The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed from the 18th to the 25th January. Each year resources are provided for Christians of all nations and denominations to read and pray each day and normally there is a local service for Christians from different churches across North Swindon to come together.
In 2024 we will be worshipping together on Sunday 21st January at 6pm at the church building in Abbey Meads Village Centre (formerly Christ the Servant) Elstree Way, SN25 4YX.
This year, the materials for personal prayer were prepared by an ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community (CCN) and you can find them here. Day 1 is Thursday 18th January.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the best known passages of Scripture, yet one that never seems to lose its power to challenge indifference to suffering and to inspire solidarity. It is a story about crossing boundaries that calls our attention to the bonds that unite the whole human family. In choosing this passage of Scripture for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the churches of Burkina Faso have invited us to join with them in a process of self-reflection as they consider what it means to love our neighbour in the midst of a security crisis. Communities in the British-Irish context may be less vulnerable to acts of mass violence than in Burkina Faso, but there are still many living with the memory and/or the threat of serious violence, centred on issues of identity and belonging. There are also groups within communities, including people from ethnic minority backgrounds and people seeking asylum, who feel particularly vulnerable to violence or being displaced by the threat of violence.
