by Phyllis Anderson

Sharon had tried to organize a neighborhood gathering to welcome the woman who had moved in across the street. She baked muffins and brewed coffee enough for a dozen. But only the new neighbor and Sharon’s old friend Marge showed up. It seemed silly to go into the living room where the china cups were set out, so they poured their coffee into mugs and sat down at the kitchen table.

The conversation skipped from schools to doctors to hairdressers as the women tried to help their new neighbor, Susan, get settled. Then the conversation turned to churches.

The silence was awkward as each tried to judge whether religion was a safe topic. Marge went to an evangelical community church and Sharon was a Lutheran. Actually Marge and Sharon, through an unspoken agreement, hadn’t talked much about their own churches through the years.

But Susan persisted. She fought back tears as she shared how much it meant for her priest to be with her during her daughter’s losing battle with cancer and the sorrowful days that followed her death. Leaving the small Episcopal parish that had loved her through that terrible time was the hardest part of moving. She was eager to find a new church home where she could again experience hope and comfort. The sense of being connected with God and God’s people around the communion table had been her one sure anchor.

Marge and Sharon were at first unsure how to enter into the holy space Susan had opened up at the kitchen table. They each offered to take Susan to visit their churches, and the conversation could have ended there. Instead they responded to how Susan’s faith and particular denominational tradition made a difference in her life. Before they knew it, they were telling their own stories about the ways in which their faith experiences had affected them.

Jesus was present in all their stories — there in the midst of them, just as he promises to be whenever two or three are gathered in his name. Despite their different faith traditions, they experienced being one in Christ. The unity these women felt around the kitchen table seemed more exciting than the familiar belonging in their own congregations. They wished that others could share in this vision of Christianity that is richer than anything that divides the church.

This ecumenical vision is realized whenever diverse believers gather in Christ’s name and dare to tell their truth and to hear the truth of others. Jesus is there in the midst of them, breathing his Spirit into their separate hearts, drawing them into his one body. The familiar verse, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20), is the theme for this year’s celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, many will have the opportunity to participate in festive ecumenical services. Countless ecumenical organizations at the local, national, and international levels bring Christians together to help the poor and to advocate for justice. People of faith regularly experience the unity of the church when they come together across their divisions in common worship and shared service.

Scholars have spent decades in ecumenical dialogue to increase understanding and to forge agreements among churches that have been separated or at odds with each other for hundreds of years. At the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Florida, delegates voted to enter into a relationship of interim Eucharistic sharing with the United Methodist Church. This is one step toward the kind of full communion agreement the ELCA enjoys with the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, the Reformed Church in America, and the Moravian Church.

This latest agreement with the United Methodist Church means that we are not only allowed, but encouraged to worship with our Methodist neighbors. We are to study together, share the deep resources of our respective traditions, and explore new ways to work together for justice in the world while proclaiming Christ. At the simplest and perhaps the most profound level, you are urged to invite a Methodist friend to join you at your kitchen table, to share your faith, and to discover the unity that is yours whenever two or three gather in his name.

Phyllis Anderson is the president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, Calif.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed in mid–January, from the festivals of the Confession of St. Peter (January 18) to the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25). To learn more about the Week of Prayer and find resources that can help your circle or congregation plan ways to observe the week, go to www.elca.org/ecumenical