Women’s World Day of Prayer will begin when the sun rises over the island of Samoa on Friday, March 6, and continue until it sets off the coast of American Samoa some 35 hours later.
It is an international, inter-church organisation through which we hear the voices of women, from a different part of the world each year, expressing their hopes and concerns and bringing them before the rest of the world in prayer.
An estimated three million people, in over 170 countries, will gather to observe the day of prayer, using an order of service written by Christian women from The Bahamas and translated into more than 1000 different languages and dialects.
In the British Isles alone more than 5,000 services will be held, including two in the Calder Valley.
In Todmorden, the service will take place at St Joseph’s Church, Wellington Road, at 7pm on Friday, March 6.
A spokeswoman said: “It is an opportunity for Christians in the town to come together without barriers of gender or denomination.”
In Hebden Bridge, the town’s event will also be held on Friday, March 6, at the Methodist Church, Market Street, Hebden Bridge, at 7.30 pm
It has been prepared by the Christian Women of The Bahamas, and here are the details behind the piece they have chosen to develop.
“The theme of the service is taken from St John’s Gospel, chapter 13 verses 1- 17, ‘Jesus said to them: ‘Do you know what I have done to you?’’ and it challenges us to demonstrate the same radical, unconditional love for others that Jesus showed when he washed the feet of his disciples.”
The Christian Women of the Bahamas have also given some information about the islands, which consist of more than 700 islands, scattered over 100,000 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean, only a small proportion of which are inhabited.
It refers to itself as a ‘family of islands’ and in the service the needs of the smallest islands are given as much prominence as those of the larger ones. Everyone is welcome to attend the service; men, women – people of all ages.
For further information, see the WWDP website: www.wwdp.org.uk