Methodist Liaison Office Weekly Update and Prayer Meeting
Join Methodists from around the world to pray together for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land. Every Wednesday from 6pm (UK time) for 40 minutes. Each week there will be updates and theological reflections from local voices and MLO staff members followed by the opportunity to pray together. To join please email office@mlojerusalem.org and you will be sent joining instructions.
Prayers
Loving God
I see the news and I am afraid.
Violence is spiralling out of control.
I don’t know what to think or feel.
The temptation to fall into
hatred, or
despair
feels very close at hand.
Help me to remember
that nothing in all creation
can separate me from your love
that I know in Jesus.
May your perfect love for me
cast out my fear
and free me to discern
what is mine to do
amidst the chaos of this suffering world.
Amen
God of the poor, the widow and the orphan,
Why do we kill husbands and parents and hope?
God of life and love and longing
Why do we woo death, hatred and despair?
We are like lost children, who want our inheritance
At the expense of our relationships.
As you wait for us to come to our senses
Forgive us that we have squandered peace
Our own and yours, for the sake of our anger and greed.
Show us how to walk humbly, love mercy and
desire justice for all people
In all places and with all people cause our pride to step aside for the poorest, the most desolate and the displaced, because amongst them you are walking too.
Oh sacred head now wounded...
Today, as every day, you are wounded again by the sins of the world.
Today the wounded of Gaza cry to you and we lift our cries with them.
How long, we wonder, will it be until your promised reign of peace comes.
How long before the captives will be released.
O sacred head, when the wounds seem too hard to bear, too awful to see, teach us not to turn away but instead remind us that in you all trauma can find healing and long years of hatreds be transformed.
Oh, make us yours forever
And should we fainting be
Lord, let us never, never
Outlive our love for thee.
Amen
In a world that God made good
let us pray
for people seeing things
no human being should see
for people seized by terror
no human being should experience
for people whose depths of suffering
no human being should know.
God of unquenchable hope
Confirm our belief that
this is not how things should be;
Affirm our belief that
things can and will be different;
Strengthen our belief in
Jesus
who opens the way from
death to resurrection, and
Help us, as his disciples
to be your
agents for change
in our broken world.
Amen
How can we call a land “Holy”
when a festival site
becomes a killing ground
and a hospital
becomes a grave?
Christ, have mercy
upon the land of your birth
and all who know it as home.
May the prophecy of Isaiah find fruition
in this time and place:
No more shall infants live but a few days
or the lives of older people be cut short.
No more shall weeping and distress
echo across the plains.
No more shall children be borne
for calamity.
Let houses be built and lived in.
Let vineyards be planted and enjoyed.
Let enemies come and eat together
and the days of hurt and destruction
be over.
In Jesus’ name we pray
Amen
(Isaiah 65 v.17-25)
Merciful God
We cry out to you, in anguish and horror, at the situation in Israel - Palestine
The images we are seeing, the stories we are hearing, of homes, hospitals, places of sanctuary, healing and care, destroyed.
We know that there are so many more stories which have not yet been told, and perhaps never will be,
Of precious lives lost, of grief and trauma beyond that which most of us can imagine.
Compassionate God, you came and dwelt among us; you know and understand the suffering of this world.
There is no place beyond your reach; you are everywhere, even in places where we fear there is no hope left.
Where we are tempted to despair, your spirit brings mercy, and justice, and healing.
You call us, again and again, in times of conflict and destruction, to be attentive to those who are most vulnerable.
Give us the compassion to weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn.
The discernment to recognize the limits of our own wisdom, and to avoid those actions and words which may cause further harm.
Inspire in us a renewed commitment to walk humbly with you, seeking the peace and flourishing which you desire for all of your beloved children,
Amen
A prayer from the President and Vice-President of Conference
God of peace and compassion,
We pray for all impacted by the escalation in conflict in Israel-Palestine
For all who are mourning
For all who are fearful, today, and for what may lie ahead
For all traumatised and re-traumatised by what they have experienced.
Enable us to stand in solidarity with people of peace
May your Spirit bring peace and healing to your troubled world
Amen
A prayer from the Methodist Peace Fellowship
Oh Jerusalem, how we long for all peoples to be gathered up under the wings of peace and yet your heart is shattered and your sides pierced by swords of grief.
Beloved city, may mercy and justice walk in your streets and markets, show us how to look into each others eyes with love and equity so that all humanity might die to violence and live to trust our neighbours once again.