English 18/05/2017

Sabeel Wave of Prayer
May 18^th,2017

This week the Palestinians are commemorating the Nakba, the catastrophe that happened 69 years ago, 530 Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed and over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly driven out their homes in 1948. The Nakba created an enormous refugee problem and catalyzed a process of generational dispossession for Palestinians.

·         God of love and justice, as we commemorate the Palestinian Nakba (May 15) this week, our hearts break with the grief of 69 years of different forms of injustice and suffering in Palestine. Though our hearts break, please do not let our hope die. Keep our courage and resilience strong, and renew within the Palestinian people the will and the hope for strategic peaceful resistance to on-going abuses. Lord, we cry out that the continuing Nakba of Palestinian dispossession and suffering must end! We pray for all Palestinians at home and abroad, especially refugees driven from their homes in 1948, they still long to return to their rightful homes. How long, O Lord, will this continue?
Lord, in your mercy…

Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike wrote a letter on Tuesday to Pope Francis asking him to intervene with the Israeli government to help them achieve their demands. Approximately 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners are on their fifth week of a hunger strike, risking their lives in hopes of gaining basic rights in Israeli jails.

·         Lord, we pray that the spirit of the Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike remains strong specially as their health continues to deteriorate. We remember the mothers of the Palestinians prisoners and their pain.
Lord in your mercy…  

This week, Sabeel is hosting a session to train and follow up with twenty facilitators for bible studies. The meeting will be held in Jerusalem, and participants will come from 20 villages and cities in order to learn how to better lead contextual bible studies.

·         Lord, we thank you for the gifts and commitment of the emerging leaders within the community who continue to reach out to others through their faith. Send your spirit to watch over those attending this training session, and help them to hear the message you would like them to hear.
Lord, in your mercy…

Masked Israeli settlers attacked five international and Israeli activists as they accompanied Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank. The number of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian farmers have been on the rise recently, often under the protection of the Israeli army,

·         Lord, we pray for hope in the midst of hopelessness. Grant us courage to continue to search for a raw of light in this darkness. We give thanks to all the people who stand in solidarity with our people on the margins. We pray for the quick recovery of the peace activists and for the awakening of the Israeli settler’s consciences. 
Lord in your mercy…

·         We join the World Council of Churches in praying for the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
Lord in your mercy…