May 4, 2018
May Friendship Day, a Church Women United initiative, is most often celebrated on the first Friday of the month of May. May Fellowship Day began in 1933 after two Christian women’s groups planned gatherings based on similar concerns: child health and children of migrant families. These groups united and over the years, eventually became what we now know as Church Women United. The May celebration has been continually observed since 1933 and each year the theme identifies a shared concern of Christian women and their communities. In 1999, Church Women United changed the name from May Fellowship Day to May Friendship Day.
The 2018 Church Women United celebrations focus on the theme “Reaching for Wholeness: In Gratitude for God’s Presence,” based on Colossians 1:17, “And God is before all things, and in and through God the universe is a harmonious whole.” The theme asks us to live in gratitude for the opportunity to respond in service to human needs, particularly praying for and finding ways to respond to the needs of hungry children. Christian women’s groups from many denominations (including Presbyterian Women, which encourages participation in and support of Church Women United) will host May Friendship Day services throughout the United States during these first days of May. For more information, go to www.churchwomen.org.
Carissa Herold, Marketing Associate, Presbyterian Women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Today’s Focus: May Friendship Day
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Tim McCallister, PMA
William McConnell, PMA
Let us pray:
Gracious and generous Creator, we are blessed to live in service to you. Guide us in our efforts to feed your children and to advocate on behalf of all who hunger. Amen.
Daily Readings
Morning Psalms 96; 148
First Reading Leviticus 23:1-22
Second Reading 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
Gospel Reading Matthew 7:1-12
Evening Psalms 49; 138
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.