Israel-Palestine and Lebanon: how to pray?

Mission partners Fiona and Joel Kelling, currently based in Oxford for some training before they return to continue serving in the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East, offer some specific prayer pointers this Christmas.

Advent is a time of waiting and penitence, as the world awaits the coming of the ultimate sign of hope.

While for us Christmas brings the joy of Emmanuel, God with us, for people in the Holy Land, the wait goes on.

Palestinians – Christian and Muslim, Druze and Samaritan – await an end. Not only an end to over a year of horrors following the brutal attacks of 7 October 2023, but an end to the decades-long occupation of Palestinian land, and an end to the injustice that continues to blight the people of the Middle East.

So as you approach the hope that Christ’s birth gives us, pray with us:

• for a lasting ceasefire, for the people of Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon
• for the return of Israeli hostages held in Gaza
• for the freedom of Palestinians held in administrative detention (imprisoned without charge). We particularly remember Layan Nasir, a young Anglican woman from St Peter’s, Birzeit, held since 4 April this year, and her parents Lulu and Sami, and all her family.
• for courageous leadership which embraces humility and vulnerability for the sake of peace with justice across the region

While we pray for this transformation and the repentance it requires, pray in the meantime:

• for all Christian leaders in the region, that they may be compassionate shepherds of their flocks, while being bold in their calls for peace
• for the Anglican healthcare institutions and all the doctors, nurses, administrators and support staff who work in them:
  • Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City,
  • the clinic now operating in Al Mawasi on the southern Gaza coast, and
  • the Jerusalem Princess Basma Centre carers working on rehabilitation with children throughout the Gaza Strip
  • St Luke’s Hospital in Nablus in the West Bank
  • St Luke’s Rehabilitation Centre in Lebanon (closed because of the violence)
    
    that their work may continue to save lives, provide for those in need, and offer visible signs of God’s love for the whole of God’s creation.
• for communities in the West Bank, Northern Israel, and Southern Lebanon, who have been displaced by violence and the threat of violence:
  • In particular, for two families we know of, the Kisiyia and Daoud families, who are being threatened with eviction from generations-old, family-owned farms by radical settler groups;
  • for all those who cannot remain in their homes; and
  • for communities in the Galilee and Lebanon who don’t have access to bomb shelters to protect them from rocket fire.
• for our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers in the Holy Land who feel abandoned, and
• that we may be stirred up to learn more and to take action, and commit ourselves to reaching out in friendship as one in the body of Christ.

Be informed and take action

These trusted organisations may be a starting point for deepening your understanding of the situation:

• Musalaha
• EAPPI
• Bethlehem Bible College

Joel says: “UK readers, write to your MP! I believe the UK should be exerting pressure to increase the provision of aid, suspend the export of weapons to Israel, and encourage meaningful efforts to build a lasting peace with justice.

“Read some Palestinian theologians from the region, such as Naim Ateek, Munther Isaac, and Yohanna Katanacho.”

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