Christian Unity Week

The week of Christian Unity was held from January the 18th to January 25th.

On Friday 18 th January 2011 Aylsham Meeting hosted a Meeting for Worship for half an hour on the theme of Prayer as our contribution to the Week of Christian Unity organised by Churches Together in Aylsham. About a dozen visitors from neighbouring Catholic, Anglican and Methodist Churches joined a similar number of Friends in what proved to be a deeply spiritual event.

Our Friends Anne Marsden and Marian Bibby wrote of their experience of the week.

Christian Unity Week

Anne Marsden

Unusually I will start at the end of the session.

At the Churches Together Meeting at the end of the week the question was asked 'How successful has the week been?' It is very easy to pat one's back after an event but here it was justified. I will explain.

At the start, there was a theme for each week. Every denomination chose the evening most suitable for themselves and amazingly the theme for the day fitted with that denomination's form of worship.

The Catholic church started the week with the theme 'Devoted to Teaching'. The first arrivals whatever denomination were asked if they would like to read during the service. Towards the end we were each invited to put a grain of incense on to a burner, the priest explaining that this was a symbolic way to emphasise prayers to God. He advised one grain, not a handful, or we would all be overcome by the smoke! Wonderful to have humour! Short silences were held for individual worship.

The Methodists had the prison chaplain from Bure prison to speak. She talked about how there was God in everyone.

The Anglicans had a Compline service, silence for worship was kept ten minutes before the service and at times at during the service.

At the Emmanuel Church there were five areas with leaflets. People were invited to remain in their seats and worship silently, or go to an area and worship silently or aloud. The leaflets had prayer ideas e.g. pray for the community, for those working overseas etc.

The Salvation Army began with hymns as one would expect; then they too had worship areas. One area had little stones with 'God' written on them. After praying for the peace of Jerusalem one could put the stone at the foot of a small cross. Another area had a place where one could write a petition on a notelet and stick it on to a cross.

At Aylsham Community Church we were divided into groups of four and told to pray for each other and their churches. The singing of hymns was loud and exuberant.

At the beginning of the week I hoped to be able, as Quaker representative, to go to all the services. What impressed me was how many churches are supporting countries of the third world, not just by giving cash, but going out to the places and giving their time and energy.

The most important and revealing part to me from the week was the desire for unity. Not to worship in the same way but unity of support and respect for each other.

The title of the week 'All Things in Common' is so true. We really celebrated our similarities.... all things in common.

A Personal Spiritual Journey

Marian Bibby

Aylsham Churches together decided to celebrate the week of Christian unity by meeting every evening at 7.30 p.m. during the octave in a different place of worship. Each congregation planned its own form of worship. I was one of the twenty or so who attended all or most of the services. They were all very different and I sought to find the common threads that ran through the week.

One of the main themes was a belief in an awesome Creator who cares deeply for creation. We worshipped with uplifting hymns of praise interspersed with times of silence for personal reflection and prayer lead by both ministers and members of the congregations. Readings from the Holy Bible showed how people developed spiritually from a tribal view of a God to a universal belief in a Loving Creator worthy to be served.

Another theme centered on the duty of everyone to worship and work in accord with his/her view of God and apologise to the Creator for their many failures in this duty. Alongside this we shared a knowledge of what Aylsham (not just church goers) is doing to support fellow man in Aylsham and to the ends of the earth.

Among us was a powerful desire for peace. Not a peace of bowing to evil but of reconciliation and for this we need to meet together and learn with humility to see other points of view. The Christian Churches in Jerusalem are setting us the example as they talk and worship together. They are seeking ways of sharing the holy places with other beliefs and trying to tear down walls of separation and live at peace. The politicians may argue but Jerusalem Jews, Moslems and Christians are actively seeking to live together without fear.

So what did I gain from the octave of worship????? I made new friends, worshipped with inspired people in inspired atmospheres and realised how much truth there is throughout the world of Christian Churches.