Praying together at WCC gatherings

The liturgical experiences of previous WCC assemblies and major gatherings have inspired many people, as well as confronted participants with unfamiliar or uncomfortable symbols, rites, and practices that come from different confessions and cultures. Many also consider that it is in "ecumenical worship" that the divisions among Christians - such as the inability of all Christians to celebrate the Eucharist together - become the most apparent.

he issue of whether, how and to statements about the nature of the worship from specific church tradi- Twhat extent Christians can wor- unity that churches seek but, for some, tions, a practice developed of drawing ship or even pray together is at the the Toronto statement still articulates liturgical elements from different eccle- heart of the ecumenical quest and their basic understanding of ecumeni- sial and cultural traditions into one therefore also of the relationships that cal relationships. worship service. churches maintain by their belonging From the early 1990s, some Orthodox to the WCC fellowship. How has worship been delegates started to abstain from par- The WCC Constitution establishes ticipating in ecumenical services. A that "the primary purpose of the fel- celebrated at past WCC report from Thessaloniki (May 1998) lowship of churches in the World assemblies? that articulated a number of criticisms Council of Churches is to call one The worship of early assemblies was of the WCC specifically asked Eastern another to visible unity in one faith and based on denominational models large- Orthodox participants at the Harare in one eucharistic fellowship, ly from North America and from Assembly "not to participate in ecu- expressed in worship and common life Europe. As WCC membership grew menical services, common prayers, in Christ, through witness and service and became more diverse, new dimen- worship and other religious cere- to the world, and to advance towards sions of worship and prayer came in monies at the Assembly". that unity in order that The Harare Assembly the world may believe." PROBABLY THE MOST CONSISTENT ELEMENT OF ECUMENICAL established the Special The Final Report of the Commission on Special Commission on PRAYER, BEGUN AT THE WCC'S FIRST ASSEMBLY IN AMSTERDAM IN Orthodox Participation in Orthodox Participation in 1948, HAS BEEN SAYING THE LORD'S PRAYER TOGETHER,WITH the WCC to address a the World Council of EACH PERSON PRAYING IN HIS OR HER OWN LANGUAGE. number of grievances Churches, issued in 2002, articulated primarily by was the latest attempt to Orthodox churches, relat- provide guidelines for worship and the form of symbols, music and move- ing in part to worship and common prayer in major WCC gatherings. ment. prayer. Since the Toronto statement, the The Vancouver (1983) and Canberra emphasis on understanding differences (1991) assemblies not only held a What have been some of the among churches and engaging in coop- Eucharist service known as the "Lima erative mission and service has evolved Liturgy", but also incorporated a criticisms of "ecumenical to actively ensure that churches would, greater amount of indigenous material worship" in the past? in the assembly liturgies (such as in future, draw more closely together An impression among some that the hymns, lyrics, vestments, actions, art) rather than move further apart. ecumenical movement was reaching and of women-identified prayers, songs for a common liturgy - such as the WCC assemblies have made major and other liturgical texts. In addition to Lima liturgy - that had the authority to

Ecumenical discussions on worship: 1952: Discussion of the report "Ways of Worship" at the 3rd 1969: Faith and Order consultation on "Worship Today" world conference on Faith and Order (Lund) was the first time (Geneva). worship was explicitly on the agenda of an ecumenical confer- ence: "In worship, we meet the problem, nay, rather the sin of the 1982: The "Lima Liturgy", as it has become known, is the disunion of the church, in its sharpest form." eucharistic liturgy prepared for the Faith and Order commission meeting held in Lima, Peru. The liturgy is based on the conver- 1963:The 4th world conference on Faith and Order in Montreal gence statement Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM).The Lima discussed the report "Worship and the Oneness of Christ's liturgy was used at both the 6th assembly of the WCC in Church". Informed by regional reflections, it included for the first Vancouver in 1983 and at the 7th assembly in Canberra in 1991. time an East Asian perspective on understanding worship and on its indigenization. 1993:The fifth Faith and Order world conference in Santiago de Compostela urged "renewed attention to the inter-relations Vatican II (1962-65) allowed for greater participation of Roman between worship and the search for unity". Catholics in ecumenical prayer. 1994:The Faith and Order consultation at Ditchingham, England, 1968: Worship was one of the six thematic sections at the "Towards Koinonia in Worship", focused, among other things, on WCC's 4th Assembly in Uppsala. ways of worship which are unifying. BACKGROUND INFORMATION BACKGROUND the ordination of women is not accept- For further information: ed in all WCC member churches. Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC The Framework is intended for WCC gatherings such as assemblies, central committee meetings, and other large Final Report of the Special Commission (2002):WCC 9th Assembly Programme Book, pp. 69-103 meetings held under WCC auspices. It is not intended to be "universally appli- cable within the ecumenical move- enable member churches of the WCC What were the ment". to celebrate Eucharist together. recommendations from the Celebrations of the Eucharist in ecu- menical settings which led to pain, as Special Commission Does the Framework for not all were able to participate. (The regarding common prayer, Common Prayer prohibit lack of universal recognition of each and to whom do they apply? women from taking confession's baptism into the Church, as well as differences in the meaning The first affirmation was that "the call leadership roles? and practice of the Eucharist, prevent to pray together continues to be of The framework does not forbid some Christians from celebrating the primary importance" and thus a way ordained women from taking leader- Eucharist together.) forward needs to be found to "allow all ship roles. Rather, it attempts to defuse to pray together with integrity, on the the question of women's ordination, Rites, symbols, and symbolic actions way toward visible unity" (paragraph which divides Protestants as well as taken from one cultural or confession- 41). Orthodox and Roman Catholics. In the al setting and placed in "ecumenical case of "interconfessional" prayer worship" are not always used sensitive- The Special Commission recommend- (Appendix A, paragraph 30), ordained ly or in a way that is faithful to their ed that clarity be added to existing status is played-down altogether, for original meaning. practice by making a clear distinction between "confessional" and "intercon- women and men alike, in order not to Issues such as the ordination of fessional" common prayer at WCC give signals of ecclesial identity. Thus women remain divisive. gatherings. "Confessional" common anyone can take part, and leadership is prayer comes out of one church tradi- open to women and men, ordained and lay. When a prayer service is offered Why has the term "common tion.An occasion of "interconfessional" common prayer draws resources from "confessionally", the confession's prac- prayer" replaced a variety of traditions, but does not tice and tradition is followed regarding "ecumenical worship"? claim to be the worship of any given the ordination of women. church or super-church. This material is intended as background information for The term "ecumenical worship", that media and does not necessarily reflect WCC policy. was used very widely among the Eucharistic celebrations at WCC gath- Media contact: [email protected] +41-79-507-6363 English-speaking Protestant churches, erings would be possible on the occa- created difficulties when translated, sion of "confessional" common prayer especially into an Orthodox setting. where the identity of the hosting Resource Persons: Worship in an Orthodox setting refers church, or group of churches, is clearly • Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, to the liturgy,which always includes the identified. Patriarchate of Constantinople,Turkey celebration of the Eucharist. A "Framework for Common Prayer at •Rev.Cybele Kuss, Lutheran, Brazil "Ecumenical worship", in addition, gave WCC Gatherings" was included as an • Mr Vasily Chernov, Russian Orthodox the impression that the ecumenical appendix to the Final Report. The Church movement had reached the point framework addresses the need to •Rev.Susan Henry Crow, United where a common liturgy existed, or develop sensitivity to and understand- Methodist, USA that the WCC itself was issuing its own ing for the way in which particular liturgy, which it cannot do. • Bishop Dr. Richard Aboagye forms of worship, hymns, symbols and Mensah, Methodist, Ghana The term "common prayer" was sug- language could lead to misunderstand- •Rev.Dessordi Perse Leite,Anglican, gested to avoid these various misun- ings and create barriers for participa- Brazil derstandings, although this term itself tion and exclude some who should in • Rev. Dr Michael Hawn, Southern may create its own difficulties when fact be fully included. The framework Baptist, USA translated into other languages, this refers to problems concerning inclu- • Rev. Dr Tércio Junker, Methodist, time on the Protestant side. sive language, as well as the fact that Brazil

Other examples of "ecumenical prayer" Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Its inspiration goes back Fellowship of the Least Coin. This focus on the smallest coin of to calls for prayers for unity in the second half of the 18th centu- each country's currency, offered with a prayer for peace, was con- ry. In 1966, the WCC's Faith and Order Commission and the ceived in 1965 by the Asian Christian Women's Conference. Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity began their offi- cial joint preparation of the Week of Prayer material. Ecumenical Prayer Cycle. A book of prayers for each area of the world was produced initially in response to a request from the WCC 5th Assembly in Nairobi, 1975, that ways be found of World Day of Prayer. A worldwide movement of Christian deepening spiritual bonds among the churches of the world. women welcomes all people to observe a common day of prayer on the first Friday of March each year.