the chair of peter and the week of prayer for christian unity

18 january, the feast of the chair of st. peter, called by protestants the confession of st. peter, has for more than 100 years now been the beginning of a week of prayer for christian unity. (the week ends on 25 january, the feast of the conversion of st. paul.) the week has sometimes been more attended, sometime less.

the differences between the parts of the church seeking union is illustrated in the way the feast that starts it is considered. from the roman catholic side unity seems possible by accepting the authority of peter's successors (even though his chair is actually from his documented time as bishop at antioch, rather than rome). from the protestant side unity seems possible by accepting the confession that "jesus is messiah" with an amazing variety of what is meant by that in the thousands of splinters of protestantism.

but there has been a unity within the church which i lament, and which seems often to prevent her recognizing the real unity which is her gift from her founder. it is fascinating to note that the story of peter's confession is set in caesarea philippi, a town which, celebrating both the greek and roman empires' rule in "the land," was a sort of twin towers of its day, with greek culture and roman politics. by recognizing the lordship of christ jesus, both of these towers were destroyed.

but both the roman catholic and protestant followers of jesus have tended to rebuild the towers (think babylon here if you haven't already). the roman catholic church quickly became a very worldly political power, and the first thing almost all of the protestants did, with a very few wonderful exceptions, was to try to force the government to accept their "confessions."

the church has often been united in wanting the kingdom of christ jesus to be the successor to the roman empire. no wonder jesus again and again told his disciples not to mention that he was the messiah. he knew we would get it wrong, again and again.

this is a prayer from the anglican tradition which seems appropriate for the week:


O GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace; Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly, union and concord: that as there is but one Body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.