2009 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Day 8

Christian proclamation of hope in a world of separation


Our prayer intentions come full circle on Day 8 when we pray that the spirit of the Beatitudes will overcome the spirit of this world. Christians carry the hope that all things are being made new in a new order established by Christ. This enables Christians to be bearers of hope and artisans of reconciliation in the midst of wars, poverty, discrimination, and other contexts where human beings suffer and creation is groaning.


Scripture

Ezekiel 37:1-14, I will open your graves.
Psalm 104:24-34, You renew the face of the earth.
Revelation 21:1-5a, I am making all things new.
Matthew 5:1-12, Blessed are you...


Meditation

As reflected upon in meditations of previous days, Christians live in the midst of a world which is marked by various kinds of division and alienation. Yet the stance of the church remains one of hope, grounded not in what human beings can do, but in the power and abiding desire of God to transform fracture and fragmentation into unity and wholeness.

Christian hope lives on even in the midst of profound suffering because it is born out of the steadfast love of God revealed on the cross of Christ. Hope rises with Jesus from the tomb, as death and the forces of death are overcome; it spreads with the sending of the Holy Spirit, which renews the face of the earth. The risen Christ is the beginning of a new and authentic life. His resurrection announces the end of the old order and sows the seeds of a new eternal creation, where all will be reconciled in him and God will be all in all.

“See, I am making all things new.” Christian hope begins with the renewal of creation, such that it fulfils God's original intention in the act of creating. In Revelation 21, God's new beginning ends the sin, divisions and finitude of the world, transfiguring creation so that it can take part in God's glory and share in God's eternity.

When Christians gather to pray for unity, they are motivated and sustained by this hope. The strength of prayer for unity is the strength which comes from God's renewal of the created world; its wisdom, that of the Holy Spirit which breathes new life on dry bones; its integrity, that of opening ourselves completely to the will of God, to be transformed into instruments of the unity Christ wills for his disciples.


Prayer

Gracious God, you are with us always, amidst suffering and turmoil, and will be to the end of time. Help us to be a people deeply imbued with hope, living out the beatitudes, serving the unity you desire. Amen.


Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute