Palmerston North
April 2014
Shirley Knuckey and Gwen Mardle
The World Day of Prayer was celebrated in New Plymouth and Hastings on 7 March.
WDOP is an international movement of Christian people in many different traditions that have a continuing relationship of prayer and service.
People from various denominations gather in one another’s churches to celebrate, using a Worship Service prepared by women of a different country each year.
Women, men and young people share the language, customs and music of the country around the globe. This year the service was prepared in Egypt, a country which sprang into a season of hope with the Arab Spring but which has been struggling since for momentum that will bring lasting stability and fairness.
Streams of the Desert
In Hastings some 40 representatives of Catholic, Anglican, Seventh Day Adventist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Outreach churches gathered to pray, sing and reflect on the theme, ‘Streams in the Desert’.
Pastor Hugh Heenan welcomed everyone in a spirit of ‘the faith we share in Jesus Christ and our common thirst for living water’.
Margaret O’Neill, Andrew and Julia Ross from the Seventh Day Adventist congregation, presented a dramatised reading of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.
The service closed with a blessing and a lovely morning tea.
‘May the Lord guide us continually and satisfy our needs in parched places’.