Litanies of Intersession for Palestine
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Litany for Palestine
By Mona el-Zuhairi, Christian Peacemaker Team’s Program Coordinator in Hebron
Leader: for our tired land, for the uprooted trees, for the forcibly abandoned hills
All: we pledge to work for justice
Leader: for the cross-generational trauma among Palestinians and the oppressed
All: We pledge to work for justice
Leader: for the refugees dream to return home
All: We pledge to work for justice
Leader: for all people who are longing for peace, love and justice, for the children who want to dream, for safe paths and life with dignity.
All: called by equality, I pledge to work for justice for us all
Sabeel Wave of Prayer
Sabeel’s Wave of Prayer is updated weekly. The latest is available on Sabeel’s website.
Prayers of Intersession
From Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum Liturgy Resource Toolbox
(These prayers can be used individually, or combined as one)
Confident that God hears and answers, let us pray for our neighbors, for the church across the world, for creation, and for peace with justice.
Silence for reflection.
Creator God, we thank you for the gift of the universe and all that fills it. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the richness of religious expressions, cultural forms, abundant nature, the gift of birds, animals, seas, hills. Thank you God for empowering humankind to exercise
responsible stewardship over these your gifts.
We confess with regret that time and again we have violated your desire to live in harmony with your creation and the rest of the human community. Help us to be mindful that the earth, everything in it, and all who live in it, belongs to you. We have but momentary stewardship.
May there be justice for all, in which peace and reconciliation is built on egalitarianism, not on dominance, repudiation, fear and security. Let love prevail now and ever.
God of peace, hear our prayer.
(from Ranjan Solomon, India)
Almighty God, we praise you for the blessing of abundant life you have granted your church through Christ. Grant us unity, peace and true concord the strength to share your grace with all people. In your mercy, restore, rebuild and reconcile us to you. Anchor us in the love of Christ; help us to remain committed to your mission. Grant us, dear Lord, Wisdom to heed the teachings of your word. Inspire us with your Holy Spirit to seek your will in all we do. Help us to persevere and to remain faithfuluntil the coming of Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
God of peace, hear our prayer.
(from Nonhlanhla Shezi, South Africa)
Merciful and Loving God, Creator of the universe and human beings, You chose Palestine as the cradle of religions and showed us the way through the Incarnated Christ to do your will. Jesus Christ taught us the things that make for peace but some of your children, created in your image, still refuse to know how to love and respect each other in this land.
Heavenly Father, you who hears the cries of your people around the troubled world, look down upon the people of Palestine. Restore justice with mercy and wipe out the tears of the bereaved, the dispossessed, the homeless, the prisoners and the oppressed. Fill the hearts of all rulers with humility to recognize that your vision of a harmonious living in this land, your land, can be achieved only when all walls are destroyed, oppression and violence ended so that human beings can live in dignity. Help us to humbly work together to make of Palestine, once again, a model of co-living among peoples of all faiths, so that the message of real peace that was proclaimed in this land will be experienced throughout the whole region as love that fulfills justice prevails.
God of peace, hear our prayer.
(from Nora Carmi, Palestine)
God of all creation and all peoples, we pray for the people of Israel.
We pray for the peacemakers, for the seekers of justice, for the people
of good will who risk friends, reputations, and even jobs to stand in
solidarity with those on the other side of the wall. We pray for those
who have lost friends and loved ones to violence. We pray for an equal
measure of safety, of security, of opportunity and freedom for Israeli and
Palestinian children alike, for in the beginning you made us all in your
own image. We pray for the courage to continue working together with
all of our neighbors toward a world of justice, peace, and equality.
God of peace, hear our prayer.
(from Carrie Smith, USA/Jerusalem)
O God of all lands, we lift before you all communities and peoples who are stateless or alienated from their ancestral lands. We especially cry out to you to assist in the just struggle against powers and principalities that would limit or deny sovereignty to indigenous peoples in favor of settler-colonial theft.
Be with the peoples of Palestine, the First Nations of Canada, the Aboriginal communities of what is now Australia, and the landless of Brasil, reminding them that you provide strength for the journey and homecoming after the exile.
God of peace, hear our prayer.
(from Robert Smith, USA/Jerusalem)
With all people of faith, yearning for a just peace we call to you -
With our Jewish sisters and brothers, we call you Adonai - the Lord who is one.
With Jesus we say God, our Father, and seek for your Kingdom.
With our Muslim brothers and sisters, we say arRahman arRahim - God
who is the most gracious, the most merciful?
We believe in a good creation, in this world as a home for all living beings. Yet many of us suffer, and we sometimes stay mute and helpless in the face of their struggles and pain. We pray for courage to be steadfast in our solidarity, so that we reach for each other, although we
are tired and weary. We pray for creativity to make alliances with our sisters’ and brothers’ struggle for justice and peace.
We pray that we may find joy and fulfillment in our joint effort to make this world a home to all.
God of peace, hear our prayer.
(from Janneke Stegeman, the Netherlands)
Look with mercy, gracious God, upon people everywhere who live with
injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Rouse
us from our complacency and help us to eliminate cruelty wherever it is
found. Strengthen those who seek equality for all. Grant that everyone
may enjoy a fair portion of the abundance of the earth; through your
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 79)