue to work together on the issues of debt relief sparked by the programme Jubilee 2000. They can seek together to extend the peace of Christ by participating in the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence. They can celebrate recent unions among churches around the world.

The text for the prayer for Christian unity for the year 2001 calls us to continue on our way towards unity. We are not stepping into the darkness. And we are not alone: we belong to each other and we belong to Christ who has claimed us for his own and who will bring us to the unity which he wills for us.

Preparation of the Material for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2001 This material was prepared by an international group appointed by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (of the Roman Catholic Church) at a meeting held at the guesthouse of the Evangelical [Lutheran] Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania, in Vulcan, Romania in October 1999. We are grateful to Bishop Christoph Klein of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as well as to the staff of the Casa de Odihna for the warm welcome they extended to us.

The international preparatory group worked from a draft text prepared by a local ecumenical group that included representatives of several of the major Christian traditions in Romania. We were happy to be joined in our work by four representatives of the preparatory group.

Introduction to the Worship Service

At the centre of the worship service proposed for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2001 lies the theme for the week as chosen from John 14: 6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life".

"I am the way", says Jesus. This means that Christ is not only the source and the goal of unity, but also the one who accompanies and guides his church on its journey and its growth towards unity. Thus, the worship service takes up a concern which became the leitmotif for the ecumenical working group from Romania: to make the biblical text relevant amidst the challenges experienced as different confessions live together.

The six parts of the worship service revolve around this thematic focus, developing it in different ways:

• The psalm in the opening section (I) points to the road which God travelled with God’s people towards liberation and gathering into community, as experienced by the people of God in the Old Testament.
• The statements in the Confession of Sins (II) follow the pattern of Jesus’ three-fold affirmation (the way, the truth, and the life), naming the errors and shortcomings of the churches.
• The entire text of John 14:1-6, from which the theme for the Week of Prayer 2001 is taken, is central to the Proclamation of the Word (III). This can be linked with other texts (such as those proposed for the "eight days"), but the sermon or homily should be clearly related to the Johannine passage which is the theme of the worship service as a whole.
• In this service the Confession of Faith (IV) makes clear the common ground of faith which already unites Christians, although it is not yet always discerned. This is emphasized by the community saying the confession of faith together while standing under the cross, following a prayer in which the heart of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is expressed in words of praise. The credo becomes a movement of praise, being recited in three parts which the congregation affirms in a refrain, following a tradition of the early church.
• The Prayers and Intercessions (V) express the desire for the community’s growth in unity and, like the confession of sins, are patterned upon Jesus’ three-fold affirmation.
• The Sending Forth and Blessing (VI) closes the worship service. The focus is on Christ sending Christians as witnesses into the world. Belonging to him, they also belong to one another. This truth is given expression by the congregation’s joining hands while receiving the benediction.

The recessional symbolizes the promised way of Christ stretching out before us, a way which we follow from a common starting point, guided by Christ and filled with hope.

In three different parts of the worship service (I/II/IV) being on the way together is highlighted by a special prayer. Corresponding to Jesus’ three-fold affirmation, these prayers recall three key aspects of Christian unity: baptism, the word of God (the Bible), and the cross. These are constant signposts for the people of God, and emphasize God’s faithful guidance. Baptism stands for the beginning of the way as a child of God; the Scripture is the living witness to God’s direction and truth; and the cross stands for the dawning of new life into Christ’s self-sacrifice and resurrection.

The fellowship of the way, which is linked to these three "stations" and fundamental tenets of our faith, is expressed liturgically in the movement of the worship leaders - and, if feasible, of the entire congregation - to the different locations in the church where the three symbols of unity have been placed during the processional. Thus a prayer would be offered standing in front of or around the baptismal candle or font, another standing in front of or around the Bible, and a third standing in front of or around the cross.