In Belfast, this is The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Most churches acknowledg this by holding ecumenical worship services and/or giving a message related to Christian unity.
On Tuesday, Zoe and I attended an ecumenical service at St. Anne's Cathedral. The service was very traditional: Bishops, Reverends and Fathers dressed in their finest robes, the St. Stephen's boys choir opening the service with a processional hymn, and numerous litanies between the message and hymns.
However, one item in the service really touched me that night. We sang a hymn, which I was unfamiliar with and did not know the tune of. Most hymnals here do not have the music printed, so I was struggling to sing along. Instead of trying to pick up on the tune and sing quietly so no one around me would hear my mistakes, I took the time to just listen and focus on the words of the song:
Spirit of love, you move within creation
Drawing the threads to colour and design:
Life into life, you knit our true salvation,
Come, work with us,
And weave us into one.
Though we have frayed the fabric of your making,
Tearing away from all that you intend,
Yet, to be whole, humanity is aching,
Come, work with us,
And weave us into one.
Great loom of God, where history is woven,
You are the frame that holds us to the truth,
Christ is the theme, the pattern you have given,
Come, work with us,
And weave us into one.
The words resonated within me as we finished the hymn. The focus of this year is building relationships and breaking down barriers that divide people. This hymn helped me to remember that it is the spirit of God that will help us to be one, and that He will work with us and weave us into one.
Well said, weaver.
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