St Luke's Anglican Church member Mary MacNaughton is a great believer that positive prayer leads to positive actions. Photo: Paul Charman.
People of faith, who are concerned over conflict in Israel’s West Bank and Gaza regions, are being invited to take part in a combined prayer service at St Luke’s Anglican Church on March 1.
The Te Kuīti church will be hosting this year’s World Day of Prayer on that date, with the event to be led worldwide by Palestinian Christian Women living on the West Bank of the Jordan.
A local organiser, St Luke’s member Mary MacNaughton, points out that Palestinian Christians represent only 1% of the population in Israel and are often under pressure from both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
“They are having their faith tested daily and hence, in my view, they have much to teach us about being peace makers,” Mary said.
Te Kūiti churches have been involved in the annual World Day of Prayer since these events began in 1971.
Mary said although there had often been challenging situations to pray about during that period, this year’s theme seemed particularly apt considering the war in Gaza.
“The Palestinian women were chosen four years ago to lead the 2024 event.
“So, in view of the current conflict, which began on October 7 and continues up to the present, the timing seemed remarkable.
The theme they chose was from the New Testament Book of Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 2, ‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love’.”
“How you remain humble, gentle and patient when bombs are going off and bullets are flying is a wonder to many of us.
“I think these women need our prayer support, as do all parties in the conflict.
“We’ll be hearing their stories and about the way they are working in an environment which we can understand is fairly repressive.”
Mary said she was a great believer that positive prayer led to positive actions, with one example being that a collection would be taken up to aid Palestinians who had suffered loss in the current conflict.
