WCC News: Focolare guests pray with WCC: “our differences do not have to break us”

Twenty-four students and seven teachers from the Focolare Movement joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) for Ash Wednesday prayer services, and for an introduction to the ecumenical movement.  Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, WCC programme director for Unity, Mission, and Ecumenical Formation, delivering her reflection at the Ash Wednesday service with the participation of Focolare students at the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, 14 February 2024. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 15 February 2024 Students learned about the WCC vision and strategy, discussed how social media can advance unity, and received an update on the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence.  This year, Ash Wednesday, according to the Western calendar, also fell on Valentine’s Day, prompting social media messages from Thursdays in Black that “love heals—it never hurts.” The Focolare guests participated in morning prayers at the WCC Chapel, where they prayed for the people and churches of Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. Prayers also highlighted “True Freedom,” a global resource from the WCC and the Clewer Initiative to prevent human trafficking. Bishop Dr Munib Younan, bishop emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, reflected on “Water for peace in the Middle East region.”  His reflection was the first installment in the WCC Lenten series Seven Weeks for Water. During a noon prayer, Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, WCC programme director for Unity, Mission, and Ecumenical Formation, reflected on the season of Lent.  “There is a great deal of injustice and oppression in our world today—far more than any one of us can resolve,” said Nalwamba. "However, if every Christian take injustice and oppression seriously, God would enable our collective commitment to make a difference.” She also talked about authenticity. “For an individual or a community's religious practices to be authentic, they must concern an interaction with God,” she said. “Wealth enables generosity, and a generous heart has its sights set on God.” Eighteen-year-old Iago Aives de Lucena, from Brazil, said he was grateful for his first-ever visit to the Ecumenical Centre.  “I think that I can work more to listen and to understand the difference between the different churches,” he said when asked what he would take away from his visit.  Claire Ahabwe, a 27-year-old from Uganda, appreciated the feeling of unity. “It’s not about making each different from every other but making sure there is something that unifies all of us,” she said. “The fact that people are living it here, it’s good enough to show that we can make it throughout the world—that everybody needs a kind person. Our differences do not have to break us; they just have to make us one.” Prof. Dr Vasile-Octavian Mihoc, WCC programme executive for Ecumenical Relations and Faith and Order, expressed the joy of the visit. “It’s always wonderful to have Focolare students visit us at the Ecumenical Centre or Bossey,” he said. “Their deep connection to the ecumenical movement is rooted in a love-inspired spirituality, driven by a desire to expand fellowship within and beyond the church. Their presence on Ash Wednesday added warmth to our chapel's liturgy, marking the beginning of Lent with a beautiful symbol of unity and love, accompanying us towards the joy of Resurrection.” Photo gallery of the Ash Wednesday service with Focolare students Group of Focolare students and teachers visiting the Ecumenical centre on 14 February, 2024. Photo: Grégoire de Fombelle/WCC See more

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 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland

WCC NEWS: Ash Wednesday Peace Prayer urges end to world’s conflicts

An Ash Wednesday Peace Prayer remembered many of the 115 ongoing armed conflicts around the world. Held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, the prayer also focused on God continuing to create new life from the ashes of injustice. Ash Wednesday prayer service at the Chapel of the Ecumenical centre in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 22 February 2023 Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, offered a reflection. “For Western Christianity, today is the first day of Lent,” said Burghardt. “We enter into this Lent with many conflicts going on around the world, from Tigray to Ukraine; with politicians who are also working on the change of attitude and change of mind by not putting Christ, but fear, narrow-mindedness and exclusion at the center.” Today, we pray for peace, noted Burghardt. “The fact that there seems to be lack of it in today’s world, should make us ever more eager to strive for it, both in our prayers and in our deeds,” she said. “Professional peace builders often struggle with the feeling that things are not moving on as fast as they wish, or even worse: their efforts don’t seem to lead anywhere.” We need to be sustained by hope, added Burghardt. “History knows multiple examples of how peace has been restored between former enemies, how they have beaten their swords into plowshares,” she said. Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation. Ash Wednesday prayer service at the Chapel of the Ecumenical centre in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC Rev. Dr Mikie Roberts, WCC programme executive for Spiritual Life, observed that Ash Wednesday is a most meaningful time to pray for peace as we remember the many places of conflict in today’s world. “It was deeply moving to hear prayers being said in the language of the region being prayed for,” he said. “This was a tangible demonstration of our Christian ecumenical solidarity.” Eva Abel, from the Republic of Kenya (Anglican Church of Kenya), a student at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey joined in the prayer. She reflected: “Ash Wednesday always reminds me of my last day in life, because it’s during Ash Wednesday and the day that you die that you get the sign of the cross.” Photo gallery Ash Wednesday prayer service at the Chapel of the Ecumenical centre in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC See more

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 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland

The Lectionary Passages for Sunday, February 17, 2021 (Ash Wednesday)

Below are NRSV translations of the lessons from the Old Testament (Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12), the Psalms (Psalm 51:1-17), the Letters (2 Corinthians 5:20b - 6:10) and the Gospels (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21). Please make any comments concerning the passages you want. Together, let's discuss the Word of God.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Isaiah 58:1-12

Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.

“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

Psalm 51

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

2 Corinthians 5:20b - 6:10

...we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.