2011 Community World Day of Prayer

St. John’s Lutheran Church of Annandale March 4

We will celebrate the 2011 Community World Day of Prayer at

2 p.m. Friday, March 4, at St. John’s Lutheran Church of Annandale. This year’s theme is “How many loaves have you?” was written by the women of Chile, South America.

The women of Chile invite us to take to heart the question Jesus posed to his disciples when confronted by thousands who were hungry, “How many loaves have you?” It is an especially timely question this year when disasters mean millions are very hungry or starving or are not able to buy food. With the women of Chile, let us enter a process that draws us into the Bible, into the context of Chile and into the real situations of our lives and communities. Together, let us search within ourselves and among ourselves for our response to know what we have and how to share it.

The World Day of Prayer is a worldwide ecumenical movement that unites Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian men and women in more than 170 countries in prayer. It brings all these faith traditions together to observe this common day of prayer each year on the first Friday in March. On March 4, throughout the day, our prayers will follow the sun’s path around the globe, from the first sunrise to the last sunset, prayers are spoken in hundreds of languages. The World Day of Prayer strives to bring “informed prayer and prayerful actions to our communities.

Join us for this global ministry Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. This is an ecumenical service with people taking part from Annandale United Methodist Church,

St. John’s Lutheran Church, St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Annandale Evangelical Free Church, Mount Hermon Lutheran Church, and Zion United Methodist Church

of South Haven. In case of inclement weather, the service will be postponed one week, to March 11.

All are welcome, we invite the men and women of all area churches to attend this World Day of Prayer to learn more about the people of Chile.

About Chile: The Republic of Chile stretches 2,600 miles from north to south along the western coast of southern South America. The towering Andes Mountains lie on its eastern edge, the Pacific Ocean on its western edge. Chile’s climate varies, with desert areas in the north, snow-capped mountains in the east, prairie grasslands in the south and polar landscapes in the extreme south, Chile is blessed with flowing streams and underground water, abundant native food sources and rich mineral deposits. Chile’s population is almost 17 million; its capital is Santiago. The official language is Spanish, but there are several indigenous languages, as well. Tourism is an important source of income for Chile, as is the mining industry. Chile is the world’s leading copper producer. Feb. 27, 2010, Chile was challenged by a devastating earthquake and is still in recovery, and will be for years.