World Day of Prayer

Epeli Deyama singing a hymn in Hindi with his brother. Picture: ATU RASEAfrom w
Originally called the Women's World Day of Prayer, these days it is more inclusive and men rock up to join the women. Yesterday I joined in one of the local worship services and it was a good feeling to know the same liturgy was being used in hundreds of countries including Fiji where Dudley Methodist Church started the day at 6 a.m. with their service. Musicians who hail from Bulileka Labasa - Fijian guys - were playing Indian musical instruments. Way to go. Several Labasa Fijians have been doing this for over thirty years in evangelism amongst the Fiji Indian community. Isa, our friend Apakuki, was part of this project at one time. And Rev Mereaia of course. Peceli and I have always been concerned about inter-cultural church activities and for a time Peceli was a minister in the Indian Division of the Methodist Church in Fiji - at Lautoka, Rakiraki and Dilkusha and my heart has always been with the people of churches such as Dudley, Dilkusha and others.The hymn 'The day your gave us Lord is ended' is always sung at the World Day of Prayer services and this verse is quite touching.
Across each continent and island
as dawn leads on another day
the voice of prayer is never silent
nor dies the strain of prayer away.
The theme this year has been 'How many loaves have you' and was written by the WDP Comittee of Chile. There's an assumption that Christians need to give to other people of our food, our wealth, our gifts, our talents. There are times when we are generous, but there are other times when we are the receivers of gifts. At present in our household we live by grace and almost every day, friends call and give us gifts of the abundance of their gardens and other things. It is a different life when we receive so much kindness.

Sing to the most high
Avinesh Gopal.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
EPELI Deyama has hung his soccer boots to preach the word of God in Indian settlements. He does not find difficulty in reaching out to the Indian community because he is fluent in the Hindustani language. Yesterday, he sang a Hindi hymn during the World Day of Prayer celebrations at the Dudley Memorial Methodist Church in Toorak, Suva much to the surprise of people gathered there. While he played the harmonium and sang, his younger brother Asivorosi Raqeu, 22, played the dholak. Mr Deyama, 29, who is originally of Bulileka, Labasa in Vanua Levu is doing outreach programmes in Suva.

"I no longer play soccer now because I am fully devoted to spreading the word of God to people especially in the Indian settlements," he said. "I learnt to sing hymns in Hindi through prayers and fasting for four months during which I abstained from eating meat, sugar and smoking cigarettes. It's a blessing from God that I am able to sing hymns in Hindi or the bhajan."

Mr Deyama said he prayed a lot during the four-month fasting period, after which he started playing the harmonium and singing. "By playing the harmonium and singing Hindi bhajans I am able to reach out to people," he said. "I go for outreach programmes in the Indian communities and the response I get from people is very good." Mr Deyama said he would continue doing outreach programmes with the aim to bring about spiritual changes in the Indian communities.

World Day of Prayer

from w
Every year on the first Friday of March the World Day of Prayer is celebrated - starting from Tonga and Fiji and going right around the world as people gather in churches in about 127 countries. This year the service was created by the people of Cameroon. I went to Wesley Church in Geelong this morning and Rev Sani who is from Samoa was the speaker. It was lovely to join in prayer thinking of others all over the world who are following the same Order of Worship. I remember the times in places like Rakiraki, Labasa, Lautoka, Suva, Labasa, where I have joined in such a service. I read in Fiji Radio's internet link today that Dudley Church in Suva had their service this morning. We had the usual hymns in English and I was a bit disappointed that we didn't have any taped music from Cameroons as African music is so stirring. Every year there is one special song which includes the following words:
Across each continent and island
as dawn leads on another day,
the voice of prayer is never silent
nor dies the strain of praise away.

World day of prayer at Dudley Church
Friday, March 05, 2010

The World Day of Prayer, with the theme Let Everything That Breathes Praise the LORD, was launched at dawn this morning at the Dudley Church, with the President Ratu Epeli Nalatikau in attendance. Methodist Church Reverend James Bhagwan says the President acknowledged the important role played by the women of Fiji.

“Speaking to the women and men gathered at the church this morning the President said that this mornings program World Day of Prayer provides a good opportunity for us as a nation to reflect on the importance of women, our mothers, auntys and sisters to recognize and acknowledge their contribution to the nation building and national development in our quest to build a better Fiji. He spoke for a few moments about the situation in Fiji in terms of crime and some of the work that government is doing and enjoying the service.”

Bhagwan says our prayers were the first to be offered in the world.

“The service which began with the women of Dudley church processing into the church in dance to the calypso beat with the Chorus Let Everything that Breathes praise the LORD was actually possibly the first world prayer service to be held this year due to our current daylight saving program. And of course in terms of the International dateline.”

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation

And also, - from Fiji Times Saturday Prayers for Cameroon
Monika Singh
Saturday, March 06, 2010
METHODIST Church women from all around Fiji bowed their heads in prayer yesterday for the women in the African nation of Cameroon. Women from the Nabua Methodist Church circuit celebrated World Day of Prayer at the church and the women dressed up in traditional attire of the women from Cameroon and marched to the church with the Cameroon flag.

Church member and spokeswoman for the group Funaki Kamakorewa said they believed that women of all races and religious beliefs should come together to celebrate the prayer day. Ms Kamakorewa said they wanted to pay tribute to the women from Cameroon, who also went through the struggles which women in Fiji went through.

"Before we became aware of this World Day of Prayer we used to think that no other women in the world faced problems that we do," she said.

"Problems like domestic violence, rape and trying to keep a family intact."

She said this year was dedicated to the women in Cameroon and the theme for this year was also prepared by the women from there. Theme for this year is let everything that has breath praise God.

Ms Kamakorewa said the women at the church chose to dress up as Cameroonian women because they wanted to show that they supported the women's fight for freedom. "This is our way of saying that we hope and pray that those women overcome their problems," she said.

Ms Kamakorewa said after the prayer vigil the women had a collection which would be sent to the women in Cameroon.

World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year, and who, in many countries, have a continuing relationship in prayer and service.African fever ... women of the Nabua Methodist Church circuit pay tribute to their counterparts from Cameroon.

World Day of Prayer today

from w
The theme this year was: In Christ there are many Members, but one Body, and it was written by the women of Papua New Guinea. The 2009 WDP worship service will begin at the first sunrise of March 6, 2009, and will continue until the last sunset so it probably starts in Tonga and Fiji. It's a lovely way of connecting men and women from all over the world, and no doubt there are services in many towns and villages in Fiji today.

I went to the Geelong City Salvation Army serice at 11 a.m. and it was nice to meet up with friends from various different church groups. There was an abundance of material about Papua New Guinea with a focus on the life of women with stories from Bouganville and the Highlands. We started off by saying a greeting in Pidgin - Gutpela moning tru, which makes sense when you say it aloud! The Salvation Army choir of about 28 members sand beautifully accompanied by a piano and flute. Afterwards we had a lovely lunch together.

Papua New Guinea has been described as a "mountain of gold floating on a sea of oil." Land is the most important resource and an overwhelming majority of people's lives revolve around land. While the majority of Papua New Guineans depend on semi-subsistence agriculture for their livelihood, there are increasing numbers of people who earn a living from operating small scale informal businesses in the urban areas. Papua New Guinea has one of the most diverse indigenous populations in the world. More than 800 languages are spoken between several thousand separate communities. This diversity is described well in a Papua New Guinean folk saying: "For each village, a different culture."

Every year a particular hymn is always sung: part of it goes like this.
Across each continent and island
as dawn leads on another day,
the voice of prayer is never silent
nor dies the strain of praise away.