Transcript
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O God by whom the meek are guided in judgment And light rises in the darkness for the godly Grant us in all our dark and uncertainties The grace to us what you would have us do That the spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices And that in your light we may see light And in your straight path we may not stumble Through Jesus
Christ our Lord Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit One God forever and ever Amen
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Friends, O Merciful God, At your church, being gathered by your Holy Spirit, you do want, May it show forth your power among all people, In the glory of your name, Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.
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God, source of all light, by your word you give light to the soul Pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding That being taught by you in holy scripture Our hearts and minds may be opened To know the things that pertain to life and holiness Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Listen now to the reading of the word of God from the letter to
the Ephesians The fourth chapter beginning at the first verse I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord Beg you to lead a life 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 spirit 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 people When it says he ascended what does it mean but that he 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 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles Some prophets Some evangelists Some pastors and teachers To equip the saints for the work of ministry For 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 We must no longer be children Tossed to and fro And blown about by every wind of doctrine By people's trickery By their craftiness in deceitful scheming But speaking the truth in love We must grow up in every way into him who is the head Into Christ From whom the whole body joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped As each part is working properly Promotes the body's growth in
building itself up in love This is the word of the Lord Thanks be to God Amen Our prayer together this evening makes visible the unity that binds together Christians Despite their differences in doctrine and interpretation of God's saving word For all of us who bear the name Christian There is but one body of Christ And through our baptism we have each and every one of us Been incorporated into that body For all of us there is
but one spirit One hope One God and Father of all And one Savior our Lord Jesus Christ This is the calling that we have received You have not chosen me said our Lord I have chosen you So we have not chosen each other dear brothers and sisters in Christ We have all been chosen and called to discipleship And we meet here in prayer and thanksgiving And as we do so we know that all this is not
ours The church is not ours Nor can anyone on earth claim it as their own It is his body It is his church And we are but members Who cut off from him simply perish And are ready as we read in the Gospel of Luke The third chapter in verse 9 or verse 17 Ready for the fire that destroys all things of no use We must therefore listen to his voice Seek to know his will Let
his spirit be our guide As we seek to respond generously but humbly To his prayer to the Father for his disciples I will ask I ask not only on behalf of these But also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word That they may all be one As you Father are in me And I am in you May they also be one in us So that the world may believe you have sent
me Gospel of St John chapter 17 verses 20 and 21 For while there is so much that binds us together as Christians We are not fully able to say with Saint Paul One Lord, one faith, one baptism In many ways our faith is not one And this is a cause not only for sorrow But very often results in scandal The Second Vatican Council did not hesitate to declare And I quote from the document on ecumenism Unitatis
redintegratio number one Many Christian communions present themselves As the true inheritors of Jesus Christ All indeed profess to be followers of the Lord But they differ in mind and they go their different ways As if Christ himself were divided As if Christ himself were divided Certainly such division openly contradicts the will of Christ Scandalizes the world and damages that most holy cause The preaching of the gospel to every creature End of quote We are not here
this evening to review the history of the church To go back over the sins of the past or to lay blame We are well aware that often enough when serious dissensions arose And communion was impaired in the church Both sides were to blame So let us this evening leave aside the polemics of the past And acknowledge the reality of our situation as brothers and sisters Children of the one God and father of all Yet sadly divided
and even at times treating each other as strangers or even enemies St. Paul places three proposals before the Ephesians In the section of his letter that has been read for us And we can apply these three proposals to ourselves today Firstly he calls on them to lead a life worthy of the calling you have received With all humility and gentleness With patience bearing with one another in love This should be our first aim as we seek
to promote the cause of Christian unity To act always with humility bearing with one another in love So often we are guilty of taking immense pride in the gifts that we have received Forgetting that they are gifts Forgetting that all these good things come not from our efforts Or from any merits of ours but from above In fact every good and perfect gift is given to us from above It comes down from the father of all
light To bear patiently with each other Showing respect and true Christian love for each other Should be the first goal of all who are involved in the ecumenical movement And we have to state honestly that we still have much to do before we reach that first goal The Ephesians were then called upon to make every effort To maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace This is a step further along the ecumenical way
which is the way of the church Going beyond respect and bearing patiently with one another In order to deepen and develop the unity of the spirit We cannot remain aloof, indifferent, complacent We are called to make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit which is the bond of peace This is a challenge for us to enter into a sincere and fraternal dialogue With the aim of coming to know each other better and to be
known for what we really are During the long period of separation and isolation Misunderstandings, prejudices and stereotypes have clouded over the reality And created false images that tend to keep us far apart We have seen over the past 50 years how an open and sincere dialogue Can remove these obstacles to maintaining the unity of the spirit which is the bond of peace And thirdly, St Paul reminds the Ephesians that they are not intended each and every
one To exercise the same ministries But each of us, he wrote, was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gifts God has created each one of us in his own image At the same time he has made each of us diverse in a multitude of ways From the very first centuries, the Church of Christ took on a variety of appearances As the gospel seed found root and produced fruit in distinct cultures In our search for
the restoration of Christian unity In the most profound sense of that gracious gift of the Lord We must avoid seeking a uniformity That would contradict the work of the spirit in the past centuries In his encyclical letter on commitment to ecumenism Pope John Paul II makes the point that in our journey toward What he calls the necessary but sufficient visible unity One must not impose any burden beyond that which is necessary Making a reference to Acts
15:28 There is no question of some coming out winners and the others losers There is room for a rich diversity in the Church of Christ With any unity, however, that is real And this diversity and these gifts are to be used, writes Paul to the Ephesians To contribute to the building up of the body of Christ We must no longer act like babes Who cling tenaciously to what seems to them as providing security We all
have our favored way of expressing our faith And that is not wrong We must be ready, however, to let go of these favored expressions Should they become an obstacle to a common consensus on the content of faith It is of vital importance in our search for unity That we can distinguish between the deposit of faith What we actually believe And the way in which that faith has been traditionally expressed Within our separate communions This is not
a matter of compromise But of seeking an expression of an agreed consensus of faith In words that avoid the polemics of the past And lead us forward along the path to unity We must be ready to let go To leave something of our past that is not essential In order to proceed along the road that is marked by the doctrines Which the Lord himself has revealed to us In short, as St. Paul says, we are to
seek the truth Yes, in love, with humility and patience As brothers and sisters should and Christians must May his spirit be with us always And guide us to the goal to which we are called The goal of Christian unity may be compared to a mountain ascent We are called to travel together to the top of the mountain, all the way But as we move ahead, we see new horizons, new possibilities Each time we pause, having made
progress We find that our vision is more beautiful, more rewarding or encouraging If we are ready and willing to undertake this journey together We will surely find that we are not alone The Lord will be with us, as he was with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus We may even see him transfigured before our eyes And like Peter, James and John, be given a great new vision And then we too will exclaim, Master, it
is good for us to be here Dear Lord Jesus Christ, Master, it is good for us this evening to be here In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen
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The Lord be with you. Let us profess our apostolic faith in which we have been baptized. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Father, the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. His covenant upon the Spirit was crucified by the Virgin Mary. He descended into the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living in
the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. In peace, let us offer our prayer to the Father in heaven.
[prayers in several languages] In song, let us pray together as our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us to pray.
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O God, good beyond all that is good, fair beyond all that is fair, in you is calmness, peace, and concord. Heal the dissensions that divide us from one another, and bring us back to a unity of love, bearing some likeness to your divine nature. Through the embrace of love and the bonds of godly affection, make us one in
the spirit by your peace, which makes all things peaceful. We ask this through the grace, mercy, and tenderness of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us bless the Lord. Thank you, Lord. And let us offer to one another a gesture of peace.
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