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Come - Everything is Ready! 

Luke 14:15-24

​At the core of the theme for WDP 2019, an invitation – Come. And to enable the response – Everything is ready. Come to praise, thank, and proclaim the kingdom of love.

The invitation is grounded in the parable that Jesus told about a great dinner which was attended by the ones called off the streets, as the ones invited excused themselves. The community formed around the table is not enough to fill the house – there is still room. Who are missing from the table in your community? 

The artist, Rezka Arnuš, wanted to present two topics with her artwork pictured on the right. The country of Slovenia and the main biblical story of the worship service. At the top there are women dressed in national traditional costumes. The semicircular ornament with Slovenian folk embroidery represents a plate or a table with their best known national dish - potica - and grapes from various wine producing vineyards. Partly under the table, one can see the children from the margins of the society. They heard the invitation to the feast. The red and white colors used reflect Slovenian folk embroidery. The green background color emphasizes the green Slovenia, fields and forests. The warm colors of children express the joy of heartfelt invitation.
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The Country

Slovenia is located in Central Europe and is one of the smallest countries in that region. There are four major natural units: the Alps, the Pannonian Plains, the Dinarides, and the Mediterranean Area. Its highest mountain is the Triglav. Slovenia has two million inhabitants and the official language is Slovene, with Hungarian and Italian being co-official languages. 

After declaring its independence from Yugoslavia on June 27th, 1991, Slovenia adopted a flag with three equal horizontal stripes, white, blue and red with the Slovene Coat-of-Arms in the top left quadrant: the white for Mount Triglav, the blue lines for the Adriatic sea and local rivers, and the golden stars from the coat-of-arms of Counts of Celje, a Slovenian dynastic house from late 14th century. Since its independence in 1991, Slovenia has continued to be the wealthiest and most politically open country of the former Yugoslav republics.

The WDP Slovenia Committee

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Click on the icon to the right to contact WDP Slovenia.
​The first Slovenian World Day of Prayer service was held in Rogaska Slatina in 2000. It was organized by Mrs. Ljudmila Schmidt Šemerl from Switzerland, who encouraged other communities to join WDP. In autumn of 2001, Mrs. Corinna Harbig, WDP liaison for Slovenia, brought together the organizers from Rogaska Slatina, Murska Sobota, Maribor, and Ljubljana at a meeting dedicated to planning for the future of the WDP in Slovenia. They established the practice of joint preparation and central translation of the worship service and resource materials. In January 2002, Mrs. Harbig organized the first preparatory seminar, which was attended by women from Ljubljana, Rogaska Slatina, Murska Sobota, and Maribor.

In January 2004, the Europe regional representative, Mrs. Inge-Lise Lollike, from Denmark, introduced the perspective of the International Committee of WDP. Today the WDP is celebrated in 6 locations in Slovenia, involving around 100 collaborators and attended by around 500 persons. The new liaison is Tanja  Povsnar and the national committee meets regularly twice a year for a preparation workshop in January and for evaluations after the services.

Additional Resources

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©Bible Study WDPIC 2017, Brazil - Ulrike Bechmann
Bible Study: Luke 14; Ulrike B (English)
File Size: 1082 kb
File Type: pdf
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Estudio Biblico: Luke 14; Ulrike B (Español)
File Size: 1147 kb
File Type: pdf
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Étude Biblique: Luc 14; Ulrike B (Français)
File Size: 791 kb
File Type: pdf
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Come, Everything is Ready – and: There is Still Room
A Bible Study on Luke 14:1-2

By: Ulrike Bechmann
The following study includes the analysis of the biblical text and offers suggestions on how to present this Bible study. It takes up what I presented at the Meeting of the World Day of Prayer International Committee in Brazil in 2017. It is given to you as an example of a Bible Study that you could conduct in preparation for the World Day of Prayer 2019. Some practical steps and tools for the presentation are also included. At the end a chart outlines the composition of Lk 14:1-24 in order to make the interpretation visible.

​This Bible study searches for an empowering message in the gospel. To do this requires a close contextual analysis of the literary structure of the story in the gospel of Luke. Unfortunately, in church history the interpretation of Luke 14 was far from being empowering. On the contrary: this story often was misused for moralizing messages that downgraded the public, and also for forcing people into confessions and conversions to Christianity, often enough violently. Luke 14, especially Luke 14:15-24 has many stumbling blocks and its interpretation needs caution. 

​Situation of Roma People

By: Natasa Egic
A workshop was held at the WDPIC 2017 International Meeting that aimed to bring to light the situation of the Roma people in Slovenia and to break certain stereotypes. It was led by Nataša Egić, a member of WDP Slovenia and part of the Roma community.    

Throughout the conversation, participants learned about the life, tradition, culture and faith of the Roma people. That they live on all continents of the world, even though the conversation focused on the Slovenian Roma and the Roma from the former Yugoslav republics.

​Participants learned that we are all very similar despite our differences. That made the workshop very successful, because they were able to break down a number of prejudices and stereotypes applied to the Roma.
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Roma Village - Pusca, Slovenia
Situation of Roma People by Natasa Egic (English)
File Size: 740 kb
File Type: pdf
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Slovenian Traditional Potica Recipe

This recipe, along with traditional Slovenian games for children, are available in the Children's Program for the 2019 service. Contact your National Committee for more information or send us an email. 
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Walnut Potica (Walnut roll) - Pronounced po-tee-sa, this nut roll is a celebratory bread baked for almost every important occasion. It is made of very thinly rolled yeast dough spread with a nut paste. The nut paste or filling may differ from region to region and can include chopped walnuts, pecans, poppy seeds, honey, butter, and dried fruits.
​

As this is made with yeast, at least an hour should be allowed for dough to rise twice, although the second rising is shorter than the first. 
​Ingredients for the dough:
600 g flour
30 g yeast (or 7 g of dried yeast)
2-3 dl of milk
50 g sugar
1 teaspoon salt
120 g butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
Grated lemon zest

​Ingredients for the filling:
500 g walnuts (Ground)
2 dl milk or sweet cream
120 g sugar
3 egg-whites and a tablespoonful of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
Grated lemon or orange zest
Preparation:
Baking time: 60 min
​
Prepare the fresh yeast by mixing it with 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of flour and half a decilitre of warm milk and let it ferment. It should double in volume.

Prepare the dough by placing the flour, zest and vanilla in a bowl, add the prepared yeast (or use dried yeast); warm the milk and sugar, butter, salt and egg yolks, slowly pour the milk on the flour, beating it in, knead the dough until it is no longer sticky, then cover it and leave to rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.

Roll out the risen dough on a floured cloth, spread the filling on it and sprinkle generously with the remaining ground walnuts; roll up the filled dough tightly and place in a greased and floured baking pan. The dough should now be left for a while in a warm place to rise again.

Just before placing it in the preheated oven, the dough should be pricked with a fork and brushed with milk. It should then be baked at 180 °C for about 60 minutes; test it by sticking in a pin.  If the pin comes out clean, your potica is cooked.  The potica is turned out on a board after about 10 minutes and covered.  When the cake has cooled, it can be dusted with powdered sugar.
​
Prepare the filling by pouring warm milk or fresh cream over the nuts and sugar, while saving some nuts to sprinkle over the filling at the end; beat together the egg whites and sugar until they are stiff. Mix the beaten egg whites into the nuts.
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