Unity in Word and Gesture – Ecumenical Service with Pope Benedict XVI

Fluttering yellow and white flags, pressing crowds, a few protest banners, a line of security tents, this was the scene greeting us as we arrived in front of Westminster Abbey for the Ecumenical Service for the Pope’s visit. As members of Churches Together in England Enabling Group we had tickets for this momentous occasion when a Pope would enter the Abbey for the first time to share in a service with the Archbishop of Canterbury and church leaders and representatives of the main Christian churches in this country.
We had been told to be seated at least 2 hours before the start of the service and there was surreptitious sharing of sweets and drinks as we waited and watched other guests filing in. I was sitting in the nave with other ecumenical officers and behind me was a large contingent of Salvation Army Divisional Commanders. There were screens along the sides of the Abbey and we watched the Pope’s relayed talk from Westminster Hall – and wondered how the TV cameras would avoid showing the screens in the later broadcast from the Abbey.
With heavenly choral introduction the historic moment finally arrived. The Dean greeted the slightly stooping Pope as he was accompanied into the Abbey by Archbishop Rowan. Centuries of antagonism and mistrust fell away in the personal leaning towards each other and smiling procession together up the aisle as the service began.
Glorious singing and heartfelt prayer for greater unity and for our nation preceded words from the Pope and the Archbishop, again calling for closer relationships among the churches and for greater acknowledgement of the role of faith in the public life of the country. Words are so carefully chosen for occasions such as this and the message of unity was more powerfully conveyed in the gesture of the sharing of the peace by the two of them, in handshake and embrace.  
The service was the Office of Evening Prayer. The familiar words of the Magnificat washed over us and I was aware of the unbroken line of daily worship in this place, albeit under different rule and oversight.
Prayers were said at the shrine of Edward the Confessor with one of my favourite chants: Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est: where charity and love are, there is God. The delicate issue of authority was handled with a final novel twist as the Blessing was said in unison by Pope and Archbishop, the latter adjusting his cadence to the rhythms of the heavily accented English of the former.
With the final rousing hymn, All my hope on God is founded, the procession made its slow way through the Abbey, and a nice touch was the pairing of Anglican and Catholic bishops. Well known figures were spotted – there were Bishop Graham and a beaming Bishop Christopher Budd (our Catholic bishop whose area includes Dorset). At this point formality ended and spontaneous applause erupted in waves along the nave as the procession passed.
We had taken part in something ground-breaking and, as ever on splendid occasions in the Abbey, it was sublimely beautiful. Will it have a lasting effect on relations between our churches? It was certainly a strong statement of good intent despite the huge differences remaining, and it was a powerful experience that what unites us is far greater than what currently divides us.
I shall tuck my ornate service booklet away and savour the memories and hope and pray that what we heard and saw may lead to further steps along the long and often painful pilgrim road to church unity, for the sake of the broken world in which we are called to witness together.