Resident Faye Hicks enjoys painting and making greeting cards, so when she learned that this year’s World Day of Prayer focused on Palestine, she created five flags to honour that country’s women.
A large red, black, white and green flag sat on a table inside St. Andrew’s United Church and greeted the 72 people who entered the sanctuary for the annual service on March 1. Meanwhile, four small flags sat on the dessert table downstairs and welcomed people as they came for refreshments afterward.
There was also a computer-drawn map showing Palestine and the Gaza Strip within Israel itself.
“The first (flag) I painted, I had it upside down, so I had to redo it,” Hicks chuckled. “(But) it all turned out.”
She then asked her granddaughter, Alliyah, 16, if she could create a map of the beleaguered Middle Eastern country, even though its borders seemed to change daily because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The young woman agreed and produced a painting on her iPad.
Hicks says she enjoyed contributing to the service, especially since she — and many others worldwide — feels powerless to help the Palestinian people.
“But when you can do something like this, and you know that the Palestine (Christian) ladies (wrote the service) this year, it just gives you such a good feeling down deep,” she said. “And I love helping people.”
The Church’s goal should be to help people whenever possible, and while it’s important to pray to God, Christians should support others near and far, Hicks continued. Furthermore, humans should leave the planet better than they found it, but that seems difficult when wars are continually waged.
Hicks appreciated hearing the testimonials that Palestinian women had contributed to the service because they made her emotional. She also appreciated the prayers and hymns that organizers chose because of how uplifting they were.
“I just have such a good feeling about it … I’m a happy person,” she laughed.
Darlene Fruson attended the event after receiving an invitation from a friend, although she has attended past World Day of Prayer gatherings. She said there is a need for prayer because of the suffering throughout the world, while society must “struggle for peace.”
“I love (the service). I thought it was very special … and I really felt whoever did the write-up did a good job,” she said.
Fruson added that churches could do better at promoting peace by working together more to promote the love of Jesus Christ.
Co-organizer Louise McDougall was pleased with the turnout even though she initially feared that the predicted blizzard would prevent out-of-town attendees from coming. Meanwhile, she and fellow co-organizer Sheila Leahy appreciated the help in putting on the service, which included readers, singers and musicians from other churches.
McDougall thanked the Palestinian women who created this year’s World Day of Prayer service but said it was heartbreaking to learn of their situation.
“Last night, we heard another 100 people were killed. I can’t imagine what that’s like. So if we can send our prayers to help in some way, that’s what we want to do,” she said, adding even though violence has occurred for decades there, prayer is the best hope for that country.
The Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada (WICC) is one of the founders of World Day of Prayer and said the service should be understood as one written by Palestinian Christian women, not as a Palestinian-focused service. Therefore, people should look for commonalities and avoid polarization.
