JESUS MAFA. The Good Samaritan, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
If you observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Pentecost, or another time, resources are available to order or download.
Please post images and details of your events to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ‘Wall’ using the hashtag #wpcuwall on X (formerly Twitter).
Go and do likewise
For 2024, materials were prepared by an ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community (CCN).
The chosen theme is ‘You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbour as yourself’ (Lk 10:27). Brothers and sisters from the Catholic Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, Protestant Churches, ecumenical bodies and the CCN in Burkina Faso collaborated generously in drafting the prayers and reflections. They experienced their work together as a real path of ecumenical conversion – see the introduction below.
Resources.
For 2024, we are making the resources available both as downloads and printed versions that can be ordered. The pamphlet is available in English, Welsh/English, Irish and Scots Gaelic. The poster has been produced as a mulitilingual version and an English only version.
Download or order resourcesDates
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed from the 18th to the 25th January – the octave of St. Peter and St. Paul. However, some areas observe it at Pentecost or some other time.
Introduction
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the best known passages of Scripture, yet one that never seems to lose its power to challenge indifference to suffering and to inspire solidarity. It is a story about crossing boundaries that calls our attention to the bonds that unite the whole human family.
In choosing this passage of Scripture for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the churches of Burkina Faso have invited us to join with them in a process of self-reflection as they consider what it means to love our neighbour in the midst of a security crisis. Communities in the British-Irish context may be less vulnerable to acts of mass violence than in Burkina Faso, but there are still many living with the memory and/or the threat of serious violence, centred on issues of identity and belonging. There are also groups within communities, including people from ethnic minority backgrounds and people seeking asylum, who feel particularly vulnerable to violence or being displaced by the threat of violence.
Christian Aid
Each year Christian Aid provides the Go and Do action points for each of the daily reflections – linking into the important work of Christian Aid in the relief of poverty and advocacy of justice.
Social media
Show your support for Christian Unity by posting unity messages and details of your events to our Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Twitter wall – simply add the #wpcuwall hashtag to your Twitter post (note there is a delay before they appear). You can also find updates about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on Twitter by following the #wpcu2024 hashtag.
