大象传媒

Good morning. Many years ago I listened to the Bishop of Jerusalem speak movingly of the challenge of being a Palestinian Christian and of Israeli-Palestinian relations. He pointed out that for many, Palestinian Christian seems an oxymoron.

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Nonetheless, he reminded us that Arab Christianity can be traced to the pages of the New Testament. Careful readers of the biblical book of Acts in chapter two discover that on the first day of Pentecost when the disciples spoke in foreign tongues, those who heard them declare the works of God in their native tongue included Arabs.

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Some years later, I was listening to another bishop; former Archbishop Desmond Tutu was speaking at King鈥檚 College London.听 He spoke movingly of the challenge of being a South African Christian in the wake of Apartheid, and in the midst of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

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Perhaps the most memorable part of the evening was Tutu鈥檚 response to the question why it was that he thought that South Africa had not descended into bloody civil war after the end of Apartheid. Tutu鈥檚 view was this: South Africa was probably the most prayed for country in the world in the 20 years or so leading up to the end of Apartheid. It is those prayers of God鈥檚 people all over the world, Tutu argued, which made reconciliation conceivable.

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It is that same conviction which lies behind the practice of observing this Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. The prayers of God鈥檚 people all over the world make reconciliation conceivable.

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Generous God, who is more ready to listen than we are to ask

and whose promises exceed all that we can desire

teach us to be bold enough to pray for reconciliation in your world. Amen.