Sabeel prayer for Gaza crisis

Sabeel’s weekly prayer this week is for the crisis in Gaza

[Each Thursday at noon in Jerusalem, Sabeel holds a Communion service that is open to the community. It is a time to join together to discuss how the scriptures apply to our lives today, to pray for the needs of this region and our world and to share the Eucharist. Starting in the Pacific Islands, passing through Asia, Africa, Palestine, Europe, the Americas and on around the globe, we pray for peace with justice.]

God of justice and mercy, we continue to fervently pray for the protection of the people of Gaza.  At least 187 people have been killed so far – mostly civilians – children, women, people with disabilities, and the elderly.  We pray for all those who lost their spouses, their children, their homes and their livelihoods. We pray for the orphans, the only survivors of whole families. Your people cry out to you: Lift them out of their desperate situation into your hope and peace.  Lord in your mercy.

God of justice and mercy, we pray that the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire would succeed so that all violence and destruction would come to an end and calm be restored to our troubled land.  Lord in your mercy.    

God of justice and mercy, give the leaders of the world the eyes to see the suffering and pain of your people in Gaza, and inspire them to act against such violence.  Now is the time for the international community to rise up and demand that justice is done so that peace may reign.  Lord in your mercy.

God of justice and mercy, our people are tired of temporary solutions, we pray that the international community through the UN will have the courage and determination to face the root causes of the problem and bring about a permanent resolution by ending the occupation of Palestine – West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.  Lord in your mercy.

God of love and mercy, we pray for the joint Muslim-Christian Ramadan Iftar organized by both Sabeel and Al-Liqa Center in Bethlehem this week.  Continue to bless the work of Sabeel and Friends of Sabeel, in Jerusalem, Nazareth, and around the world.  Be in our events, our programs, and our lives this week.  Lord in your mercy.