Prayer deals with a relationship to the Triune God we know through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and through God, to each other. Our relationships with each other, with the whole created order and thus with God, are broken and in need of mending. A loving God beckons the disunity of Christendom to wholeness. God beckons us to the Godhead and to our neighbors. In these closing days of the twentieth century, as we are in prayer with God and in conversation with each other, we need to ask how are we responding to God's reconciling presence.
Contemporary events compel such an approach.
This statement shows an intriguing convergence between contemporary Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant thinking about the spiritual concept of conversion and its implications for Christian unity. Soon religious leaders in Massachusetts will be releasing special prayers for Christian Unity in anticipation of the millennium. Included with the prayers are a hymn for unity and a litany of repentance, renewal, and recommitment. We hope they lead to refreshed spirits, new energy, and ways forward. We appeal for such prayer, not only during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, but throughout the coming year.