wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] 2009 Week Of Prayer For Christian Unity is Jan. 18-25

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This story available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09041<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09041

2009 Week Of Prayer For Christian Unity is Jan. 18-25

>Focus this year is on Korea

>by Jerry L. Van Marter
>Presbyterian News Service

with information provided by the World Council of Churches
LOUISVILLE ― Inspired by the witness of churches on the
divided Korean peninsula, Christians around the world will
be praying "that they may become one in God's hand" during
this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU).

The materials for the 2009 week of prayer are rooted in the
experience of the churches in Korea. In their context of
national division they have turned for inspiration to the
prophet Ezekiel, who also lived in a tragically divided
nation and longed for the unity of his people.

Traditionally celebrated between Jan. 18 and 25 in the
northern hemisphere or at Pentecost in the southern
hemisphere, the WPCU mobilizes countless congregations and
parishes the world over.

During the week, Christians from different confessional
families get together and ― at least on that occasion ―
pray together in special ecumenical celebrations.

Production of the liturgical and biblical material for the
WPCU has been jointly coordinated since 1968 by the World
Council of Churches' Faith and Order Commission and the
Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity.

This year, a group of representatives from the Catholic
Bishops' Conference of Korea and the National Council of
Churches in Korea chose as the text for the WPCU the vision
of Ezekiel (Ezek. 37:15-28).

The passage depicts two pieces of wood, symbolizing the two
kingdoms into which Israel had been divided. The Korean
Christians found it offered some compelling parallels to
their own situation within a divided country and to a
divided Christendom.

Resources for the week [www.oikoumene.org/?id=3193] include
an introduction to the theme; a suggested ecumenical
celebration which local churches are encouraged to adapt
for their own particular liturgical, social and cultural
contexts; biblical reflections and prayers for the "eight
days"; and an overview of the ecumenical situation in Korea
and additional prayers from Korean churches.

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