wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Spiritual life at the WCC's 9th Assembly

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World Council of Churches - Feature
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For immediate release - 18/01/2006

NOT YET THERE, BUT PRAYING HARD... TOGETHER

By K.M. George (*)

More articles and free photos at
www.wcc-assembly.info

The large worship tent at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 9th Assembly
in Porto Alegre will be a unique space and one of the main features of the
Assembly life. Some 3,700 participants coming from churches from all over
the world will gather twice a day under its white ceiling to celebrate
their faith, hope and fellowship in Jesus Christ and to pray for greater
unity.

The WCC Assembly, the largest and most representative gathering of
Christian churches from across the globe, will be a praying assembly. Its
theme is itself a prayer: "God, in your grace, transform the world." Its
deliberations and discussions, its policies and programmes will be shaped
by the spirit of prayer to the triune God - the Creator, Sustainer and
Saviour of all.

The worship tent in Porto Alegre will symbolize the declared goal of the
WCC to be a space where churches call one another to visible unity in one
faith and one loving communion to worship the triune mystery of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And yet, the Christians who gather there will painfully recall that they
remain divided for reasons of history, belief, cultural practices and
institutional structures. All will be sadly aware that they cannot yet
hold a common eucharistic celebration or any sacramental worship or, even
less, an "ecumenical liturgy". But this will not prevent them from
expressing their fervent and prayerful hope for the unity in Christ their
Saviour, and affirming their common faith and trust in the power of the
Holy Spirit who leads us into the truth.

As those gathered at the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre come together in
simple and joyful acts of prayer and song, some questions will be
uppermost in their minds:

- What is it that prevents Christians from perfecting and celebrating our
faith and communion in Christ our common Lord?
- What are the doctrinal and historical obstacles that keep our churches
divided?
- What should we do now to witness to Christ crucified and risen as one
united body of Christ?

In its search for answers to these questions, the Assembly will seek
insight and inspirations from these times of prayer and worship together.

> The beauty of diversity

The great diversity of cultures and spiritual traditions represented in
the daily prayers will undoubtedly provoke amazement among those present
for the first time at such a global event.

Diversity is God's gift to humanity, and the WCC Assembly and its worship
are planned to bring out its beauty in many ways. Prayers and hymns, signs
and symbols, rites and rituals drawn from various streams of Christian
tradition will find their appropriate place in the worship life.

Yet care will be taken not to mix them up in a way that masks the
particular identity of a tradition or offends the sensitivities of any
member church of the WCC and, as far as possible, every tradition will be
represented in its integrity.

To this end, the Assembly Worship Committee has given much thought to the
reflections of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the
WCC. Following the recommendations of the Commission the Assembly's prayer
life has been organized as inter-confessional or confessional services.

Whereas inter-confessional common prayer in the mornings will draw on the
liturgical resources of many confessions and traditions, the evening
services will mostly be in the form of what the Special Commission
describes as confessional common prayer, planned by a confessional family
or tradition for the Assembly as a whole.

However, one confessional family can invite another to lead a confessional
service jointly if they both are in a position that allows them to
celebrate worship together. That would be the case, for instance, of the
evening prayer prepared by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which has
invited the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) to join in.

"By inviting our Reformed brothers and sisters to lead with us this
evening prayer, prepared following a Lutheran liturgy, we wanted to give a
tangible expression to our broader ecumenical witness and to our commitment to the ecumenical movement," says Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, LWF general
secretary.

> Repentance and thanksgiving

The Assembly fellowship in prayer is conceived in a wide framework of
repentance, celebration and sharing. The intercessory prayers in the daily
worship will no doubt be a moving experience for many. True to the calling
of the church, the Assembly will carry in its prayer the whole world with
its pain and suffering, its hope and joy. This will be an act of spirituality, offering the whole creation back to its creator in repentance and in
joyful thanksgiving, so that the world may be transformed.

Transformation of human persons, of sociopolitical structures, of our own
churches and institutions in view of the Kingdom of God is central to the
Assembly's theme and to the ecumenical movement. The Assembly will pray
with one voice for the reign of God in the daily life of our world.

In many ways, the Assembly worship will be an anticipation of our hope in
the essential unity of God's world in spite of the present divisions and
divergences. The Christian unity to which the WCC member churches aspire
is not for the sake of the Council or even the ecumenical movement, but
for the unity of all humankind and of the creation.

Together, those present in Porto Alegre shall listen to the Word of God
that recreates the world, and together, they shall offer themselves to the
power of the Holy Spirit that transforms our lives.

[926 words]

Fr Dr K.M. George, a priest of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian church in
India, served as moderator of the WCC programme committee 1998-2006, and
is principal of the Orthodox theological seminary in Kerala, India.

[Sidebar text]

9th WCC Assembly: Praying for a transformed world

The 9th assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will be held in
Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 14-23 February 2006. Its theme is a prayer:
"God, in your grace, transform the world".

The first WCC assembly of the 21st century, it will gather up to 3,000
church leaders and ecumenical representatives from nearly every Christian
tradition around the world. As such, it will be one of the broadest global
gatherings of its kind.

WCC assemblies are often turning points in the life of the World Council,
and this one is expected to leave its mark on ecumenical history.
Deliberations will focus on issues such as the future of the ecumenical
movement, the churches' commitment to economic justice as well as their
witness to overcoming violence, and the challenges faced in the midst of
religious plurality.

In Porto Alegre, members of the ecumenical family will be able to gather
around the assembly at a Mutirão, a Portuguese word that means coming
together for a common purpose. Made up of workshops, exhibitions and
cultural celebrations, this part of the assembly programme will offer
opportunities for members of the wider ecumenical movement to gather,
reflect and celebrate together.

This is the first WCC assembly to be held in Latin America, and it is
being hosted by the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil
(CONIC) on behalf of churches throughout the region. Pre-assembly events
for youth and for women will be held from 11-13 February.

Assembly website: www.wcc-assembly.info

[246 words]

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect WCC policy.
This material may be reprinted freely, providing credit is given to the
author.

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.