Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of Dec. 26, 2022

This week’s Kumi Now focused on the launch of Xavier Abu Eid’s book entitled, ‘Rooted in Palestine: Palestinian Christians and the Struggle for National Liberation 1917-2004’. The book charts the crucial role Palestinian Christians have played through the years of the British Mandate, the Nakba and the Israeli occupation and marks the dwindling numbers of Christians now living in Palestine.

•    Merciful Lord, we pray for our brothers and sisters and their important witness in Palestine. We pray that you will continue to reveal the light of your presence to Christians and guide their feet into the way of peace in the Holy Land. Lord, in your mercy..

•    Gracious Lord, we give you glory as Christians in Palestine, the Middle East and around the world celebrate the coming of your son, born in Bethlehem, a baby lying in a manger, Christ our Saviour. Lord, in your mercy..

 Two-year-old Faris Banura and his sister Maya from the village of Beit Sahour, traditional place of the shepherds field, near Bethlehem – died on Wednesday the 21st of December. The death was as a result of inhaling a dangerous pesticide that was spread in a different apartment in their residential building.

·         Lord, our faith is weak, help us understand this tragedy. We pray for your spirit to comfort the parents and friends of the children as they grief for Maya and Faris. Lord, in your mercy..

Ahmed Daraghmeh a 23-year-old footballer in the West Bank Premier League Club of Thaqufi Tulkarem was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on Thursday, the 22nd of December in Nablus. It is not yet clear whether he was involved in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers who were escorting a group of settlers visiting Joseph’s Tomb.

•    Lord, we pray that the Israeli authorities will restore calm to flashpoint areas in Nablus and elsewhere where settler groups, protected by soldiers, are provoking unrest and violence. Lord, in your mercy..

Nasser Abu Hmeid, a 50-year-old Palestinian political prisoner died of lung cancer in Israeli custody on Tuesday, the 20th of December. Abu Hmeid was a leader in the Fatah movement and had been imprisoned for his part in armed resistance in the First and Second Intifadas. A Palestinian prisoner rights’ group maintain that his death occurred after months of medical negligence following his diagnosis in August 2021.

•    Lord, we pray for the family of Nasser as they grieve his loss, especially his mother Latefa who was only given permission to visit her son once he has slipped into a coma,  just before he died. We pray that the Israeli Prison Service will release his body for burial and that they will investigate reports of medical negligence in his case. Lord, in your mercy…

Palestinian schoolchildren from the village of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem, were prevented from traveling along the main road to their school by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday, the 21st of December. Armed soldiers blocked the road so that the children were forced to take a much longer circuitous route to school.

•    Lord, we pray for an end to the harassment of Palestinian school children by Israeli soldiers. We continue to pray for these children growing up under the occupation, who have to cope with obstruction, checkpoints, hostile attacks from settlers, tear gas and sound bombs, as part of their daily routine. Lord, in your mercy..

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III spoke out at the Christmas tree lighting at Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate on Saturday, the 17th of December. Addressing a crowd from the balcony of the Imperial Hotel in the Old City, he warned that Christians in the Holy Land have become the target of repeated attacks by radical Israeli groups in a deliberate attempt to expel them.

•    Lord, we echo the words of the Patriarch in our prayer: ‘We long for peace and so let us not rend this fabric of our historic common life that has provided room enough down the ages for all who call the Holy Land their home.’ Lord in your mercy..

•    We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Japan, North Korea and South Korea. Lord, in your mercy..