The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Service was held on February 19 at Trinity United Church in Preeceville. The service was sponsored by the Preeceville and District Ministerial Association.
Background material explains that the traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is January 18-25, said Rev. Miles Russell. Those dates were proposed in 1908 by Paul Wattson to cover the days between the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and therefore have a symbolic significance. In the southern hemisphere where January is a vacation time, churches often find other days to celebrate the week of prayer, for example around Pentecost which is also a symbolic date for the unity of the church.
The Preeceville and District Ministerial Association has been celebrating one ecumenical service, rather than eight daily services, for the last few years at a time that works for the local communities.
A potluck supper was held prior to the service with about 45 individuals enjoying the meal and conversation, he said. The service hosted 56 individuals from many churches worshipping together.
Rev. Barb Forsyth delivered the sermon during the service.
The service was hosted by the Ministerial, which included representatives from the seven congregations that are part of the Preeceville and District Ministerial Association. Those congregations include: Endeavour Fellowship Chapel; St. James Anglican Church, Endeavour; Evangel Tabernacle, Preeceville; St. John Lutheran Church, Preeceville; Trinity United Church, Preeceville; Grace United Church, Sturgis, and St. Patrick鈥檚 Roman Catholic Church, Sturgis.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Individuals who participated in the service were representatives and members of the Preeceville and District ministerial: Rev. Miles Russell, Rev. Hein Bertram, Pastor Brad Steppan and Barb Biccum.
Other participants from the member congregations included: Carol Steppan, Lynette Geistlinger. Esther Mills, Lillian Smith, Vicki Haskewich, Zita Serhan, Arlene Lingle, Leona Pollock, Marge Plaxin, Marlene Covey, Maureen Johnson, Kelsey Kosheluk, Hazel Urbanoski, Leanne McDonald, Verna Larson, Betty-Lou Skogen, Anna Russell, Greg Yaholnitsky, Kennedy Kosheluk, Lynn Larsen, Blaine Medlang and Agnes Murin. Karolyn Kosheluk was the pianist for the service.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 During the worship service, following the Apostles鈥� Creed, there were four intercessory prayers offered. After each petition in the prayer, three people lit candles that were on the communion table and stood silently around the newly-created cross, built from a dismantled wall. After all petitions of prayer were concluded and the 12 candle-bearers were surrounding the cross, light was shared throughout the congregation by lighting a candle that each worshipper had received when entering the church.
The concluding hymn was Here I am Lord, and each worshipper held a candle and received the words of commissioning which stated: 鈥淩eceive the Light of Christ and carry it into the dark places of our world! Be ministers of reconciliation! Be ambassadors for Christ! May Christ鈥檚 light effect reconciliation in our thoughts, words and deeds.鈥�
鈥淭he Week of Prayer ecumenical service is planned by slightly adapting the worship which has been prepared internationally and then adapted by the Canadian Week of Prayer for Christian Unity program team,鈥� said Russell. 鈥淭his year the churches in Germany were asked to write the service. Germany was chosen because 2017 is also the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
鈥淚n 1517 Martin Luther raised concerns about what he saw happening in the church by making his 95 theses,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his year marks the 500th anniversary of this key event in the reformation movements, often controversial in the history of inter-church relations in Germany. This is why the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) invited its ecumenical partners at various levels to help commemorate the events of 1517,鈥� he said.
The worship service originally prepared by the German churches followed the theme of 鈥淩econciliation, the Love of Christ Compels Us鈥� (2 Corinthians 5:14-20).鈥�
In addition to the prayers and hymns of praise there were a couple of unique features to the worship service prepared by the German churches, he said. During the confession of sins, a symbolic wall was built at the front using 12 different 鈥渟tones.鈥� After each sin was named, the corresponding stone was brought forward to build the wall. Following a moment of silence, the stone bearer offered a prayer for forgiveness and the congregation responded: 鈥淔orgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.鈥�
The sins named on the stones were: failure to love, hatred and contempt, false accusations, prejudice, persecution of others, broken communion, intolerance, waging of religious war, divisions, abuse of power, isolation and pride.
The wall is a powerful symbol for the German church and for Germany, he said. The background materials for the service stated that 鈥�1989 saw the fall of the Berlin Wall that began with the Peace Prayer movement in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in which people placed candles in windows and doorways and prayed for freedom.聽
