This opinion piece is not about an exotic holiday in the Caribbean. Nor is it about some kind of original cocktail served with ice and forest fruits. It’s all about the exciting endeavour of building bridges among separated Christians.
The eight days from January 18 to 25 constitute, for Christians throughout the world, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This initiative, dating back to 1908, and inseparably associated with Fr Paul Wattson, has blossomed, particularly in the last 50 years. 1968 marks the year when Week of Prayer material, prepared jointly by the Faith and Order Movement of the World Council of Churches and the Holy See’s then Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, was officially used for the first time throughout the world.
Every year, Christians from a particular country or region in the world are invited to prepare the theme and related reflections to be used worldwide in the prayerful quest for Christian unity.
This year’s theme, ‘Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power’ (Exodus 15:6), has been the brainchild of different Christian Churches and traditions from the Caribbean region.
The region is a highly complex and interestingly variegated reality composed of tens of island states, as well as mainland territories in Central America and some of the northernmost coastal regions of South America. Together they offer an immensely colourful spectrum of different cultural, social, linguistic and religious realities. These nations are mostly former British, French and Dutch colonies.
Among the participants within the Caribbean Conference of Churches who contributed to this year’s theme and ecumenical resource-pack, one encounters Christians from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua, Anguilla, Guyana, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. The theme reflects their common experience.
The text of Exodus 15 narrates the liberation of the people of Israel from their Egyptian masters and their close shave with a return to their former bondage. The Lord miraculously came to their rescue at the Sea of Reeds, when the Egyptian chariots were hot on the Israelites’ heels.
Most Caribbean peoples are the descendants of slaves brought over from Africa to work in sugar cane, cocoa and tobacco plantations in that part of the world. They experienced the harshness and the pain of slavery.
If Valletta is the European Capital of Culture for 2018, Malta will be the Ecumenical Capital for 2020
The mentioned scriptural text, ‘Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power’, is a cry of joy of a liberated people. It is Moses’s canticle of praise to the Lord. It is the same joyful and liberated experience marking the history of the Caribbean nations who found solace and courage in God’s word during dark patches in their shared social history.
Caribbean Christians from different Churches and traditions – Anglicans, Methodists, Moravians, Presbyterians and Catholics – are together affirming that God’s word liberates peoples from the shackles of past divisions, painful wounds and bitter relations.
This is what the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is all about. This annual event serves as a timely reminder to all Christians to pray for Christian unity.
Christians all over the world are craving for unity. The painful divisions with the Orthodox Churches in the 11th century and with the Reformed Christians in the 16th have been the result of unfortunate events when Christians decided to move away from each other, for a multitude of reasons. The resulting acrimony was in place for centuries.
Fortunately, during the last century, and even more so in the last 50 years, great strides have been made in mutual Christian rapprochement. Christians from different Churches – even in Malta and Gozo – have grown closer to each other. Common initiatives and fruitful dialogue have borne fruit. There is no looking back, as we yearn for unity.
If Valletta is the European Capital of Culture for 2018, Malta will be the Ecumenical Capital for 2020. Christians in Malta have recently been entrusted by the Holy See and the World Council of Churches in Geneva to prepare the theme and the reflections for the Week of Prayer to be celebrated in two years’ time.
This is a privilege as well as a responsibility, as Christians in our islands offer the experience of their ecumenical journey to the whole world.
The national ecumenical service held on January 19 at Senglea bore witness to our ecumenical credentials. Christians flocked from all over the island to manifest their thirst for unity, as well as to pray for it to materialise.
The Ecumenical Movement is the work of the Holy Spirit. But it requires our cooperation and commitment. The Caribbean colours of 2018 are our springboard for Ecumenical Malta 2020.
Fr Hector Scerri is Deputy Dean, Faculty of Theology and president of the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission.