Prayers for Unity

In the past few years, the Church of South India, Church of North India and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church have been slowly advancing towards a united church of India.

In the Catholic church too, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India set up an ecumenical commission to promote the same cause of unity.

The week of prayer for unity became more universally practised. There were sometimes common celebrations of Christmas and Good Friday.

Theolog-ical collaboration was initiated, team work in education was started and there was a shared interest in biblical and historical studies.

This movement among Christians for unity has many achievements to its credit. In October 1982, a History of Christianity in India was officially released in Chennai, which was a joint effort of both Protestants and Catholics. The Anglican and Catholic sisters at Christa Seva Sangh Ashram in Pune and the conference of Third World Theologi-ans in Delhi in August 1981 are among other examples of exemplary inter-Christian cooperation.

A small minority in an ocean of Hindus, this inter-Christian movement has a wider applicability that must extend to Christians entering into inter-religious dialogue with Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and those who make up the wonderful mosaic of religious communities in India.

In practice, many Christians in India are living their lives amidst an inter-religious dialogue in their day-to-day interaction with their co-religionists. There is often a sharing of experiences, mutual respect and tolerance of differences that transcends differences of religion, caste and creed.

However, stray cases of intolerance tend to mar this spirit and create dangerous divisions. It is these small, but ominous, signs of discord that we all have to guard against.

So Christians in India during the unity octave week must in a sombre mood examine how much their own lives are witness to the message of peace, unity and oneness, which Chirst preached on this earth. At the same time there is deep bewilderment and agony that they are being targeted when they have lived peacefully and contributed like their Hindu counterparts in the task of building the nation.

It is well to remember therefore that during the Christian unity octave week, a more fundamental and underlying unity of not just Christians, but the whole of humankind is sought to be realised, when in truth and freedom, the diversity of people is understood, recognised and respected.

Faced with the current social, inter-religious challenges, the need for such an endeavour cannot be over-emphasised. To neglect this call at the term of the millennium could be disastrous.