Readings:
Isaiah 9: 1-4
Psalm 27:1, 4-12
1 Corinthians 1: 10-18
Matthew 4: 12-23

Collect:
God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor, release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit and set all your people free to praise you
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

This week (18-25 January) is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in which churches from every denomination and all over the world pray together for greater unity within the church, the body of Christ. This year’s theme, “Be-longing: praying for unity amidst injustice”, is in some senses always a timely one. We know that we live in a world fraught with injustice, and that the church is not immune from complicity in the injustices of the past or the present.

In our own context the unfolding cost of living crisis, following hot on the heels of the pandemic, should remind us (if we needed reminding) that while we may be experiencing the same storms, we are not all in the same boat. For some of us, rising food prices will barely register, for others we will start to notice the difference and feel the pinch, and for some the increased costs will be enough to turn ‘just about managing’ into struggling to afford even the basic necessities of life. 

And it is not only in economic inequality that injustice is felt. This week has seen the release of the Church of England’s report on the church’s complicity in transatlantic slavery, and the need for reparations. It has also brought the news of further misogynistic violence within the Metropolitan Police. Each of these pieces of news, like any reporting of injustice, will be received differently by each of us depending on how we are positioned in relation to the issues under discussion – in terms of race, gender and other factors, as well as our own and our loved ones’ previous experience. 

So what, then, does unity look like in the context of such injustice, and such disparate ways of experiencing the world? Unity is a central calling of the church, in response to Jesus’ prayer “that they may all be one” (John 17.21). But that calling to unity is not a calling to uniformity. Jesus is not calling us all to be the same – nor even to all agree! 

Rather, we are called to unity within diversity. We are not all the same. Diversity is part of God’s purpose in creation – just look at the glorious array of creatures and plants which make up the complex and varied ecosystems on which all life, including us, depends. We are called to a unity which acknowledges and delights in the diversity contained within the one body of Christ. 

Here in Milton Keynes, with our proud history of ecumenism, we are no strangers to that kind of unity – a kind which recognises and values the particularity of each, while celebrating the common life and mission of all. This year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, with events organised across the city by the newly-formed Churches Together in Milton Keynes, marks a new step in our ecumenical journey. 

It is an opportunity for us to come together in response to Jesus’ calling to unity. It is also an opportunity to ask afresh the question: “what does unity look like here, now, in this particular time and place and set of circumstances?” God who calls us together into the one body of Christ is continually calling us into new ways to build up our common life and increase the bonds of peace, justice and love among us. 

Ruth Harley