Archbishop Thompson speaks on common baptism in Christian unity prayer service
Archbishop Charles C. Thompson gives a reflection during a prayer service for Christian unity held on Jan. 19 at Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Church in Indianapolis. Also taking part in the service are, from left, Father Eric Augenstein, pastor of Nativity Parish, Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, shepherd of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, and Rev. Daniel Forehand of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
Leaders of Christian faith communities around Indianapolis gathered on Jan. 19 at Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Church on the southeast side of the city to pray for unity among all Christians.
The prayer service took place during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which occurs on Jan. 18-25 each year. Archbishop Charles C. Thompson was joined on the occasion by leaders from the Episcopal, Baptist, United Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America faith communities.
The theme of the prayer service, “Do You Believe,” was inspired primarily by 2025 being the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which is the origin of the creed that many Christian communities still profess today.
Archbishop Thompson gave a reflection during the prayer service. He noted the relevance for all Christians of the emphasis on baptism in the final document on the Church’s recent closing session of the Synod on Synodality.
“While baptism is the foundation of Christian life, the call to conversion for each of us is ongoing,” he said. “It is for this reason that we must be ever-attentive, docile and responsive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, not only as individuals, denominations, but as Christians, all for lifelong growth and maturity of being missionary disciples.
“It is this common identity we share in baptism, as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, articulated in the creed we’ll profess in a few minutes, that prompts us to gather in the celebration of Christian Unity Week.
“Despite the differences that exist among us, Christians are bound together as people of God, called to holiness and mission,” Archbishop Thompson said. “Holiness is not some type of personal achievement or character trait. God alone is holy. A person can be holy only in communion with the divine, as if grafted as a branch to a vine.”
Emphasizing the unity already shared by Christians of various traditions, Archbishop Thompson pointed to believers’ common bond in Christ in his reflection.
“Our celebration of Christian unity is not one of naivete or denial of differences among us, nor of the realities of our times, but the profession of faith in something greater than all differences and worldly realities, namely the transforming power of divine love made available to us through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,” he said. “We who have been baptized into his death have been baptized into his resurrection.”
Archbishop Thompson later focused on the Holy Spirit, whom he described as “the protagonist” of the prayer service for Christian unity.
“We celebrate a diversity of charisms that exist among us, lived and understood in the proper way,” he said. “Diversity is not an obstacle to our unity, but that which is meant to enrich our unity. Christian unity, as Pope Francis reminds us, is about harmony among the diversity of charisms. And this harmony comes from the Holy Spirit.
“ … It is this unity, rooted in our common baptismal identity as missionary disciples of Jesus, that enables us to stand together as one singular beacon of hope against the various atrocities against the dignity of persons and sacredness of life.”
Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrow, shepherd of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, took part in the prayer service and told The Criterion afterward that she and other Christian leaders around the city meet regularly. “We are deeply connected, and we pray for each other all the time and all year long.
“But to come together in a public way like this is a way to celebrate what we aim to be in Christ,” she said of the annual Christian unity prayer service. “It’s a wonderful way to make public something that’s important to us all the time.” †
Related: See the website for our Office of Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs