Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Brings Together Denominations

January 26, 2001

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On January 26, 2001, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Rev. Jason Samuel, rector of Transfiguration Episcopal Church in Lake Saint Louis, the Rev. Gerald Kleba, pastor of Immaculate Conception, and the Rev. James Erdman, assistant pastor of Living Lord Lutheran (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) in Lake Saint Louis led an ecumenical service on Wednesday. The service was held in celebration of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from January 18-25. The event began in 1908 to recognize that although differences exist among Christians more unites than divides them. The service included candles, interactive prayers, scripture readings, liturical dance, and various translations of the Bible, and closed with the three pastors making a common profession of faith in front of the cross. Erdman said the ecumenical movement gained momentum two years ago when representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, which includes ELCA churches, signed the Doctrine of Justification. Since then, ecumenical services have been happening more often. The services can be healing for converts from Catholicism, and young people enjoy emphasizing similarities rather than differences between denominations.