Celebrating the World Day of Prayer has been an annual event in our community for many years now. This year, the ecumenical worship service will take place on March 1 at 1:30 p.m. at Knox Presbyterian Church and everyone in our community is welcome to stop by and take part.
“It’s an international event. It’s held all over the world that’s why it’s called World Day of Prayer,” said Elizabeth Bennett a representative from Knox Presbyterian Church.
The service is a combined effort made annually by Knox Presbyterian, Notre Dame RC, Christ Church Anglican, Selkirk Evangelical Lutheran and Little Britain United Church. These churches alternate which location hosts the event and representatives from all of the churches contribute to the event.
World Day of Prayer itself dates back to the 19th century. Its origins involve Christian women in the US and Canada engaging in cooperative activities in support of women’s involvement in missions at home and in other parts of the world.
Then as is the case now, women and children are the focus of this prayer and their voices are highlighted in the World Day of Prayer service.
This event involves groups from 150 different countries holding services in 90 different languages.
Every year a different area of the world is chosen and people from that region share their culture and experiences by creating a service. This year’s service was written by the World Day of Prayer Committee of Palestine it was then prepared and adapted for use in Canada by the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada.
Past committees have created services that highlight the lives of people in Taiwan, (2023), England, Wales, & Northern Ireland (2022), Vanuatu (2021), Zimbabwe (2020), Slovenia (2019), Suriname (2018), the Philippines (2017), and Cuba (2016).
The theme of the service this year will be “I Beg You… Bear With One Another in Love”.
The World Day of Prayer website says, “We reflected collectively on this theme from the context of our suffering as Palestinian Christian women. We hope to inspire other women around the world to bear with one another in love during troubled times.”
“It’s beautiful to have the different denominations together praying together,” said Pat Ward, a representative from the Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church.
The service involves readings written by the women of Palestine as well as hymns and music. They will also be sharing in Palestinian culture as well as fellowship with some Palestinian deserts, as well as some Canadian favourites, after the service.
Bennet explained that this is impactful because the stories are directly from the people of the region and that the goal this year is to pray for peace.
As part of this service, residents will also have the opportunity to donate to the World Day of Prayer organization that supports many different groups worldwide.
