Service for Christian Unity,
Thursday, February, 25th, 2021
During this Lent for several weeks we offer you to follow the American Baptist minister and witness, Martin Luther King
Meditation
Three dimensions to a fulfilled life
“The length, the width and the height are of equal dimensions” Apocalypse 21,16
I would like to urge you to give priority to the search for God. Let his Spirit fills your being. You need him to face difficulties and life trials. Before the boat that is your life reaches its destination, it will encounter lengthy and unsettled storms, raging and howling winds and rough seas, which paralyze the heart. If you do not have a deep and patient faith in God, you will be without strength to confront the delays, the disappointments and the trials and tribulations of life, which are unavoidable. Without God, all our efforts amount to ashes and our daybreaks to deep nights. Without him, life is an enormous drama from which the critical scenes are missing. But with Him, we are able to climb hectic valleys to inner peace summits and to discover radiant stars of hope within the depths of the most depressive nights of life. (…)
I would urge you to make plans large and big enough so that they escape time chains and space fetters. Give your lives, all that you have and all that you are, to the God of Universe whose plans are unchanging. (…) As we dedicate ourselves fully to Christ and to his way, we participate to this marvelous act of faith, which will lead us to the true knowledge of God.
Extract from The strength to love, by Martin Luther King, Ed. Casterman 1964, p.125 and 127
Intercessions
Prepared by our brothers and sisters from the parish of Herz-Jesu in Berlin.
To adapt according to the place of worship
1/ In Germany, the Catholic Church lives through a tormented time. On one hand the subject of sexual abuses is still very sensitive and sadly it is still in the news, on the other hand there is the “Synodal Way” where lay people and bishops debate about important questions for the Church.
We pray, Lord, may your Holy Spirit guides the Catholic Church in Germany and leads to unity and reconciliation.
2/ In Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, the third ecumenical gathering of Churches was planned for Ascension Day, a major event of different churches in Germany, with about 150 000 participants and a strong presence in the medias. Because of the pandemic, only on line conferences are maintained.
Lord we pray that the intuition of the Ecumenical gathering of the Churches keeps its strength and that important impetus may be generated by this on line meeting. We pray as well for the organizers who suffer enormous financial loss, may your Providence support all those who have dared to commit to this event.
3/ As in other European countries, the large historical Churches in Germany know a strong diminution of the number of faithful.
Lord, we pray that through this pandemic crisis, your Holy Spirit awakens our faith and the Church and inspires us new creative ways to proclaim it. May the large historical Churches make propositions, which stretch out, to all its members, as well as the growing number of people who do not yet know you.
4/ In the Chemin Neuf Community, it exists several work groups focused on a dialogue between Jews and Christians.
Thank you, Lord, for the various meetings with our Jewish friends and with the brothers and sisters involved in the Community and who are of Jewish origin. May your Holy Spirit guides us on this discovery and encounter path, may it makes of us channels of peace and reconciliation.