28/3/13 - English

Lord, this week we are shocked, yet again, by the arrest of 29 Palestinian children in Hebron on Monday. Ranging in age from 7 to 15, the children seem to you have been arrested at random on their way to school. God, the occupation is hard enough when the ones suffering are adults, but when our children are arrested and accused it is too much. You came to liberate the oppressed and imprisoned; you came to set things right in the world. Please keep our children safe and free them from this injustice. Lord, in your mercy...

God, we come to you, honestly, with our frustrations. Following his visit to Palestine and Israel, please help U.S. President Barak Obama and the U.S. administration to see that we Palestinians, as a people, are entitled to a state – not merely deserving or undeserving of one depending on our behavior. We are happy that the unjustly withheld Palestinian tax money was released and that the U.S.-blocked aid-money that was used to punish Palestine for the UN statehood bid has been unblocked. But how can we possibly thank Israel for tax funds that should have been ours already? How can we thank them for anything when the very occupation that enables them to unjustly control our tax-money and our lives continues to expand every day? God, please awaken these governments to the injustices they are committing. Lord, show us a way to a peace that is just and that respects human rights, for anything less is no peace at all. Lord, in your mercy...

As we continue to commemorate these final days of Lent on the Gregorian [Western] Christian Calendar, we prepare for Easter and the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, please prepare our hearts, renew our minds, and lead us more into a way of life that is radically different from the injustices and sin we see around us and indeed in ourselves. In the midst of this celebration, we pray for the many Christians and Muslims from the West Bank and Gaza who are refused access to their holy sites. We pray especially for all Christian and Muslim families who will experience the frustration of being split between those who can visit Jerusalem and those who cannot. Lord, we pray that Israel would realize that it must do away completely with the unfair system of permits and with the occupation from which it comes! We pray for freedom of movement and freedom to worship where we deem fit. Lord, in your mercy...

Finally, we pray for the ongoing work of Sabeel in Jerusalem and Nazareth, and for the work of the many Friends of Sabeel around the world. We also pray in solidarity with the World Council of Churches for China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Lord, in your mercy...