`World Day of Prayer (WDP) is a worldwide ecumenical movement of women of many faith traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year on the first Friday in March or a Friday nearest to it. Each year a different country serves as the writer of the World Day of Prayer worship service. The 2016 World Day of Prayer service will begin at the first sunrise on March 4, 2016, in the Pacific region and, following the Earth’s orbit, will spread around the world.
For 2016, the women of Cuba invite us to consider these words: Receive Children, Receive Me. The women of Cuba share their stories of intergenerational wisdom, traditions and experiences of God’s profound love and acceptance. We will learn how Jesus responds to his disciples when the little children come to him, exploring Jesus’ adoring and passionate acceptance of the children, saying: “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14–15).
As we listen to the women of Cuba throughout the worship service, we are invited to seek Jesus with childlikeness and boldness. And we are challenged and encouraged to wholly receive others, as Jesus calls us, into the kingdom of God. WDP’s motto, “Informed prayer leads to prayerful action,” affirms that prayer and action are inseparable and that both have immeasurable influence. As we observe WDP 2016, millions of God’s children, adults and the elderly suffer from violence, exploitation, the effects of a global economic crisis and the hardships of emigration. We encourage you to begin thinking about actions that you can take to further expand God’s kingdom. Throughout the service, the women of WDP Cuba invite us to accept Jesus’ infinite blessing and exhort us to receive others into the kingdom of God. Let us walk in faith and prayerful action!