Limitless Love: Racism's and Reconciliation's Remedy
By Rev. O. Lacy Evans (This reflection on CCT's Response to Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail was delivered at a discerning retreat of CCT Steering Committee on December 9, 2013. Rev. Evans is the Elder for the Louisville district of the AME Zion Church.)"In this season of Advent as we celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Love personified, and how He invaded human history with His presence, I want to share with you this morning from the gospel account of the apostle John where in chapter 13 we find the Lord Jesus instructing His followers: " I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another (v. 34_NRSV). "Love one another," Jesus said, "as I have loved you." Here, we see that Jesus sets both the premise and parameter of Christian love. Yet, I believe that it is more than evident that among too many professing Christians there are those who do not love in this manner. Instead, the kind of love they most often practice is too often a love that is conditional and self serving, one that has some hidden agenda or ulterior motive and therefore hardly qualifies as genuine love." Click here to read the full article HERE Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 18-25 January 2014 At least once a year, many Christians become aware of the great diversity of ways of adoring God. Hearts are touched, and people realize that their neighbors' ways are not so strange. This celebration is not well known among Evangelical/Pentecostal churches in the USA, nevertheless those churches are invited to consider joining in prayer during this week. The event that touches off this special experience is something called the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Traditionally celebrated between 18-25 January (in the northern hemisphere) or at Pentecost (in the southern hemisphere), the Week of Prayer enters into congregations and parishes all over the world. Pulpits are exchanged, and special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services are arranged. Ecumenical partners in a particular region are asked to prepare a basic text on a biblical theme. Then an international group with WCC-sponsored (Protestant and Orthodox) and Roman Catholic participants edits this text and ensures that it is linked with the search for the unity of the church. The text is jointly published by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and WCC, through the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order, which also accompanies the entire production process of the text. The final material is sent to member churches and Roman Catholic dioceses, and they are invited to translate the text and contextualize it for their own use. Theme for 2014: Has Christ been divided? 2014 Bible text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-17 For resources click HERE On the Path Toward Christian Unity: Resource on Ecumenism by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops This is an educational series of videos on church unity from the Catholic perspective. | 
