CWU/Bethel-Newtown Joined Others In A Day Of Prayer

By Shannon Hicks

With the presentation of a one-hour service at Trinity Church on March 7, Church Women United/Bethel-Newtown joined CWU chapters around the world in observing World Day of Prayer 2003.

World Day of Prayer is a movement initiated and carried out by women in more than 180 countries and translated into more than 1,000 languages. Christians of many traditions, all ages, women, men, and children observe a common day of prayer, always on the first Friday of March. Observations begin in Tonga in the Pacific and continue with the sun around the world for 40 hours, until sunset in Alaska.

Newtown’s service followed the same program chapters around the world were also following, called “Holy Spirit, Fill Us.” It was a program that had been prepared by women of Lebanon representing the three families of Christians –– Catholic, Evangelical, and Orthodox –– plus representatives of Middle East Council of Churches and Young Women Christian Association.

The service was filled with prayers, readings, and music. It opened with welcoming remarks from The Rev Kathleen E. Adams-Shepherd, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, and silent prayer. The service then continued with a brief history of the country of Lebanon including the country’s civil war of 1975 to 1992, and went on with guest readers leading those in attendance through the program.

Program participants included ladies who personified five Lebanese women, offering stories of a 9-year-old girl from the south of Lebanon, a mother who continues to pray for her son’s safe return 28 years after his disappearance, a university student majoring in environmental science who sees that her country has been disfigured, a Palestinian girl born in the refugee camps of Lebanon, and a woman who sees the country’s educated young people leaving the country and “emigrating to greener pastures because of the economic and political instability in this region.”

The afternoon’s special guests were two ladies who are members of St Ann Melkite Greek Orthodox Church in Danbury. Georgette Morey and Louise Hajj joined the Bethel-Newtown CWU chapter members in presenting the program on March 7, with Mrs Morey even bringing Lebanese clothing for many of the presenters to wear for the afternoon.

“I really felt they were praying for all of these people,” Mrs Hajj said after Friday’s service.

“I appreciate that they recognize what has happened [in Lebanon],” Mrs Morey added. “You hate to say it, but it’s very unfair the way those people have been treated.”

CWU is recognized as a nongovernmental organization by the United Nations. Founded in 1941, CWU today represents 25 million Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian women.