Photo essay
Prayers for unity took on a different look and feel this year, but they weren’t stopped by widespread restrictions on face-to-face gatherings. From prayer cards to personal reflections, online gatherings to new connections, the images worldwide convey the spiritual richness of an ecumenical family that came together in prayer.
Prayer cards
With beautiful prayer cards created by groups, congregations and individuals in their various languages, social media became a place where many shared their spiritual gifts and came together in prayer.
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Shared by the Student Christian Movement of Cuba on Twitter.
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Medicine Hat Catholic Schools shared a prayer for “all of us together be a reflection of the living Christ.”
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Created by José Carlos Isla for the Archdiocese of Granada, reflecting on Day 5 of the Week of Prayer, “Letting oneself be transformed by the Word…”
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Shared by the YWCA of Secunderabad, India on the theme of Day 8, “Reconciling with all of creation…”
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America reflected on Day 2, “Maturing internally…”
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Using social media to spread good news, St Michael's Church in Bishop’s Stortford (UK) adapted a tweet from Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London, His Eminence Archbishop Angaelos, and turned it into a prayer card.
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The Pilgrims House, the Education and Pilgrimage Centre for St Davids Cathedral in Wales, shared bilingual prayer cards in Welsh and English.
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The Congregation of Clerics Regular Theatines prayed that “…we can be transformed and become witnesses of your tenderness for the world.”
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The Salvation Army expressed how much it values “the opportunity to pray, worship and work with other churches.”
Creative minds, nurturing spirits
Creative minds used the whole spectrum of channels to inspire their online audiences to take part in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
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The Sisters of St Margaret shared this photo on Instagram to illustrate a reflection from Sr Christine on the theme of Day 5: "Pruning in the garden encourages stronger plant growth and also helps to have better flowers. Our pruning by ‘the word’ encourages us to grow, with prayer and the help and love of God, may we all ‘Bloom where we are planted.’"
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Kirsty Borthwick, live-tweeted her experience of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at the WCC Bossey Ecumenical Institute, where she was just completing her semester, via the OurCofELike Twitter account, which features a different Church of England voice each week. See also her reflection on the WCC blog.
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The Roman Catholic French paper Actualité catholique promoted the materials for this year’s Week of Prayer via Instagram.
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An Anglican priest from Vancouver (Canada) shared prayers and scriptures daily via Instagram “in the hopes that 2021 will be a year filled with the light of Christ despite the coronavirus.”
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The Focolare Movement in the UK shared via Instagram a #ThoughtOfTheDay to “Live and work for Christian unity”
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Churches Together in Cornwall (UK) combined a Twitter campaign with daily podcasts to reach even more people.
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Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is pulling together posts about the Week of Prayer from a variety of channels in its prayer wall.
Coming together for prayer services
Communities that held prayer services, be it online or offline, also made good use of social platforms for drawing attention to these gatherings.
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The Oratoire du Louvre church in Paris invited people to participate in an ecumenical celebration on site or on YouTube.
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Seattle University held its Annual Karaoke Worship Night: “United in Praise.”
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Freedom Assemblies Worldwide featured a different pastoral leader each day.
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First Miami Presbyterian Church (USA) invited people to read a prayer and Bible verse to proclaim oneness and unity in the church which is the body of Christ.
Despite the pandemic, Christians in some places were able to physically gather and pray for unity. Often those gathered would allow others to join via video link. Online prayer gatherings allowed the global Christian family to come together more concretely and inclusively than in previous years.
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In Bucharest, an ecumenical celebration at the Roman Catholic Cathedral concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Andrei-Mihai Vlad
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Young deacons at St Ephraim Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch in Perth, Australia read prayers.
Dr Theodora Issa
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In Rome, the Anglican Centre hosted an ecumenical celebration with Archbishop Ian Ernest, Bishop Brian Farrell, and other ecumenical leaders.
Kamla Ernest
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The Chemin Neuf Community produced a special video series with daily prayers, presentations and testimonial in various languages.
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The Franciscan Friars of the Atonement hosted a virtual ecumenical prayer service celebrated by nine co-presiders from across the Christian family with music by The Interchurch Center.
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In the small Swiss locality of Gümligen, strict health regulations meant that a limited number of participants were allowed at the traditional ecumenical celebration. That’s why the local churches decided to also make the service available via YouTube.
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At Vespers in the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura, Cardinal Kurt Koch (president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity), Bishop Atanasie of Bogdania (Episcopal Vicar of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy) and the Rt. Rev. Archbishop Ian Ernest (the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Holy See) gave the blessing alongside each other.
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WCC hosted an online Global Ecumenical Prayer showing “we are one world and one human family”
For many, the Week of Prayer is also an opportunity to introduce their own constituency to churches and personalities from other traditions.
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The Maronite Diocese of Antelias, Beirut, Lebanon, introduced its Twitter followers to a personality from a different Christian tradition during each day of the Week of Prayer. Here: Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich.
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During the Week of Prayer, the “Pilgrim of Budapest” Twitter account celebrated churches of different traditions each day, including the newest Calvinist/Reformed church still under construction at Pesterzsébet suburban district.
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On the YouTube channel of St John's Parish, Falls Road, Belfast, local congregations presented their favourite hymns.
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Råslätts kyrka in Jönköping, Sweden,shared daily prayer videos led by local pastors from other traditions, including a prayer led by Father George Safar of St Dimet's Syrian Orthodox congregation.
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Two Bethany sisters living together in Belfast, Northern Ireland (hailing from Ecuador and Germany, Catholic and Lutheran backgrounds, respectively) invited their Instagram followers to a live-streamed conversation about Christian unity with friends including an interdenominational couple and a Benedictine monk.
See also:
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: www.oikoumene.org/week-of-prayer
