{"id":72037,"date":"2024-02-22T17:51:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T09:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/?p=72037"},"modified":"2025-01-30T10:37:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T02:37:24","slug":"week-of-prayer-christian-unity-2024-celebration-of-the-bond-of-love-and-unity-in-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/week-of-prayer-christian-unity-2024-celebration-of-the-bond-of-love-and-unity-in-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 – A Celebration of the Bond of Love and Unity in Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In <\/span>John 17:21<\/b><\/a>, Jesus prayed for the Church, that we may be one just as He and the Father are one. The bond <\/span>or relationship<\/span> that He prayed about is of such <\/span>depth<\/span> that just as the Father is in Jesus, so is Jesus <\/span>also<\/span> in the Father. This is the kind of the bond <\/span>of love<\/span> that we <\/span>as the Church and the Body of Christ<\/span> are created <\/span>by God<\/span> to have <\/span>and, in Jesus\u2019 own words, \u201c<\/em><\/span>so that the world may believe that You have sent Me<\/em>\u201d<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1908, Paul Wattson proposed January 18th-25th each year as <\/span>the week<\/span> when churches<\/span> in the Northern Hemisphere come together <\/span>as <\/span>one Body of Christ <\/span>in celebration, thanksgiving, and prayer for Christian unity. This event commemorates not just prayers and unity, but extends to the love that Christ has called us to have for one another and is a very much looked-forward <\/span>to prayer service<\/span> at the start of every year.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity commemorates not just prayers and unity, but extends to the love that Christ has called us to have for one another and is a very much looked-forward to prayer service at the start of every year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The tradition of the Week of Prayer <\/span>for Christian Unity<\/span> in Malaysia went back many years, with the <\/span>Catholics, Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) denominations or members (such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Mar Thoma, Methodists, Presbyterians, Syrian Orthodox, Salvation Army, Malaysian CARE, etc) and National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) congregations,<\/span> all taking turns <\/span>in<\/span> hosting an ecumenical prayer service where <\/span>the<\/span> diverse denominations, <\/span>members or congregations, the different parts of the Body of Christ that is the Malaysian Church,<\/span> come together in one corporate <\/span>prayer service and <\/span>worship. <\/span>For<\/span> this year, it was the turn of the Lutheran Church to host again, with the <\/span>Malaysian <\/span>Church taking up <\/span>this year\u2019s<\/span> calling in <\/span>Matthew 22: 37-40<\/b><\/a> – \u201cto love God with all our hearts, and souls, and mind, and to love our neighbours as ourselves<\/em>\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The tone was set for the whole celebration through an emulation of a tradition that has been practised in Burkina Faso for a long time, where a calabash is used to share water with guests who arrived tired from their <\/span>long<\/span> journeys. The practice expresses welcome, hospitality and fellowship. After the visitor has been refreshed, conversation can begin and the purpose of the visit can be expressed.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Processional and the sharing of water from a jug as a symbol of unity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Rev Balan Moses from the Malaysian Lutheran Church welcoming the congregation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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As the Congregation gathered and entered into <\/span>the<\/span> prayer <\/span>service<\/span>, water from a <\/span>jug<\/span> to symbolically represent the<\/span> calabash was shared by <\/span>Bishop Steven Lawrence, as<\/span> a member of the <\/span>Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia <\/span>host community, with <\/span>the<\/span> representatives of the other churches present <\/span>as they walked in at the end of the procession<\/span>. All were welcomed in the same way as Abraham welcomed the three visitors and provided water for their refreshment <\/span>in Genesis 18:1-8<\/a><\/span>. The Processional was accompanied by the hymn \u201c<\/span>All Hail the Power of Jesus\u2019s Name<\/span><\/i>\u201d in recognition of the Lordship of Jesus over the Church.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bishop Steven Lawrence <\/span>as <\/span>the host for the celebration <\/span>then<\/span> opened the <\/span>prayer<\/span> service with an <\/span>I<\/span>nvitation <\/span>to<\/span> Pray<\/span>, followed by the hymn \u201c<\/span>O Love<\/span><\/i>\u201d led by the Cantus Musicus <\/span>with Rev Balan Moses as the master of ceremony<\/span> and Rev David Devapirian as the pastor of the local church<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Myanmar Children’s Choir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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At various times throughout the <\/span>prayer<\/span> service, Cantus Musicus <\/span>(performing the songs \u201cO Love<\/em>\u201d (video below) and \u201cThe Meditations of My Heart<\/em>\u201d, both by Elaine Hagenberg, a Lutheran)<\/span> and the Myanmar Children\u2019s Choir <\/span>(\u201cPie Jesu\u201d Merciful Jesus<\/em> by Jenkins and \u201cCum santo Spiritu\u201d In The Power of the Holy Spirit<\/em> by Johann Sebastian Bach)<\/span> led <\/span>the<\/span> worship.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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