Opening responses
Prayer of approach
Eternal God,
in your love for this world,
you have made places of great beauty.
And always where heaven is present,
hell is never far off.
This is our experience;
it is the lot of your people.
We recognise it in the world.
Today, we come to hold before you
that land on which your son put his feet
and first walked the path to heaven,
across the terrain of the earth.
Help us,
as we enter into solidarity
with those who are our brothers and sisters
in faith and in humanity,
not to keep apart Palestinian and Israeli in our prayers,
but rather to try with you,
and under your guidance,
to find a way of holding the broken pieces,
that in our lives and through our prayers,
some greater health
and some sign of wholesomeness might come,
and a glimpse of your kingdom appear in our hearts
and on this earth.
Amen.
(from ‘Fencing in God’s People, WGRG 2007)
Poem: Waiting for the light
(optional, appended) by Jan Sutch Pickard
Lighting a candle for peace
In the name of Christ, who is our peace,
we light this light for peace in Palestine and Israel.
[Sung several times as the candle is lit (CH4 784):]
Come light, light of God, give light to creation.
Enlighten our hearts and remain with your world.
May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.’ For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, ‘peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Prayers of intercession
God of peace, encourage those who seek to establish a fair and just peace in the Middle East. Bless their efforts as they work to end conflict. Lead those who engage in violence to put down their weapons and to live in peace with one another.
God in your mercy.
hear our prayer.
[Or sung response]
God of peace and justice
Rain down upon us your peace.
God of peace and justice,
let every heart be filled with peace.
(Ya Rabba Ssalami, Palestine/Lebanon, in We Walk His Way, John L Bell, pub. Wild Goose Publications 2008)
God of justice, bless those who work for peace through justice. Strengthen their resolve in the face of seemingly endless violence.
Guide the leaders of the peoples of the Middle East to know your will and to support a just peace for all of your children.
God of love, lifting up the holy land for all humankind, breathe love and compassion into our prayers with a desire for nothing other than peace: peace in our hearts, peace for all creation, and especially peace in the land that is called holy.
God of hope, we lift up the city of Jerusalem, distracted and divided, yet still filled with promise as all the cities of the world.
Come again into our cities, places of worship, Upper Rooms and Gethsemanes, that we may be given sight to recognise you.
God of mercy, even as we long to understand that which is often beyond our comprehension, we lay before you the hearts, minds and bodies of all those suffering from conflict in Palestine and Israel and from the ongoing occupation. Shower upon all the people of the Holy Land the spirit of justice and reconciliation.
God of the nations, give to all our people the blessings of well-being, freedom, and harmony, and, above all things, give us faith in you that we may be strengthened to care for all those in need until the coming of your son, our Saviour and Lord.
Amen.
Points for prayer
You may prefer time of silence and free prayer, with petitions relevant to the current news. Some suggestions are given below:
- Pray for Palestinian children on their way to school, that they may be safe and not afflicted by military or settler assaults.
- Pray for those held in Israeli prisons, especially minors, that they will be comforted.
- Pray for the parents of Palestinian prisoners, and the parents of young Israelis undergoing military service. Pray also for young Israelis in prison for refusing to do military service, who have no right of conscientious objection.
- Pray for those who must queue at checkpoints, struggle with unjust court decisions, and confront daily intimidation and insult, merely so they can live in their own homes and tend their own land.
- Pray for all, Palestinians and Israelis, who live with the threat of violence and the fear of the other.
- Pray for all refugees: Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, in Jordan and Lebanon; pray especially for those Palestinian refugees from Syria, once again forced to flee, and for all refugees from conflict in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.
End with a period of silence.
May our silence speak the peace of God.
May our silence sing the peace of God.
May our silence bring about the peace of God.
Amen.
Closing responses
Pray not for Arab or Jew,
for Palestinian or Israeli,
but pray rather for ourselves,
that we might not
divide them in our prayers
but keep them both together
in our hearts.
When races fight,
peace be among us.
When neighbours argue,
peace be among us.
When nations disagree,
peace be among us.
Where people struggle for justice,
let justice prevail.
Where Christ’s disciples follow,
let peace be our way.
Amen.