St. Catherine’s Anglican Church hosted the 2016 World Day of Prayer service on March 5. It was a very successful event with 6 denominations participating: Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Church of Canada with over 100 in attendance. The service was written by the women of Cuba with the theme “Receive Children, Receive Me”. We were blessed by having the children’s choir under the direction of Tae Maeda (who also provided the piano accompaniment) from Mt Olivet Lutheran Church who added so much to the service. We involved young people from the various churches by engaging them in the service itself and in making origami butterfly jasmine flowers for distribution to the congregation. The butterfly jasmine flower is the national flower of Cuba and a very important symbol. The children from St. Catherine’s Messy Church program made colourful tissue paper flowers for decoration.
Gail Sokalski from St. Andrew’s United Church gave the address covering events she experienced on her trip to Cuba last year with a group of young people. She also brought a very good display. Peter Goodwin, the coordinator for the Primates World Relief & Development Fund (PWRDF) for the diocese of New Westminster also attended with a very interesting display of church sponsored projects in Cuba. The service was followed by a well-attended reception, which was enjoyed by all.
Images
- Event Organizer, Heather Luccock
- Tae Maeda and the Mt. Olivet Lutheran Children's Choir PHOTO Courtesy ofTae Maeda
- The kitchen crew prepared food for 100
- The origani flowers on the altar
- Service leadership participation was multi-generational
- Lots of fellowship at the reception
Photos by Wendy Matsubuchi except where noted.