An annual event that has been held in Ashcroft for more than 50 years returns on Friday, March 1, when Zion United Church will be hosting the World Day of Prayer.
The international event brings together people from all backgrounds, cultures, and religions and unites them in prayer, and each year’s event is prepared by a different country. It is an opportunity for people all around the world to learn about the country, and better understand what is happening there.
This year’s Ashcroft organizer is Reta Robertson, who says that the service for the 2019 World Day of Prayer has been prepared by the women of Slovenia. The country joined the World Day of Prayer organization in 2000.
“The same service is used everywhere,” notes Robertson, adding that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the event.
However, the origins of the World Day of Prayer date back to the 19th century, when Christian women of the United States and Canada initiated a variety of cooperative activities in support of women’s involvement in mission work. The first formal World Day of Prayer was held throughout the United States in 1919, and spread to Canada in 1922.
Ashcroft resident Esther Lang will be speaking at the event about her own mission work to Ukraine. This year will mark her 11th mission to the country, where she spends each July teaching at the Summer English Institute in Dnepro.
“She jumped at the chance to speak,” says Robertson. “I’ve never seen anyone so enthusiastic to be a guest speaker.”
Lang says each years she tries to teach something different on each mission, although this year she will be teaching First Aid again because it was requested. “I’ve talked about Canadian authors, Canadian facts and history, even Robert Munsch. It’s mainly a first year class of people aged 16 and older who want to renew or improve their English.
“Robert Munsch’s works are very repetitive, so we’ll deal with different aspects of the story and then move on to more adult things after we’ve dealt with the children’s story.”
This year’s World Day of Prayer service is called “Come: Everything is Ready” and is based on a story in Luke 14: 15-24. In the parable, Jesus tells of a great banquet which those invited declined to attend. Servants were sent out to invite guests, which is how regular people from the streets ended up at a great dinner. A moral of the story is that there is always room at the table for more, with people asked to consider who is missing from their own table.
A spokesperson for the World Day of Prayer committee says that the secret to the depth and insight provided at each annual event is the women who plan and write them. “Too often, women have the most intimate experiences of armed conflict, violence, social injustice, and human rights violations.” Participants this year will hear stories from the women of Slovenia, which reflect the political and economic situation from the time Slovenia was a socialist-communist state to today. Their stories are the voices of the refugees and migrant workers, the mothers, the grandmothers, the wives, and the Roma people.
The event starts at 7 p.m. on March 1, and will include social time and refreshments after the service. This year’s World Day of Prayer will be celebrated in more than 2,000 communities across Canada, and more than 170 countries around the world.
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