Pray in Unity for Unity

[Reimagine Curator]

Thanks so much for reading this month's news from The Initiative, a community committed to "walking in deeper friendship with Jesus and his followers, so that the love of Christ might exceed all divisions." We do this primarily through prayer, sharing of our lives, and proactive work for greater unity.      As we start another calendar year, I've continued to pray and reflect on the theme of tables and how God wants to expand who we "sit with" and how we "sit together". I've got more thoughts to share (next update!) but I have a strong sense that our experience of this has the potential to be both more joyful and more challenging than we can imagine. We're going to be invited into deeper formation, more experiences of the power of love (and our own powerlessness), and a way of walking together in friendship that has less to do with the "sweet bye and bye" and more of the "nasty now and now." Grab on and we'll dive into this together. Starting with a week of prayer: Resources for the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity      This week of prayer is an essential event for The Initiative because it touches on all three of our core practices: prayer, sharing our lives with Jesus followers from various Christian traditions, and working proactively for greater unity in Christ’s church. Members and friends of The Initiative are encouraged to pray daily during the eight days, using the Daily Litany and Prayer Guide from our website, and to attend a prayer service sometime during the week (see a partial schedule below).      It's also a tradition of The Initiative, right before the week of prayer begins, to gather as a community online to pray for God to be stirring up love, friendship, action and dependence throughout the whole body of Christ in the next eight days. Please join us on Zoom on this Thursday evening (the 15th) at 8:00pm Eastern time for 45 minutes of structured and extemporaneous prayer for the upcoming Week of Prayer. (This will also be the first of our monthly prayer gatherings for the beginning of 2026). Join in one of the prayer liturgies - or host an informal prayer gathering with other Christians      This year’s beautiful WPCU liturgy service was put together by a group of Christians from the Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical communities (note the rainbow and Mt Ararat on the picture!), adapted from prayers composed by a 12th century Armenian saint, Nersess the Gracious. Here are some of the dates, times, and locations for prayer services that members and friends of The Initiative will be a part of (in chronological order):  Darien, CT (suburban NYC) - Saturday, January 17 @11am, Noroton Presbyterian Church, 2011 Post Rd. Darien, CT Los Angeles (southwest) - Wednesday, January 21 @ 7pm, Trinity Lutheran Church, 1340 11th St. Manhattan Beach, CA Cincinnati – Thursday, January 22nd @ 8:30am, Our Lady of the Fields Chapel, 4119 Glenmary Trace, Fairfield OH Chicago (city) - Saturday, January 24 @ 2pm, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church, 7600 W. Diversey Ave. Chicago, IL Chicago (suburbs) - Sunday, January 25 @ 2pm, First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton, 615 W. Jefferson, Wheaton, IL Los Angeles (city) - Sunday, January 25th @ 2pm, Saint Bernadette Catholic Church, 3825 Don Felipe Dr. Los Angeles, CA Boston MetroWest – Sunday January 25 @ 7pm, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 61 Wood St, Hopkinton, MA  St. Louis - Sunday, January 25 @ 7-8pm, St. Monica Catholic Church 12140 Olive Blvd. Creve Coeur, MO      Don't know of a prayer gathering in your area? Host a small group of your friends for a more informal prayer time or commit to praying daily on your own for each of the eight days. Use the daily prayer guide and litany linked above, or visit the Greymoor Ecumenical page and download their prayer liturgy and daily prayer guide. And keep an eye on our Facebook page for daily videos during the week. Conversation, prayer, and gathering      In the new year, we're continuing the monthly rhythm of conversations and prayer times. For the month of February, we're moving over to Thursdays for these: The first conversation of 2026 will be Thursday, February 5th from 8:00 to 9:30pm Eastern time. We'll be taking a deeper dive into Psalm 23 and particularly the question of what it means that God "sets a table in the presence of [our] enemies". Zoom link The February prayer gathering will be Thursday, February 19th from 8:00 to 9:00pm Eastern. Zoom link      And registration is open for our 2026 Summer Gathering, when we will come together to grow our friendship across difference, pray together, develop insights and skills in missional ecumenism and discern our individual and community callings to love that is greater than division. Click on the image below to get to the registration page.      As we journey into 2026 together, I can't help but be filled with gratitude for each of you who read, participate, pray and give generously. Whatever the year ahead holds in the joys and challenges of living "love greater than division", I'm glad to be walking with you all.   Yours in Christ's Love,        Scott Brill        Executive Director