wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Praying together calls us to be one – book launch

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>World Council of Churches - News

PRAYING TOGETHER CALLS US TO BE ONE – BOOK LAUNCH AT GERMAN  ECUMENICAL

>CONVENTION

>For immediate release: 20 May 2010

As the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag in Germany drew to a close,  more
than 3000 people gathered on the evening of 15 May for an ecumenical
service to pray, sing and celebrate in different languages what  “makes
us one”.

The prayers and songs used in the service came from the multilingual  book
“Laudate omnes gentes – Praying together. Resources  and songs for
ecumenical celebrations”. Launched in the week preceding  Pentecost, each
prayer in the book appears in six languages. The 120 texts and 40  short
liturgical songs come from a rich variety of church traditions,  branches
of the ecumenical movement and two thousand years of Christian history.

“When I was a boy I learnt that those who really pray need  to close their
eyes. In the ecumenical movement I have learnt that it can be equally
important, literally or metaphorically, to open my eyes to pray  … to
open my eyes to the world and those who need my prayers.”  So said the
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse
Tveit.

Tveit was one of four religious leaders who gave short testimonies  about a
favourite prayer at the service. “With open eyes I can see  suffering, I
can see others, I can see you with whom I can pray Christ’s  prayer,
‘That all may be one’”, said Tveit.

The Roman Catholic Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, the Romanian  Orthodox
Metropolitan of Germany and central and northern Europe Dr Serafim  Ionta
and Rev. Dr Margot Kässmann also offered favourite prayers  and insights
from their different traditions.

The book for worship came into being following the call to strengthen
spiritual ecumenism at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly which  took
place in Sibiu, Romania in 2007.

“We place this book in the hands of all those who rely on  common prayer,
and in prayer set out on the road to unity,” Tveit and the  Venerable
Colin Williams, outgoing general secretary of the Conference of  European
Churches (CEC) state in their joint introduction to the book.

“I hope its international character will encourage Christians  to look
beyond the boundaries of their own churches and their own countries  and to
focus on greater unity among Christians worldwide,” writes  Cardinal
Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting  Christian
Unity, in his foreword.

>###INFOBOX###

Laudate omnes gentes. Praying Together: Resources and Songs for  Ecumenical
Celebrations is accompanied by a CD which, in addition to the full
contents of the book, contains many of the prayers in further languages.

>The book is in five chapters:
>- Common roots
>- Spiritual treasures
>- Fruits of the ecumenical movement
>- Short liturgical songs
>- Orders of service.

Main languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. Additionall y,
each text is printed in the original or another language.

The book is edited jointly by Rev. Sabine Udodesku, Rev. Dirk Stelter,  Rev.
Dr Barbara Rudolph, Dr Johannes Oeldemann, Rev. Luca M. Negro, Georges
Lemopoulos, Rev. Robert Jones, Dr Elisabeth Dieckmann and Rev. Fritz
Baltruweit on behalf of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany
(ACK), the CEC and the WCC.

Laudate omnes gentes is published by Gütersloher Verlagshaus  und Kösel,
ISBN 978-3.-579-05919-8. Its list price is 19,80 Euro.

Further information (in German) (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3d9bd732551df4c062f3
)

WCC work on spirituality and worship (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=169cf1f4a4b80c453287 )

More information on WCC activities at the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7599f75214e9ee5e1246
)

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.