Jesus said, ‘I pray...for those who will believe in me through [the disciples'] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.'
— John 17.21
What, we might wonder, occurred between Jesus uttering this prayer of unity, and the squabbles of the early church, the Great Schism (between Eastern and Western churches), the Reformation, and the continuing ructions that set Christian against Christian today?
Can we read this prayer as a promise, rather than a hope expressed? That, as followers of Christ, we are united with God through him, and that such unity transcends all human endeavours to undermine it and, indeed, extends to one another across traditions and denominations.
In a week where we mourn for murdered brothers and sisters in the Coptic church in Egypt, may we be mindful that 'in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith...' (Galatians 3.26)
Loving God,
As we recall the passion of your son this Holy Week,
we stand together with those
who have been martyred for their faith in him.
May your church be an example of oneness and unity
that witnesses to a new way of living harmoniously,
as one family under you.
Amen.
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