Pope Francis and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas met
Saturday to open a Palestinian embassy in Vatican City. Issa Kassissieh, the
Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See, called the move "a significant
achievement for the Palestinian people,…".
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Lord, we thank you for the world leaders who recognize our country
and acknowledge our rights even though we are under military occupation. We
pray for more steps of courage to be taken by the decision makers of the world
that lead to our independence. Our freedom is inevitable and we are asure of
this. Lord in your mercy…
The Synod of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy
Land (ELCJHL) elected the Rev. Ibrahim Azar, pastor of The Evangelical Lutheran
Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem, as bishop-elect of the church. The ELCJHL
is one of the Lutheran World Federation member churches, serving approximately
3,000 local members.
·
Lord, we give thanks for the ministry of Bishop Dr. Munib A.
Younan, and his long service of the Evangelical Church in particular and for
the entire Palestinian people in general. We also hold the new bishop elect,
Rev. Ibrahim Azar in our prayers as he takes on the new position in your service.
May your spirit, Lord, empower him to remain the humble, loving and honest good
shepherd we know. Lord in your mercy…
Thousands of Arab citizens inside Israel turned out Friday in
Kalansuwa, an Arab Town inside Israel, to protest last Wednesday’s destruction
of 11 homes by Israeli government bulldozers, and 11 families were thrown out
in the bitter cold. Last week’s demolition is one of the largest demolition
operations in the Israeli Arab towns in recent years.
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Lord, we join in prayer in solidarity with the demonstrators. We pray for Israel to become a democratic
state, a state for all its citizens, a state that grants all its citizens
building permits regardless of their ethnicity or religion, a state where no
one needs to build their home without a building permit. Lord in your mercy…
On Sunday Israeli forces attacked, with an artillery missile, and
opened a barrage of gunfire towards a location east of Rafah, in the southern
Gaza Strip. The Israeli military claimed that the bombing came after Israeli
infantry troops came under fire from the Palestinian side near the border fence
with Gaza.
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God of justice and mercy, we pray fervently that the Gaza-Israel
cease-fire will hold, and bloodshed will be prevented. We remember the people
in Gaza and especially the little children.
We pray for the end of the ten-year-old blockade of Gaza and the evil
military occupation. Lord in your mercy…
·
We join the World Council of Churches in praying for the countries
of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Lord
in your mercy…
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