Document
For the WCC's 70th anniversary
Available also in German, French, Spanish and Dutch
God of many names, we gather to celebrate and to thank you for the 70 years that you have nurtured and sustained the ecumenical movement. Almighty God, thank you for making each one of us in your own likeness, from the south, the north, the east and the west. Yet, God, when I look around, I see wounds, broken communities, fractured families and walls of separation. My eyes hurt when I see the creation you so love and cherish being abused and misused. I hear the cries of the men and women; boys and girls in the slave markets, on the run from violence; shouting: “Where is God?” “Has God abandoned us?” Merciful God, the images of dehumanization, marginalization, exclusion and commodification of your creation haunt me every day as I walk and look around.
Almighty God, forgive us because we have refused to see you in our neighbours, in the faces of the strangers. Almighty God, help us to open our hearts and doors to share your love with the materially poor, to speak truth in humility to the poor rich; to be present with the elderly and lonely people; to be healers and encouragers amongst survivors of sexual and gender based violence. God our creator, hear our prayer and have mercy.
Loving God, we thank you for your church and the fellowship we experience within the ecumenical movement. We thank you for the courage and wisdom you gave to the founding fathers and mothers. Grant us inspiration and knowledge to pursue the unity of your church in accordance with your prayer “that they may be one so that the world may believe.” Gracious God raise amongst the present and future young generations men and women committed to fulfill your prayer for unity of the church and humankind. Forgive us for commercializing your word and transform and renew our minds so that we can be agents and servants of the good news in a world fraught with pain and suffering. Guide us to bring hope amidst hopelessness, love instead of hatred, and peace instead of conflict. Break down the walls and exorcise the demons of greed and division. May your light shine!
(Dr Agnes Abuom,
from the Anglican Church of Kenya,
moderator of the WCC Central Committee)
