News release from the Trinity Episcopal Church:
Ecumenical Evensong Jan. 24 at Trinity Episcopal Church
(January 12, 2016) – Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in northern Indiana will gather with members of other Christian denominations for an Ecumenical Evensong on Sunday, January 24 at 7 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 611 West Berry, Fort Wayne.
The public is invited to attend this service which takes place during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Combined choirs from Trinity Episcopal and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception will provide music.
The Rt. Rev. Edward Little, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana, will officiate at the service and Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend will preach.“I look forward with joyful anticipation to the Ecumenical Evensong at Trinity Episcopal Church,” Bishop Rhoades said. “I am grateful to Bishop Edward Little and the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana for hosting this gathering in prayer during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is an opportunity for us to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ in common prayer, united with Jesus who prayed to the Father that all His followers may be one. I hope that many will attend this service as we pray for the grace of greater Christian unity, united in our love for Christ and one another.”
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins on January 18, the Feast of the Confession of Peter and ends on January 25, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The Biblical Text for the 2016 observance comes from: 1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Secretariat (now Council) for Promoting Christian Unity began collaborating as a common international text for worldwide usage in 1966. Since 1968 these international texts, based on themes proposed by ecumenical groups around the world, have been developed, adapted and published for use in the United States by the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute.
“I look forward with great joy to welcoming brothers and sisters from many Christian communities as we mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and am especially grateful to my colleague, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, who will preach at this liturgy,” said Bishop Little. “May this be an occasion for us to celebrate our deep bond in Christ, as we strive to be ‘eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians 4:3)”.
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