Day 1
Thy Kingdom Come Wave of Prayer Endorsed at Synod and Ecumenical Greetings Brought
The Revd Father Rouies Anba Bishoy brought greetings of the Coptic Orthox Church in Ireland to General Synod this evening. He asked members to bring in their prayers for the unity of the entire Church of Christ in Ireland and world wide and thanked members of Synod for their invitation.
The Revd Brian Anderson of the Irish Council of Churches brought greetings. He said the ICC worked with 14 denominations across the island of Ireland and sought to help churches to grapple with various issues. He thanked the Church of Ireland for their significant contribution to the ICC. Referring to Archbishop Clarke’s Presidential address about generosity and said the ICC was also thinking about the common good for Ireland, building a society that is for everyone.
Ecumenically the relationships between the churches was good, he said. He paid tribute to Archbishop Eamon Martin and Archbishop Richard Clarke for their ecumenism. He said it was important to decide what was best for the greater good. He said the church was bringing the light of Christ and being a light of love and compassion across the island.
Archbishop Eamon Martin said it was a great joy to bring greetings from the Catholic Church and to launch the Thy Kingdom Come initiative.
He said that the Irish Bishops’ Conference was always delighted to attend synod as a way of assuring members that we are all journeying together with great hope in the future. “We all realise that we have to keep communicating our reasons for hoping and our love for Jesus Christ in his Church,” he said. “For me the words Thy Kingdom Come are not simply a prayer, they are a hope, a manifesto.” He asked people to see in the words a hope and a task to communicate the risen Lord to the people whom we meet.
The Archbishop said he was conscious of the challenges in this country today but said there was much that we could say if we introduce people to the Lord Jesus. “The Lord himself embodies the Kingdom but many people haven’t discovered the Kingdom in their lives and that is our duty and privilege to help them to do so,” he stated. He asked that we like Soloman could have a listening heart, listening for signs of the Kingdom.
“It is with great joy that we join in this worldwide ecumenical movement of Thy Kingdom Come. Let’s pray and live it together,” he concluded.
Archbishop Richard Clarke asked that Thy Kingdom Come be part of our lives and that we may become prisoners of hope in Jesus Christ and that the Kingdom of God becomes ever more apparent in the world in which we live. “As we launch Thy Kingdom Come we look for your prayers and faithfulness to Jesus Christ,” he said.