Readings:
Jonah 3: 1-5, 10;
Psalm 62: 5-12;
1 Cor 7: 29-31;
Mark 1: 14-20

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 our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

We are coming to the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. A week when Christians of all denominations are encouraged to think about whatunites them and helps to strengthen the body of Christ. We don’t make a great deal of this week here in Milton Keynes, I guess because we are living out Christian Unity 52 weeks of the year or at least trying to. Each time we gather together in the Watling Valley we are celebrating the richness of the Christian traditions that make up our Partnership and we are certainly the stronger for it. Every day I am thankful for this unity and the blessing it brings.

Unity seems to be a big theme this week for not only is it the week of prayer for Christian unity but it was at the heart of President Biden’s address to the people of America. Unity ran through the whole Inauguration event and was so eloquently put by the young American poet Amanda Gorman.

‘We are striving to forge a union with purpose 
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colours, characters 
     and conditions of man
and so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
we close the dived because we know,
to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside...’

Although both Amanda and President Biden were talking to the American people I think there is something really powerful in their words that speak to us and speak of the Kingdom of God. It is far to easy for us to point out what divides us and to highlight another’s faults but what takes courage and an effort of will is to celebrate what unites us and encourage people by seeing

the positive things they bring. Surely, this is what is at the heart of the Good News. This is what Jesus called the Disciples to proclaim.

Paul in his letters talks a lot about unity, whether it’s the image of the body which he shares to with the Church in Corinth or that famous passage in Galatians 3:28

‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’

The challenge for us is how we truly live out this unity. Our vision statement talks about us being one church in 5 places and as we move towards becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) this will become more of a reality. The financial challenge that we face will only be able to be met by us all working together. The problem isn’t just for one part of the Partnership but is a challenge for us all that together we can and will meet.

The more we can see ourselves as one body, the more we come together, build each other up and emphasis what unites the more we can lift our gazeto what is before us. As Amanda puts it so beautifully...

‘...We can step out of the shade, 
aflame and unafraid
the new dawn blooms as we free it
for there is always light,
if we’re only brave enough to see it
if we’re only brave enough to be it!’

Mike Morris