On behalf of the World Day of Prayer National Committee I would like to thank all those who organised and participated in the World Day of Prayer Service on Friday 1 March.
As I said in the February Touchstone when the decision was made in 2017 that the 2024 Service would be prepared by the World Day of Prayer Palestine National Committee we did not know at the time how poignant, meaningful and prophetic that decision was. At a time when the people of Palestine need our solidarity and prayers more than any time in their turbulent history I urged people to attend the services and I thank the many who did.
The feedback I have received is that people were very moved by the music and the personal testimonies from Eleonor, Sara and Lina. Given the topicality of the service I know of several Churches that used the order of service or extracts from it in their (regular) Sunday Service.
This year’s service has attracted some controversy and we are pleased to hear that attempts to change parts of the service especially the personal testimonies were resisted. The reason why the yearly service is written by a different national committee is so that we hear first-hand about the lives and realities of Christian women around the world. Our Christian sisters in Palestine have the right to tell their stories without them being amended to make them more palatable to some peoples world view.
When I participated in the Global Conversation with the Women from the Palestine World Day of Prayer I got the feeling that they felt the world had forgotten about them especially when the question was posed “How could the international community let this happen?”. By organising and participating in the WDP service you have ensured that they have not been forgotten and have heard their plea for international support and solidarity.
If you are like me and don’t carry cash these days, or were unable to attend a service, you can still make a donation via the WDPANZ website https://www.worlddayofprayer.org.nz/. The offering from the 2024 service will be used to support the work of CWS partner the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees – CWS has financially supported them since 1949, and the Palestinian Bible Society ‘Child of Bethlehem’ Project.
I would like to remind you to return the yellow forms with the details of the services and to inform us that you have transferred the offerings to our bank account. Also, a plea to let us know who will be responsible for the 2025 Service as we often get enquires from people wanting to attend a service but we are unable to tell them because we do not have the details of services. If you know who is responsible for the service in 2025 please include that information on the yellow form or if this is not decided till later in the year please send these details to [email protected]
Once again thank you for supporting the annual World Day of Prayer service.
Pauline McKay – Chairperson