World Day of Prayer

The World Day of Prayer takes place every year on the first Friday in March. Women in the United States and Canada first formed this event after the devastation of World War I, when they were convinced that world peace was tied to world mission. 

Each year, Christian women from all over the world join together to plan and organize events, and suggest a theme and focus. This year the theme was set by the women of Slovenia:

Come - Everything is Ready! 

Luke 14:15-24

The invitation is grounded in the parable that Jesus told about a great dinner which was attended by the ones called off the streets, as the ones invited excused themselves. The community formed around the table is not enough to fill the house – there is still room. Who are missing from the table in your community?

Agenda today: 
1. Read Luke 14:15-24
2. Action on Immigration Justice 
3. Prayer for the homeless

1. Read Luke 14: 15-24:

The study guide for this parable is fascinating. Apparently this verse has been misinterpreted and used for moralizing messages that downgraded the public, and also for forcing people into confessions and conversions to Christianity. The writer says:

"Luke has a strong theology of justice for the poor. From the beginning of the gospel, the kingdom of God means uplifting the poor. In Luke, poverty is not spiritualized. The poor are the real poor; the hunger is real, and justice is needed to lift up the lowly. Luke made clear at the very beginning of his gospel that the kingdom of God and the coming of the Messiah Jesus would turn the world and its structure and values upside down." 

"For Luke’s community the parable is an appeal that the young Christian community has to be something different. It was a problem for the communities to break through the “normal” conventions. Celebrating the kingdom if God is nothing that fits with the normal order of a society. The Great Banquet follows the different order of the new world in God’s reign. This new order happened when rich persons as well as slaves sat and ate together. Those who served the one were now present as equals."

2. Action on Immigration Justice: 

I love the motto of the World Day of Prayer: "Informed Prayer and Prayerful Action."

The Women of Slovenia have focused on the situation of the Roma people in Slovenia. I seek prayerful action in my own community and country.

I began by looking at the American Friends Service Committee web page- the AFSC directly supports immigrant and refugee communities across the U.S. while advocating in Washington, D.C., for humane policy reform. They believe that U.S. immigration policy should protect human rights for everyone.

I really like this AFSC poster and I hope to organize an event at our Friends Meeting to paint one or two of these for our youth to take to Washington D.C. for the FCNL Lobby Weekend.

If you don’t know where to start with your own action, check out the WDP Action Guide here.

14 inches dumped on February 25, 2019.

3. Prayer for the homeless:

Bless the homeless, this day and every day, 

Keep them from physical and emotional harm. 

Fill their hearts with hope for the future and for today, 

Comfort the homeless as they walk their difficult paths, 

May I know that anyone, even me, can be homeless. 

Bless the homeless with enough food to sustain them, 

With enough warmth to shield them from the elements, 

With the power to wrestle personal demons and win, 

With the will to go on, and build their lives again. 

May hope touch each homeless heart, spirit & life, 

Let the kindness of others bring lasting benefits, 

Bring freedom from addiction, illness and misery, 

Open their humanity to include & embrace themselves. 

Bless the homeless with self acceptance and love, 

Spark their imaginations with belief in the future, 

Bringing the possibility of a better life, 

A safer life and a more secure life.
Amen.

Homeless Sabbath