On Tuesday, six of us gathered for prayer for the Middle East, Jerusalem and Palestine, during which we prayed the following from the Evangelical Alliance (UK), among other prayers.
Father God, We see images and hear stories from the unfolding violence in Israel and Palestine. Our heads are full and our hearts are heavy.
We watch the unfolding brutality and violence, sectarianism and hatred. Lord, have mercy.
We choose not to turn away but to turn to You as we pray the words of Simon Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Jesus, You love these places and these people. Speak Your words of eternal life over them today. Make Your presence known.
Creator of this earth, a world with no guns or bombs or borders, You walked these lands with compassion and grace. Prince of peace, would You walk there again today. We echo the words of psalmists and prophets: hear the cries of orphans and widows; swiftly bring justice and healing. Heal these lands.
You died and rose from the dusty earth outside Jerusalem. Today, may Your shed blood bring healing. May Your resurrection power bring life.
We dare to hope to see new images and hear new stories of transformation. Hatred to hospitality, swords to ploughshares and mourning to dancing. Hear our prayers. May Your kingdom come, in Israel and Palestine as it is in Heaven. Amen.
The Peace of Wild Things by Kentucky poet, novelist, essayist (and farmer) Wendell Berry speaks to a “Sabbath-rest” approach to living in a world where daily tragedies bombard us through media saturation. I offer it to you, below. Let me know how it speaks to you…..
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.