Page 6 - Oxted Local February 2024

6 February 2025
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Oxted Local 
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The World Day of Prayer
March 7th 2025
Every year on the first Friday in
March in over 146 countries and
islands right across the world
thousands of Christians from a
multitude of denominations and
of every race and colour, gather
to celebrate the World Day of
Prayer by holding special services.
Locally this year the Hurst Green
Evangelical Church is organising
a service at 10.00am but due to
building work they currently do
not have their own building so the
service will be held in St John’s
Church, Hurst Green with thanks
for their hospitality. The second
service will be held at 7.30pm in
St. Mary’s Church, Oxted.
Each year the women of a different
country write the prayers and
select hymns and Bible passages
drawing on their own experience
of life. The services therefore
represent an opportunity for
people to become familiar with the
thoughts and ways of worship of
women from around the world.
This year the service has been
devised by an ecumenical group
of Christian women from The Cook
Islands with the theme ‘I made
you wonderful’. The women share
stories of their struggle during
Covid19, of their culture being
devalued and of the improvements
in obstetric healthcare. Based
on the words of Psalm 139 and
woven within the stories of three
Christian women from the islands
the service invites us to recognise
that God created each one of us
with great attention and loving
care. We are unique and special
and should cherish all aspects of
who we are and of those around us.
God created us, God knows us and
God is with us.
The Cook Islanders are Polynesians
who are thought to have migrated
from Asia. Spanish explorers made
contact in the late 16th century and
Captain James Cook and mutineers
on HMS Bounty arrived in the late
18th century. Fifty years later the
islands were renamed as The Cook
Islands. The 15 Islands spread over
nearly 800,000 square miles in the
Pacific Ocean. The land mass is
only two thirds the size of the Isle
of Wight but the surrounding seas are their exclusive economic zone.
They owe their origin to past volcanic activity so there are some areas
of fertile volcanic soils but in many places they are thin and easily
eroded. Despite this agriculture was the main source of income until
the opening in 1973 of an international airport on the largest island of
Rarotonga. This has led to tourism becoming the main industry, giving
many benefits but also increasing pressures on natural resources which
have driven up the cost of living.
The Day of Prayer begins at the International Date Line in the Pacific
with Western Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand amongst the first
countries to celebrate the day. The services spread across the world like
a Mexican Wave and finish as the sun sets over American Samoa 38
hours later when we in England will be having breakfast. The same Bible
readings and prayers are used in over 60 languages and a thousand
dialects throughout the world. Services are held in a variety of locations
including private homes, in the open air, in small churches and great
cathedrals, and under every conceivable condition of weather.
At each of the services a collection is taken and donations are sent to
regular international charities. In addition in 2023 over £78,000 was
distributed to a wide variety of projects including a day care centre for
elderly women in Bethlehem, help for children in schools with mental
health problems, training families in western Kenya to use their land
to provide reliable sources of nutritious food and an end of life and
bereavement care project in Britain.
Do try and join us at one of the local services – they are very informal
and are always interesting and everyone is welcome. After the service
there is the opportunity to chat over a cup of coffee and cake.