Reconciliation: The Love of Christ Compels Us

Every year, between January 18 and January 25, Christians around the world are invited to celebrate a week of prayer for the unity of all Christians, to reflect on scripture together, to participate in jointly-organized ecumenical services, and to share fellowship.

This year’s resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity have been prepared by an ecumenical team in Germany, representing various churches and religious organizations. They have chosen as their theme “Reconciliation – The Love of Christ Compels Us,” inspired by 2 Corinthians 5:14-20. They invite Christians around the world to celebrate God’s reconciling grace, call us to recognize the pain of the deep divisions which afflict the Church, and urge us to become ambassadors of Christ’s message of reconciliation.

In 1517 Martin Luther raised concerns about what he saw happening in the Church by making public his 95 theses. This year marks the 500th anniversary of this key event in the reformation movements, often controversial in the history of inter-church relations in Germany. After extensive discussions, the churches in Germany agreed that the way to commemorate this Reformation event ecumenically should be a Christusfest – a Celebration of Christ. If the emphasis were to be placed on Jesus Christ and his work of reconciliation as the center of Christian faith, then all the ecumenical partners could participate in the anniversary festivities.

The Lutheran – Roman Catholic Commission on Unity has worked hard to produce a shared understanding of the commemoration. Its report, From Conflict to Communion, recognizes that both traditions approach this anniversary with new understandings of their own history and theology. In 2017 Lutheran and Catholic Christians will, for the first time, commemorate together the beginning of the Reformation. From this agreement and the wider ecumenical context emerges the strong theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: “Reconciliation – The Love of Christ Compels Us” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14).

Next week, we will continue our meditation on this theme: how the love of Christ urges us on to become ambassadors of reconciliation and ministers of healing in the Church and in the world!