17/9/09 - English

On Friday, Sabeel’s Nazareth and Jerusalem offices will join with members of the board for a day of brainstorming, visioning, and reflecting on future goals and direction. We pray that this will be a fruitful time and look forward to partners around the world contributing to this process over the next months.

Next Monday, clergy from Palestine and Israel will meet at Taybeh in the West Bank, for Sabeel’s two-day annual clergy retreat on the theme of “Pastoral Care”. We pray that this will be a time of renewal and inspiration. May the clergy be filled with new energy for caring for their communities.

This week it was reported that Israel’s Public Security Minister plans to increase the police presence in East Jerusalem and non-Jewish towns within Israel in order to “strengthen Israeli sovereignty” in those areas. We pray that this plan does not become a justification for more unjust police actions against Palestinians.

This weekend marks the end of Ramadan with the feast of Eid el Fitr, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), and the beginning of a month of Jewish Holy Days. We give thanks for God’s presence with all of the people of the “Holy Land” and pray that all may live together in just peace and friendship. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in harmony.” (Ps. 133:1)

This week we join with the World Council of Churches in praying for:

Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania