Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

City Christians gather to pray for unity

Main preacher during Week of Prayer says Jesus lives in everyone

WCR PHOTO | RAMON GONZALEZ The 40-member Unity choir melded their voices to sing accompanying hymns and psalms.

EDMONTON - Christians throughout the Edmonton area are again praying that through the power of the Holy Spirit they may become one.

And the main preacher at this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service, the Rev. Harry Currie, reaffirmed that sentiment when he said Jesus lives in everyone, including members of certain Christian denominations.

"Jesus lives in Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Orthodox, Uniteds and Christian Reformers and people of every denomination, even some Presbyterians," Currie, the pastor of Edmonton's First Presbyterian Church, said Jan 17 at a citywide prayer service marking the beginning of the Week of Prayer.

JESUS' PRESENCE

"Jesus lives in people who love. Jesus is found in every loving and kind action."

The Presbyterians hosted the annual event at First Presbyterian Church, which drew more than 170 people.

Participants from the Presbyterian, Anglican, First Baptist, Christian Reformed, Evangelical Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic and United churches helped to lead the prayer. A 40-member choir sang many of the psalms and other prayers.

Money raised in the collection will go to the No Room in the Inn campaign to provide affordable housing for the homeless.

Churches in Scotland developed the 2010 prayer service and its theme, You Are Witnesses of These Things based on Luke 24.48.

The theme focuses on Luke's account of the resurrection, appearances and ascension of Jesus.

Currie wondered why Jesus appeared incognito following his resurrection.

He believes the reason the resurrected Jesus doesn't appear to the masses, is that Jesus comes in different ways - in people, in loving actions, in moments of need, in times of sickness.

"Just how he will appear is a mystery," he said. "He is not limited by one human body anymore. Maybe, just maybe, our ability to see him and hear him and feel him, has to do with how much we remain open to his presence, how much we seek Christ in our life, how many doors we knock upon, how often we are asking God to be open to his presence."

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