In this ‘really busy city,’ Christians make new neighbours during week of prayer for unity

“Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible,” Reverend Dr. David Koop of Coastal Church in Vancouver told hundreds of pastors, clergy, and faith who gathered at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

“We live in a really busy city,” said Dr. Koop. “That makes it hard to know your neighbour.”

The Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, and Evangelical prayer service was one of several events that took place from Jan. 18 to 25.

Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller thanked the pastors and clergy who attended the Jan. 24 event and reminded everyone that the prayer service was a chance to pray for the “great understanding” of Christian unity and for “a deeper share of the unity for which Christ prayed at the Last Supper.”

This year’s theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity centred on the parable of the Good Samaritan and was developed by the Chemin Neuf Community, a Catholic ecumenical organization operating in Burkina Faso in West Africa.

The service began with a Burkina Faso tradition of giving water to guests who arrived tired from a journey. Each person at the pastoral centre poured water for others and drank as a community.

In his homily, Dr. Koop reflected on the real-world consequences of following in the shoes of the good Samaritan and loving our neighbours more authentically. In the parable, people fail to help their neighbours because they are busy. In other words, time gets in the way of charity and neighbourly love.

Dr. Koop said only 10 per cent of individuals can name their closest neighbours, and only one per cent know anything about their spirituality.

The most pressing social need in Vancouver, he said, is not drug addiction or homelessness but loneliness, the affliction St. Mother Teresa called the “greatest poverty.”

“If we all really loved the people next to us like the good Samaritan, we could make our city a better place,” he said.

Reflecting on the significance of the prayer service itself, he said “Everything begins with prayer … it’s like grease. Everything is a lot easier after you pray.”

Parishes and organizations around the archdiocese held similar events. On Jan. 20, about 100 people gathered at All Saints Church in Coquitlam for a half-hour service followed by a luncheon. The event was led by Father Don Larson of All Saints, Pastor Eric Krushel of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Coquitlam, and Rev. Joanne Epply-Schmidt, an interim priest at St. Laurence Anglican Church in Coquitlam.

Breakout discussions centred on the Good Samaritan theme took place at each of the dozen tables, and many of the groups said connecting and supporting seniors should be a priority. Other ideas that emerged included reaching out to neighbours in need, prison ministry, supporting refugees, and finding ways to address isolation and loneliness.

“I think it’s always worthwhile whenever we as Christians of various denominations get together and get to know each other and foster friends,” Pastor Krushel said in an interview. “It’s kind of the heartbeat of ecumenism.”

“I saw a lot of goodwill and fellowship being shared around the tables.”

While high-level discussions around theology are important, so is “reflecting on those things, those concerns, that we hold in common as God’s people,” he said. “Really, for the [ecumenical] movement to move forward, what begins at the grassroots is critical,” he said.

With files from Terry O’Neill

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