St. James Episcopal Church in Alexandria will host this year’s 2015 Christian Unity Service on Tuesday, January 20th at noon.  The Christian Unity Service is the highlight of a week-long observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity.  The Week is celebrated annually the world over at varying times of the year depending on regional cultures and climates. The traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is January 18th through 25th.

A unified scriptural theme is chosen each year, the 2015 theme being based on the verse in the Gospel of John when Jesus met a woman of Samaria who came to the town well to draw water, asking her to give him a drink (John 4:7). The biblical gesture of offering water to whomever arrives is a way of welcoming and sharing. The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman invites us to try water from a different well and also to offer a little of our own. In diversity, we enrich each other. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is a privileged moment for prayer, encounter and dialogue. It is an opportunity to recognize the richness and value that are present in the other, the different, and to ask God for the gift of unity. The members and clergy of all Christian churches in Cenla are invited to share in this service recognizing that we are all unified in Jesus Christ.

The Rt. Rev. Jacob W. Owensby, PhD, DD, IV Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana will officiate the service.  The preacher will be the Rev. Dr. Frank W. Hughes, rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minden.

Please plan to partake of this opportunity to worship together as Christians united in Jesus Christ.  The doors of St. James will be open early so that you have time for personal prayer and meditation before the service begins.  For more information, call the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana office at (318) 442-1304.