{"id":9604,"date":"2024-02-05T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=9604"},"modified":"2024-02-01T16:13:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T16:13:52","slug":"peace-in-the-holy-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/02\/05\/peace-in-the-holy-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace in the Holy Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

God of Comfort,<\/strong>
\nsend your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives
\nare torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine.
\nYou are the Advocate of the oppressed
\nand the One whose eye is on the sparrow.
\nLet arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression.
\nLet hearts mourn rather than militarize.<\/p>\n

God of Justice,<\/strong><\/p>\n

give strength to those whose long work for just peace
\nmight seem fruitless now. Strengthen their resolve.
\nDo not let them feel alone. Show us how to support their work
\nand bolster their courage. Guide religious leaders to model
\nunity and reconciliation across lines of division.
\nGuide political leaders to listen with their hearts as they seek peace and pursue it.
\nHelp all people choose the rigorous path of just peace and disavow violence.<\/p>\n

God of Love,<\/strong><\/p>\n

we lift up Palestine and Israel – its people, its land, its creatures.
\nWar is a monster that consumes everything in its path.
\nPeace is a gift shared at meals of memory with Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
\nLet us burn incense, not children. Let us break bread, not bodies.
\nLet us plant olive groves, not cemeteries.
\nWe beg for love and compassion to prevail
\non all your holy mountains.<\/p>\n

God of Hope,
\n<\/strong>
\nwe lift up the cities of the region: Gaza City and Tel Aviv,
\nRamallah and Ashkelon, Deir El Balah and Sderot,
\nso long divided, yet so filled with life and creativity.
\nCome again to breathe peace on your peoples
\nthat all may recognize you.<\/p>\n

God of Mercy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

even now work on the hearts of combatants
\nto choose life over death, reconciliation over retaliation,
\nrestoration over destruction. Help us resist antisemitism in all its forms,
\nespecially in our own churches. All people, Israelis and Palestinians,
\ndeserve to live in peace and unafraid, with a right to determine their future together.<\/p>\n

God of the Nations,
\n<\/strong>
\nlet not one more child or elder be sacrificed on altars of political expediency.
\nKeep safe all people from unjust leaders who would exploit
\nvulnerability for their own distorted ends.
\nGive wise discernment to those making decisions to pursue peace.
\nProvide them insight into fostering well-being, freedom, and thriving for all.
\nTeach all of us to resolve injustices with righteousness, not rockets.
\nGuard our hearts against retaliation, and give us hearts for love alone.<\/p>\n

Strengthen our faith in you, O God of All Flesh,
\neven when we don\u2019t have clear answers,
\nso that we may still offer ourselves non-violently
\nfor the cause of peace. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God of Comfort, send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine. You are the Advocate of the oppressed and the One whose eye is on the sparrow. Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression. Let hearts mourn rather than militarize. God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}