May 20, 2010

As the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag in Germany drew to a close, more than 3000 people gathered on the evening of 15 May for an ecumenical service to pray, sing and celebrate in different languages what "makes us one."

The prayers and songs used in the service came from the multilingual book "Laudate omnes gentes – Praying together. Resources and songs for ecumenical celebrations." Launched in the week preceding Pentecost, each prayer in the book appears in six languages. The 120 texts and 40 short liturgical songs come from a rich variety of church traditions, branches of the ecumenical movement and two thousand years of Christian history.

"When I was a boy I learnt that those who really pray need to close their eyes. In the ecumenical movement I have learnt that it can be equally important, literally or metaphorically, to open my eyes to pray ... to open my eyes to the world and those who need my prayers." So said the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Tveit was one of four religious leaders who gave short testimonies about a favourite prayer at the service. "With open eyes I can see suffering, I can see others, I can see you with whom I can pray Christ's prayer, ‘That all may be one,'" said Tveit.

The Roman Catholic Bishop Dr Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of Germany and central and northern Europe Dr Serafim Joanta and Rev. Dr Margot Kässmann also offered favourite prayers and insights from their different traditions.

The book for worship came into being following the call to strengthen spiritual ecumenism at the Third European Ecumenical Assembly which took place in Sibiu, Romania in 2007.

"We place this book in the hands of all those who rely on common prayer, and in prayer set out on the road to unity," Tveit and the Venerable Colin Williams, outgoing general secretary of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) state in their joint introduction to the book.

"I hope its international character will encourage Christians to look beyond the boundaries of their own churches and their own countries and to focus on greater unity among Christians worldwide," writes Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in his foreword.

Laudate omnes gentes. Praying Together: Resources and Songs for Ecumenical Celebrations is accompanied by a CD which, in addition to the full contents of the book, contains many of the prayers in further languages.

The book is in five chapters:
– Common roots
– Spiritual treasures
– Fruits of the ecumenical movement
– Short liturgical songs
– Orders of service.

Main languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. Additionally, each text is printed in the original or another language.

The book is edited jointly by Rev. Sabine Udodesku, Rev. Dirk Stelter, Rev. Dr Barbara Rudolph, Dr Johannes Oeldemann, Rev. Luca M. Negro, Georges Lemopoulos, Rev. Robert Jones, Dr Elisabeth Dieckmann and Rev. Fritz Baltruweit on behalf of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK), the CEC and the WCC.

Laudate omnes gentes is published by Gütersloher Verlagshaus und Kösel, ISBN 978-3.-579-05919-8. Its list price is 19,80 Euro.

Further information (in German): http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_13684&mid=2204&aC=63bab3c8&jumpurl=1.

WCC work on spirituality and worship: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_13684&mid=2204&aC=63bab3c8&jumpurl=2.

More information on WCC activities at the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2267&rid=f_13684&mid=2204&aC=63bab3c8&jumpurl=3.

World Council of Churches