The Rainbow People of God​​

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By Ultan Russell, Archdiocesan ecumenical officer

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The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity forum, organised by Churches Together in the Merseyside Region (CTMR), took place on 19 January at the St Margaret Clitherow Centre. 

Its theme was ‘Interculturalism and Unity’ and one obvious challenge thrown to our churches currently, by politicians who stress that we have a diverse society which seems to be increasingly divided, is: what should we be doing about it?

Rev Phil Jump, chair of CTMR, provided the welcome and introduced Archbishop John Sherrington and Bishop Ruth Worsley, who had both arrived in Liverpool since last year’s forum.

 

‘One Body – One Spirit’ was the theme of the opening act of worship. This included the following:

• Rev Clement Matariano, a Methodist minister from the Zimbabwean community, told a tale about unity whereby each of ten brothers had two sticks and each broke one in two, but threaded the others into a strong board, showing the strength we have when we work in unity. 

• Lidia Wolos from the Polish community showed the beautifully decorated palm ornaments used on Palm Sunday by Polish Catholics (beside which our palms look limp and lifeless!). She highlighted the kindness and sensitivity of her new parish priest who had integrated their Polish Palm Sunday tradition into a Mass. 

• Fr Dagmawi Worku from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Liverpool, which meets at the Anglican Parish Church of St Agnes and St Pancras on Ullet Road, sang a prayer from the Ethiopian Orthodox Liturgy in English and Ge’ez (the ancient liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox). 

• Rev Dr Taras Khomych, the Ukrainian chaplain here and at St Edward’s College, led us in a stimulating reflection on the Spirituality of Time from an Eastern perspective, underlining what we can learn from Eastern European spirituality.

The story of the raising of Lazarus was used for a reflection. Jesus took time to arrive after Lazarus had died; is this a challenge to our very linear concept of time and different from God’s time? Father Taras also spoke of the role of icons, which are regarded as written rather than painted, and reminded us of the importance of art in our prayer and worship. He showed some moving icons, including one of the Virgin Mary written on a cartridge case – thus reminding us of the faith, resilience and suffering of the Ukrainian people.

Discussions emphasised the need to work with each other. Hospitality for new arrivals in our churches was recognised, as was the need to welcome new linguistic groupings in our own traditions and new denominations. It was underlined that we were often insensitive to people who do things differently.

In our archdiocese alone, we have Hong Kong, Polish and Portuguese Catholics, as well as Greek-Catholic (Ukrainian) Rite and Syro-Malabar Rite Catholics. 
Think too of the variety of other Churches on Merseyside: Coptic Orthodox, German Lutherans, Scandinavian Lutherans, Greek Orthodox, Welsh-speaking and English-speaking Welsh Presbyterians, the Chinese Christian Disciples Church, Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church from India, the Iranian Anglican Seepas Church (which meets in Liverpool Cathedral), to name a few. There are also churches whose membership is mainly Afro-Caribbean – the New Testament Church of God, Christ Apostolic Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God and others that are large, vibrant independent churches like Love and Joy Ministries. Recently it has been agreed that the Georgian Orthodox community will be using St Nicholas and Our Lady, Liverpool Parish Church for their worship.

And remember the churches well-established here also: Church of England, Baptist, Methodist, United Reformed, Salvation Army, Society of Friends, Assemblies of God, Liverpool Iranian Free Methodist Church, Independent Methodist, Elim Pentecostal, Congregational, Brethren, Independent Evangelical. To that, we can add new churches like Hillsong and Apostolic.

If you have a Churches Together group in your neighbourhood, has it made real efforts to ensure all the local Christian churches are invited to join and made to feel welcome? Does your UCM branch link with women’s groups in neighbouring churches? Does your school invite priests and ministers of other denominations to visit and speak to pupils in Unity Week?

Our schools are great examples of welcoming people of different cultures, denominations and faiths; and consider too the highly regarded work of the Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ), which was underlined at the forum. Their website is here: www.carj.org.uk

Finally, if you have a church of another denomination near you that is not listed above, then please let me know by emailing u.russell@rcaol.org.uk.