Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Week of June 14, 2021

This week’s Kumi Now online gathering focused on ethical tourism and pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Once the pandemic is brought under control, it is hoped that tourists will consider returning to the Holy Land to see for themselves how Palestinians are forced to live under the Israeli occupation.

Next week we will remember the World Refugee Day on Sunday, the 20th of June. The Kumi Now topic on Tuesday, the 22nd of June, will be Palestinian refugees.

• Lord, we pray that people from around the world will come and see the effects of the Israeli occupation for themselves. We pray they may go and tell others about the sufferings of the Palestinians and that this would lead to further international pressure on the Israeli government to change their policies. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Tuesday, June 15th, in partnership with the catechetical office of the Latin Patriarchate, Sabeel held a prayer service at the Dominican Church in Jerusalem. The ecumenical worship service was attended by 150 students from 7 different Christian schools. The prayer service was to mark the end of the school year.

• Lord Jesus, you told your disciples to let the children come to you and not to hinder them. Children held such a special place in your heart while you lived among us. We give thanks for the students in Jerusalem as they marked the end of their academic year with the prayer service. We pray for your hand of protection and guidance as the students in the Holy Land start their summer holidays. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

On Sunday, the 13th of June, Sabeel organized an educational trip for 48 women to visit the occupied Golan Heights. The trip is for women from Jerusalem to learn about the reality on the ground in the Golan Heights and to build friendships among each other.

• Lord, we give thanks for this opportunity for a group of women from Jerusalem to travel together and to discover what life is like for those living in the occupied Golan Heights. We pray that they may have been blessed by this shared experience. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

The postponed Jerusalem Flag March is now planned to take place on Tuesday, the 15th of June, just two days after the new coalition government is set to take over. On this march Israelis celebrate the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967 as they process through Palestinian communities towards the Western Wall. The march requires a high level of policing as right-wing Israelis have previously attempted to provoke those living in the communities they pass through.

• Lord, ‘we pray for the peace of Jerusalem…may peace be within your walls. May all those who love the city be secure there, (Psalm 122). Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

The Nassar family, living at their farm called the Tent of Nations, near Bethlehem had more than 1,500 vines, olive and almond trees torched at the end of May. Further damage was done to their land when Israeli military bulldozers crossed their land to uproot trees on their land, and the land of their neighbors this past weekend.

• Lord, strengthen and support the Nassar family as they seek to respond to the injustice they suffer in a non-violent way. Help them to remain steadfast in the face of provocation and not to falter in their determination to carry on farming their land. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.

We join with the World Council of Churches in their prayers for the countries of Botswana, and Zimbabwe. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayers.