Ordinary 2

The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

[Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – 18-25 January]

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalm 40; I Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

As much as we say we desire unity and peace,

division seems to be a hallmark of the human condition

since Eve and Adam partook of the fruit.

Self-knowledge put distance between humanity and God.

Nakedness caused us to hide from God.  

Mutual blame revealed the division between Adam and Eve.

And the natural world, child birth and farming would work against us.

 

Division.

It is true in politics. It is true in relationships. It is true in the church.

 

From our earliest days the church has been marked by division.

Peter and Paul argue and are divided over who can be a Christian.

Kosher. Circumcision.

 

The Corinthian Church was divided.

Divided between the wealthier and poorer members.

Divided between those who thought they were more spiritual.

 

Every five hundred years theological tectonic plates have shifted causing ecclesial earthquakes and volcanic eruptions within the Christian Church.

 

451. The Council of Chalcedon. The natures human and divine of Jesus Christ

1054. The great divorce between what we know as Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

1517. The Protestant Reformation in the West.

 

 

In division…

We take sides.

Our side of the argument, history, position is always right. 

In fact, the only way to look at an issue.

 

The other side is always wrong, blind, short-sighted, the enemy.

The enemy is always held in suspicion.

Never trusted. No one listens.

There is no need to listen when arrogance and self-righteousness dominate.

 

So Christians…

We didn’t talk. Worse, were unwilling to listen.

We built theological walls.

We excommunicated each other.

We imprisoned, tortured and executed each other. We waged war.

 

The Body of Christ, as Saint Paul describes us, where one part cannot say to another part, “I do not need you” has regularly been pulled asunder. And the divisions continue to this day.

 

The issues of the acceptance of gay people, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women are dividing both the Methodist Church and the Anglican Communion.

 

Powerplays have shattered full communion between the Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches.

 

Authority, how it is exercised, the place of women and gay people, how the Eucharist is to be celebrated is dividing our Catholic Church.

 

What a counterpoint to the night in which Jesus was arrested, tortured and executed, when he washed the feet of his disciples and taught, “This is how all people will know that you are my disciples [my dedicated learners], if you have love for one another.” [John 13:35] Did he have a premonition which caused his last prayer that night to be “I pray so that they all may be one, as you, Father are in me and I in you…that the world may believe that you sent me.” [John 17:21]

 

We know what scandal is. We’ve lived with the sexual scandal for over 20 years. Do we consider the divisions within the Christian Church as scandalous? “[T]hat they all may be one…that the world may believe that you sent me.”

 

With a history such as ours, why should anyone follow Jesus in light of the behaviour of his disciples?

 

Every five hundred years. We have torn ourselves to pieces. Until…

 

1964. The Second Vatican Ecumenical C0uncil. A radical change. The Decree Unitatis redintegratio.

The Council Fathers dared write, “Promoting the restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.”

 

“Promoting the restoration of unity among all Christians…”

The image is astounding.

All Christians moving toward the goal of unity which is Christ.

This decree was a conversion moment for our Church.

We understood ourselves as the only source of salvation.

The movement was all other Christians moving toward the Catholic Church. A return home.

 

We now saw ourselves as part of a whole.

Walking with each other. All Christians are moving in the same direction toward Christ, the source of unity.

 

There are two prayers that immediately follow the Lord’s Prayer. The Embolism; an extension of the Lord’s Prayer and The Prayer of Peace. We pray, “Deliver us from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days” and “Look on the faith of your Church and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will.” The two prayers are similar. The plea is doubled. Because unity and peace are essential for life in Christ.

 

Today is the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. A movement begun in 1908. It is eight days of pray for the Christ-gift of unity among all Christians.

 

Unity is not only praying together.

Working in food pantries alongside each other.

Visiting each other churches.

Working together for social justice.

The search is for organic unity around which we can stand at the same table.

 

Prayer does not change God. It changes us.

I strongly encourage you to pray these eight days for the Christ-gift of unity.

That means a change of heart within us.

A desire and willingness to walk with each other toward Christ.

 

For our Catholic Church...that means

…putting aside our imperial arrogance over other Christians and walking in humility.

…trusting our sisters and brothers of other Christian communities in their expressions and experience of Christ.

…acceptance that Christ is greater than any of our institutions and structures.

 

There is much that is packed into the opening phrase of the Decree, “Promoting the restoration of unity among all Christians…”

 

 

  

 18 January 2026