JourneyOnline
Catholics on one corner of the street, Uniting Church on the other, Anglicans down the road?
This year on 3rd June Queensland Churches Together wishes to demonstrate that though the buildings may still remain, the barriers between their occupants are visibly crumbling.
Each year just before Pentecost, in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, members of different churches come together to celebrate their common faith and pray for even stronger links between them.
This year’s events are especially significant. The Christians in Ireland who wrote the materials for the week – both Catholic and Protestant – chose the theme of reconciliation. What they wanted to share is that new relationships between divided communities often begin in small gatherings of two or three. That is why they chose the verse, Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matthew 18:20) to accompany this year’s prayers world-wide.
Here in Australia the week coincides with Reconciliation Week, the time in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians come together to remember the victims of the Stolen Generations and work towards more just relationships.
That is why this year’s time of Prayer for Reconciliation and Christian Unity extends from Sorry Day on Friday, 26th May to Pentecost on Sunday, 4th June.
The service in St John’s Cathedral on at 5:00 pm on Saturday, June 3 is being prepared by a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Christians from a variety of denominations, under the umbrella of QCT and its special programme, Churches Together Indigenous People’s Partnership (CTIPP).
QCT welcomes all Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to the service who wish to pray together for reconciliation and Christian unity. It will be a celebratory service, giving thanks for the many contributions Indigenous Christians make to the life of churches in Queensland. This is the way QCT has chosen to mark the Day of Thanksgiving being celebrated by a number of Christians the same day.
QCT and CTIPP would also like to encourage people to attend the commemoration events taking place on Sorry Day (Friday, 26th May) at the sites of plaques recalling the institutional history of the Stolen Generations in Brisbane. One such event will be held in King George Square at 6:30 pm.
Inquiries can be directed to QCT-CTIPP, Paula Coghill (Coordinator), Ph. 07-3369 6792, email HERE or Glenine Hamlyn (QCT General Secretary), ph. 07-3369 6792 or email HERE.
