Churches of Jordan pray for Christian unity, and for martyrs

Christian churches in Jordan have taken part in a vigil of prayers marking the Week of Prayers for Christian unity and for the souls of martyrs. The event was held at the invitation of the Council of Evangelical Churches of Jordan.
Present at vigil of prayers were Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, a number of priests and pastors from various churches, and members of Parliament Nabil Ghishan and Qais Zayadin.
In a welcoming address, Fr. Rifat Bader said that we experience annually two important week, namely, the Week of Prayer for Unity (January 18-25) and the World Interfaith Harmony Week on the first week of February. This evening, we first pray for our Christian unity, and then do pray for our dear Jordanian homeland so as to maintain its fabric strong and impregnable.
In his address, Patriarch emeritus Twal reviewed the most important dates of the Ecumenical Movement in the world, which are aimed at uniting the Churches of the world. He said, "In our prayer for unity we do pray for three families to whom we belong, and to whom we pray and wish goodness. Firstly, we pray for Christian Churches that make up one family and believe in God-despite being numerous- and that contribute to serving their communities. Secondly, we pray for the human family, hoping that its tragedies would come to an end whereby humans would restore their humanity as well as put an end to violence, extremism and terrorism. Thirdly, we pray for the one Jordanian family, which has shown itself recently to be united in its suffering at bloodshed, and united to address acts of injustice, and evil terrorist acts.”
New Director of the Lutheran Council in Jordan and Palestine Pastor Samer Azar talked about the spirituality of unity that is derived from the prayer of Lord Jesus so as to have ''His disciples united". He also expressed hope that the Week of Christian Unity would produce several daily functionaries in the various Churches of the Kingdom.
Prayers and hymns followed from priests and pastors of different churches and denominations.