Collaborative Worship Service Celebrates Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Greater Nashua Interfaith Council is organizing the event, which marks the 108th year of the International Ecumenical observance of Prayer for Christian Unity. The service will be held on the Rivier University campus in Resurrection Chapel at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception in Madeleine Hall. The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2019 finds its origins in the Book of Deuteronomy (16:20)—“Justice, Only Justice, You Shall Pursue.” This theme was chosen for its powerful message promoting truth, equality, and unity. Initial work on the theme was conducted by a group of representatives from different parts of Indonesia, including the Communion of Churches in Indonesia and the Indonesian Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Fr. Tom Orians, SA, Associate Director of the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute, noted “Every year, Christians across the world gather in prayer for growth in unity. We do this in a world where corruption, greed and injustice bring about inequality and division. We are called together to form a united witness for justice and for Christian Unity that becomes a means of Christ’s healing grace for the brokenness of the world. Only by heeding Jesus’s prayer ‘that they all may be one’ can we witness to living unity in diversity.”

Br. Paul R. Demers, S.C., Chaplain and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Rivier, will preach during the Service. Representatives, both clergy and lay people, will participate in the service, which will feature readings, hymns, petitions, and various prayers.