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| “The church was born in tumult yet emerged from the chaos with a potent, indeed life-changing, message relevant to all cultures and contexts” Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC, Fiji 2020 |
“The church was born in tumult yet emerged from the chaos with a potent, indeed life-changing, message relevant to all cultures and contexts,” reads the message. “As at the first Pentecost, so it must be again today.”
A silent, invisible, lethal natural force has landed, reflects the message. “The novel coronavirus has upended the whole world, instilling terror and chaos, causing millions to fall ill and hundreds of thousands to die,” reads the text. “The pandemic has wreaked havoc on economies, upset families and community life, eluded the most sophisticated systems of global and local healthcare, tested the mettle and efficacy of governance, and caused outbreaks of hunger.”
Yet this Pentecost, across the centuries and around the world, Christians are linked to each other and to those earliest disciples to proclaim, as they boldly did, that the God of Life is with us still. “The Spirit of God lifts our hearts in prayer and longing,” the message reads. “The Spirit instills in us courage to face grief and suffering.”
Pentecost message from the WCC presidents 2020
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 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania.
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