"Sights and Sounds of Harmony: Abiding in Community," is this year's World Community Day theme, which will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Bethany Lutheran Church, 369 Broad St. in Montoursville.
World Community Day is an annual event that brings Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian women together in a common worship experience that focuses on the issues of love, justice and community.
Regina Gross, president of Church Women United of Lycoming County encourages women to participate in the service and to also take the opportunity to share in the Christmas stocking project for nursing homes in Lycoming County.
The women of Bethany Lutheran Church will host a refreshment time following the service.
Women participating in the service are Patty Knap, Sally Knipe, Bonnie Sheasley, Diane Casella, Velna Grimes and Patricia Gohrs. Musicians for the service are Carol Waltz, accompanist and Barby Smith, song leader.
The main speaker, the Rev. Danesta Whaley, is a member of Citychurch in Williamsport and the director of Yokefellow Prison Ministry. She will guide in thinking about how we abide in community. To abide is to remain and stay. To abide is also to put up with; tolerate; stand. It is to endure, sustain or withstand without yielding. To abide is to accept without opposition or question. It is to wait and to suffer for. We will consider what our communities would look like and sound like if we could learn to live out all the definitions of abide.
Four special collections at this service are:
Christmas stockings and $3 donations for each stocking to be distributed throughout Lycoming County to residents of nursing homes and children in the Project Impact program. Last year about 1,200 persons in our county felt the warmth of God's love at Christmas thanks to the group's efforts. This year, Pat Wittig and Barbara Allen, coordinators of this project, invite volunteers to assemble and pack stockings at 9 a.m. on Nov. 12 at Pine Street United Methodist Church, 441 Pine St.
Gift certificates will be available. They are one significant way in which women of faith in Church Women United local units across the country can help support the mission of Church Women United in the United States and throughout the world. Grants and loans are provided around the world to enable women to become more autonomous, gaining skills, income and self-confidence, as well as working collectively for larger systemic change.
Offerings from this service, and collected by Eleanor Derr, treasurer of Church Women United of Lycoming County, help support the women's national ecumenical ministries of Church Women United for peace and justice, including its commitments to advancing the social and economic power of women.
The Fair Share donations, which come from each local church to help fund the work of our local Church Women United Chapter here in Lycoming County continue to be collected.
Patterns will be available at the celebration to make walker bags, which are urgently needed for area nursing homes. They will be collected in the March, World Day of Prayer celebration along with lap robes and catheter bag covers.
