Gaza – Prayer Alert!

31st December, 2008 - Posted by admin - No Comments

Prayer Alert
from The Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches

In the days to come,
wrote the prophet Isaiah,
God will wield authority over many nations and adjudicate
between many peoples;
these will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into
pruning
hooks.
Nation shall not life sword against nation, neither shall they train
for war
anymore.

Dear friends:

The past few days have seen the deadliest upsurge in violence between Israel is and Palestinians of this decade. Hundreds of people have been killed; scores more have been wounded. Doctors and hospitals are unable to keep up with the urgent need for care. Medical supplies, as well as food, have been cut off for many people.

Our call as people of faith in times like these is to earnest, heartfelt, persistent prayer. Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit, says God. {Zechariah 4:6} — I urge all MCCers and people of good will everywhere to join me in praying fervently for an immediate and honored ceasefire in
the Gaza Strip, and an end to to all forms of hostility between God’s Palestinian and Israeli children.

Pray with me that the Spirit of God will overshadow the world’s leaders and diplomats that they may be inspired to turn their energies and resources toward establishing peace on earth, good will
among all.

Pray with me until at last the vision of God where nations train for war no more is our reality.

+Nancy
The Rev. Nancy Wilson, Moderator

O God,
we know that there are many old hurts and old wounds inspiring the continued violence and hostility
in the holy land.
Pour out your Holy Spirit in fresh abundance upon the hearts of people everywhere, especially this day, upon the hearts of your Palestinian and Israeli children.
Help them to remember your words of choice and promise spoken to each.
Help them to treasure their beloved status as brothers and sisters born of your love.
Inspire the kinds of choices and decisions among leaders and people
alike that will make for peace and turn the tools of war into the instruments of care, compassion, and charity.
We pray with everything in us that the fighting will cease now, and that no more lives will be lost.
Open the corridors of hope and give to each person this day all the medical attention, all the food, all the sense of security each one needs.
We trust you with all our needs —
from daily bread to world peace.
And we pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, our example in trust.
+Amen