URC Daily Devotion Friday, 7 August 2026 2026

Friday, 7 August 2026
An Ecumenical Spirituality 
 

John 17:20-24
 
 Jesus said “‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,  that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,  so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,  I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
 
Reflection
 
Paul experienced the reconciling work of Christ in the creation of one Church made up of both Jews and Gentiles. In today’s reading, John takes us deep into the inner life of the Trinity and shows us how those who are ‘in Christ’ are united with him, and (in a post-resurrection perspective) sharers in the glory God gave him before creation’s dawn. It is a picture of intimacy, wonder and service. Its purpose ‘…that the world may know that you have sent me…’ (v 22). Unity was Christ’s passionate desire.
 
It is to the shame of the Reformed tradition that it has a history of division and splintering which is second to none. There are structural and theological reasons for that, but it is also true that since the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910, the Reformed have been amongst the most passionate and committed advocates of ecumenism, reconciliation, and unity. Our own denomination was born of that passion.
 
In the red heat of the reformations, when violence, hatred and fear divided Catholic from various forms of Protestant, Calvin asked what the true marks of the Church were. ‘Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not be doubted, a church exists.’ (Institutes IV.i.9) That was an incredibly radical paring back to essentials. He even went so far as to say that he doubted not that there were true churches (he meant individual parishes) within the Roman Catholic Church – and this at a time when most Protestants regarded the Pope as Anti-Christ.
 
The last hundred years have seen the most remarkable convergence of Christians, from Orthodox to Pentecostal, as we have learnt by the grace of God to see Christ in each other’s faces, and set our hearts to pray that we may be truly one.
 
Prayer
 
God of surprises,
no church can contain you,
no theology can explain you,
no tradition can capture you.
When we think we have tamed you,
You explode with new life and vivacity
from the margins beyond our vision.
Grant us grace to recognise you
and welcome our Lord Jesus
whose love knows no boundaries. Amen