This year the Interdenominational Service for the Women's World day of Prayer was written by the women of Egypt and was called "Streams in the Desert".
It was constructed around the life-giving power of water in both its physical and its spiritual sense and was enacted in dramatic form with voices from the distant past to the present day.
Those of us who took part as the Egyptians welcomed everyone to Egypt and talked of changing times, from the ancient civilization there to the recent uprising in Tahrir Square and its effects on the local people. We became truly involved in what we were performing and enjoyed the dressing up in costume and use of symbols to emphasise the life-giving power of water. The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well illustrated the spiritual dimension of water in the desert.
During a time of meditation we looked at slides of Egypt and its people and began to consider what streams in the desert might mean for our own community and who would enable them to flow. Afterwards we interceded for the women of Egypt and all over the world, for improvements to education for women and that we ourselves might be the channels of living water to the world.
This was the first time that we, as a church, had taken part in the Women's World Day of Prayer and it was a great, if somewhat humbling, feeling to know that we were taking part in the same service on the same day as other women all over the world. Our congregation was quite small but hopefully in future years more will join in, as the event becomes a regular occasion. I think that all of us who took part enjoyed the afternoon, supported and helped one another in its preparation and gained some experience of the life-giving water available to us all wherever we are and in whatever situation of life we find ourselves.
Jenny Morgan
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