Pauline Ecumenical Prayer Service

Yesterday evening, January 20, our parish hosted a Pauline Ecumenical Prayer Service to jointly celebrate the International Year of St. Paul and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We were joined by clergy and faithful from local Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, and Disciples of Christ churches, as well as by a Benedictine monk from Saint Meinrad Archabbey. Here is the homily that I preached for the prayer service.

A Historic Day of Grace and Peace
1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 Romans 10.9-18
For us who are citizens of the United States of America, today is a historic day. Regardless of your political views or voting record, no one can deny the monumental significance of a day when an African-American is inaugurated as President of this great country. In the days leading up to this historic inauguration, there has been much talk of freedom, of hope, and of conviction. There has been talk of unity and strength, dreams and visions that were unforeseeable even a generation ago. But as great as this day is for our country, this is not what brings us together tonight. We gather here this evening not as citizens of the United States – we gather here this evening as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. And we gather to remember a particular Christian whose understanding of freedom, hope, and conviction helped to shape a people and inspire a world to follow one man, and one man only: the Son of God. Paul, apostle and missionary of Jesus Christ, was a man of singular purpose: to preach the gospel to the whole world, so that salvation will come to those who believe with their hearts and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. Paul taught us what true freedom means, he gave his life in service of unity and peace, and his conviction and strength led countless people to the foot of the cross, and to the garden that held an empty tomb. We gather here this evening as Christians to remember a man who would not have wanted to be remembered, as long as we took to heart the words he spoke about the one who called him on the road to Damascus and opened his eyes that he might see. For us Christians, each day that we confess, with Paul, that Jesus is Lord, is a historic day, a day of monumental significance; for it is the day of our salvation.

In declaring this year to be the International Year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI asked that the year’s observances have a particularly ecumenical dimension. Pope Benedict remarked that “the Apostle of the Gentiles, who was particularly committed to bringing the Good News to all people, gave everything he had for unity and harmony among all Christians.” The Pauline year can serve to remind us “how important it is to pray together to implore the gift of unity.” At the beginning of his First Letter to the Thessalonians, the oldest preserved letter we have from Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles greeted the church in Thessaloniki using a phrase that was to become one of his hallmarks: “grace to you and peace.” Here we can find the source of the unity that we long for as followers of Christ. The unity of Christians is a grace, a gift, that comes from God alone. The divisions and disputes that have broken us apart are of human origin – it is only with God’s grace that we can set aside all that separates us and be united in faith, in hope, and in love. It is God’s grace that binds us together, and the more we can attune ourselves to the presence and movement of God’s grace, the more our unity in Christ will become visible. And when that happens, when we see in each other the face of Christ himself, then the peace that we so long for will be so much easier to grasp. A world of war and violence, a world of poverty and hunger, a world of hatred and pain, is a world that longs for God but has not yet grasped the truth of the gospel. If the Apostle Paul can teach us anything today, it is that the glory of the cross and the light of the resurrection can give meaning to our suffering and can transform our pain so that God lives in us and we live in God. The grace of unity and the gift of peace can change lives – but we must work together, we must pray together, we must spread the Good News together – as one family of faith.

Yes, today is a historic day – it is a day of monumental significance. Because on this day, as on every day, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has the power to transform lives. On this day, as on every day, the grace and peace that the Holy Spirit brings can unite all peoples of the world under the one banner of love. On this day, as on every day, the gospel that Paul preached continues to stir up the world and lead us to Christ. For this is the day of our salvation.