Church unity

This week we are thinking of church unity and different churches are holding prayer meetings each day. This morning I went along to the Methodist church for what I thought was going to be a prayer meeting for church unity. We had a half hour service beginning with a hymn, then a Bible reading and comment from the minister and ended with another hymn. We said the Lord's Prayer and the Grace. I had planned on going to the Church of England on another occasion during this week but discovered from an Anglican friend that it will be a normal weekday communion service. So I'm having second thoughts.

At the service this morning, those there were my 40 year old Anglican friend, myself and the other 15-20 people were all very mature Methodists (even older than me!) It just seems that for some people Christian Unity means that we are happy to have people from other denominations in our services and we are happy during this week to attend a service in another denominational building. After this week then everyone will go back to their respective boxes until next year. One elderly lady put it so aptly at the end when she came up to me and said 'Welcome to our church'. I felt like responding: 'Your church?' but didn't. After we got outside my friend and I had quite a discussion about 'church' and 'unity'. She said that people in her church don't understand when she says that she is only there until God tells her to go somewhere else.

I just thanked God that over the past years He has changed my own attitude to denominational christianity and continue to pray that He will reclaim His church. And if that means closing all the church buildings in the process then so be it!

'Father shake your people out of their sleep!'