"Singing the Lord's Song in Strange Lands and Times"
In the name of the Spirit of God, who hovered over the primordial waters....Our spirit seeks You in the early dawn, O God, for your commandments are light. We worship You.
Songs of Lament, Songs of Resistance, Songs of Hope
Warm Easter Greetings from the Pacific Conference of Churches Secretariat!
I apologise for the delay in this Pacific Day of Prayer Liturgy which this year, revisits the Theme for the 11th PCC General Assembly and is at the heart of our work from 2019 to 2023: “Singing the Lord’s Song in Strange Lands and Times”.
To say that these past 14 months have been difficult would be an understatement. This has been a major challenge for our Pacific people as also around the world, in a way that we have most likely not faced in the last 100 years. COVID-19 has shown our resilience in many ways. Amid sickness and death, unemployment, increased gender-based violence and socio-economic and political challenges, we have strengthened our spirituality, adapted our worship and drawn on our culture of sharing and caring as community and our indigenous knowledge to survive and help others in need.
Yet while the world’s focus is on COVID-19, in our region we continue to face the impacts of Climate Change – rising seas, ocean warming and acidification and extreme weather such as severe tropical cyclones. Lockdowns have been used to impinge due governance and democratic processes in some Pacific Island countries. Our sisters and brothers under the weight of colonial powers face not only economic, ecological and social oppression, their communities are at risk from COVID-19 because of decisions made by their colonizers. Under closed borders our seafares cannot return home, and while larger countries are not sending their citizens as tourists (thus compounding our economic challenges with the collapse of the tourism industry across the region), they are extracting our people as labourers under seasonal worker programmes and labour schemes to fulfil their needs. Under neo-colonialism and neo-liberal economics, extractive industries further desecrate our land and pillage our sea as many of our governments follow policies that lead us further into the foreign debt trap.
And so we cry our songs of lament, protest, hope and justice.
This year’s material includes some information on the impact of COVID-19 in our region, names of some our leaders who have died and the names of 16 West Papuans who were killed in the last 2 years by Indonesian Security forces.
I appeal to our member churches that we endeavour to make this not only a day of prayer observed by women’s fellowships but use this material throughout the church, whether on 7th of May as the first Friday in May, or during your annual conferences and synods or on another day this year.
God’s blessings and our love be with you all.
Rev. James Bhagwan, General Secretary
Friday 7 May 2021 is the Pacific Day of Prayer. The Secretariat of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) encourages Australian churches to use the prayers, bible studies, suggested liturgy and related information.
Download the Pacific Day of Prayer resources:
document PACIFIC DAY OF PRAYER 2021 (5.67 MB) WORD
pdf PACIFIC DAY OF PRAYER 2021 (810 KB) PDF
Material includes:
- Introduction – reprinted above
- Covid-19 in the Pacific
- Remembering Pacific Leaders
- Cry For Those Exiled In Their Own Land: West Papuans Who Died Between 2019-2021
- Text: Psalm 137
- Bible Study 1
- Bible Study 2
- Suggested Liturgy for Pacific Day of Prayer Service
- Sermon Notes