Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

January 18-25

DAY 4

Called to one hope 

Verse for the day 

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling (Eph 4:4). 

Additional Scripture passages 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 

Psalm 24:1-6 

John 17:20-26  

Reflection 

In Ephesians 4:4 the Apostle Paul highlights the profound unity that binds the Church worldwide. This unity is rooted in the one Spirit and the one hope that connect all Christians in their faith. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit ignited the global mission of the Church. This same Spirit empowers us and nurtures our collective mission today, fostering a universal Church that transcends national and cultural boundaries. Our shared hope in salvation through Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of this unity, drawing together diverse peoples into one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. As Christians, we are defined by this singular hope and the one Spirit through whom we are baptized and renewed. Our task is to ensure that this unity is not just a concept but a lived reality, reinforcing our shared mission and love for one another. 

A question to consider 

In what ways can we, as a church or community, embrace the challenge of our one calling, while maintaining our unique identity and traditions? 

Prayer 

Jesus Christ,  

you have brought us together in all our diversity as your family and church.  

In the face so many situations on earth where hope has given way to despair and wounded hearts, renew our hope in the Holy Spirit’s work of changing the world.  Move us to spread this hope to everyone everywhere.  

You are the true Light, who casts out the darkness of sin,  

and shines into our hearts the joy and hope of your eternal love.  

Amen. 

At least once a year, Christians are reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe” (see John 17.21). Hearts are touched and Christians come together to pray for their unity. Congregations and parishes all over the world exchange preachers or arrange special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services. The event that touches off this special experience is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

WHEN: Traditionally the week of prayer is celebrated between 18-25 January, between the feasts of St Peter and St Paul. In the southern hemisphere, where January is a vacation time, churches often find other days to celebrate it, for example around Pentecost, which is also a symbolic date for unity.

In order to prepare for the annual celebration, ecumenical partners in a particular region are invited to produce a basic liturgical text on a biblical theme. Then an international editorial team of WCC and Roman Catholic representatives refines this text to ensure that it can be prayed throughout the world, and to link it with the search for the visible unity of the church.

Ephesians 4:1 13

I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spi rit in the bond of peace: there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his

(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, f or building up the Body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

New Revised Standard Version