Thanksgiving, Partnerships, Stations of The Cross
A service of thanksgiving this evening to mark the 50th anniversary of the Church Sharing Agreement between the Anglicans and Catholics and their joint use of the building. It was combined with a service visiting the Stations of the Cross.
Elements were taken from the service marking the agreement in 1975 with the following reading:
John 17:1–2 (NIV): 17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
John 17:13–24 (NIV): 13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Key take away: We must / will / have to…seek unity in Christ. I had this song going round my head after the reading:
We also prayed this prayer:
You shall pray that all within the several denominations of Christ’s Church may, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, seek to end divisions and be led into unity with one another in serving him.
(I added formatting with my pen in the service!).
I sat quietly at the end of the service for just a few moments and was deeply moved by the absence of the Cross on the altar. The Lamb of God is on an indescribable journey.
Is there really objection to the mission community as a concept?:
Matt
No. Instead perhaps one is understandably, in local context, a little lost. In some gentle, reflective fellowship after tonight’s service this was clear. It was followed by a shared love of some music, especially the contemporary classical...always pushing the edge, think Peter Maxwell Davis.
No one could have attended that service and seen the incredible diversity of denominational representation and think that the Mission Community is not being guided by the Holy Spirit and being led into unity with one another. Beautiful.
