You cannot serve God and the occupation
You cannot serve God and the occupation.
A short liturgy for the Sabeel-Kairos Conference
O God thank you for this time together to think about, and discuss,
The ongoing injustice against the Palestinian people.
May our thoughts and prayers lead to renewed action and renewed commitment. May we be reminded that the powerful challenge of Jesus
Against the empire of domination
Should also be the path and witness of his followers.
May we never be silent
May our churches never be silent
We cannot serve God and the occupation.
It is time, as followers of Jesus, to take decisive action.
The very being of the church,
The integrity of the Christian faith,
And the credibility of the Gospel is at stake.
Support for the oppression of the Palestinian people,
Through silence, word or deed, is a sin.
May we never be silent
May our churches never be silent
Christian support for a theology and ideology
That legitimizes the right of one people to deny the human rights of another,
Is incompatible with the Christian faith
And a grave misuse of the Bible.
May we never be silent
May our churches never be silent
We cannot serve God while remaining silent
About the oppression of the Palestinians.
So we challenge one another
And all Christians and churches and all church leaders
To campaign and protest against the ongoing deprivation
Of the rights of the Palestinian people
May we never be silent
May our churches never be silent
Future generations will ask, ‘Why were you silent?’
God of protest at injustice and occupation,
Can we claim to be followers if we do not listen and act?
Can we claim to be followers if we do not raise our voices?
Can we claim to be followers if we do not protest?
Lord give us a compassionate heart and a hunger for justice
And take not your spirit of protest from us
All are made in the image of God,
So all should be treated equally
May we never be silent
May our churches never be silent
The above prayer inspired by and using words from the Kairos Palestine document “A cry for hope: A call to decisive action”
Reading: God’s dream by Archbishop Tutu
Dear Child of God,
Before we can become God’s partners,
We must know what God wants for us.
“I have a dream”, God says.
“Please help me to realise it.”
It is a dream where there will be:
More laughter, joy and peace,
More justice, goodness and compassion
More love, caring and sharing.
It is a dream of a world
Whose ugliness squalor and poverty,
Its war and hostility,
Its greed and harsh competitiveness,
Its alienation and disharmony
Are changed into their glorious counterparts.
It is a dream where there will be:
More laughter, joy and peace,
More justice, goodness and compassion
More love, caring and sharing.
I have a dream:
That swords will be beaten into ploughshares,
Spears into pruning hooks.
My children will know they are members of one family,
The human family, God’s family.
In God’s family there are no outsiders… all belong.
A prayer for the land once called Holy
Living God in Jesus you broke down the wall of division.
We see other walls that divide in our world –
Like the separation wall that cuts into the heart of Palestine
May Palestinians find justice at last
So Palestine and Israel can both live in peace
Both live in security, both live in freedom,
Without walls, without checkpoints, closures and curfews
May we realise the great message of hope
That all are chosen or none
We are all in this together
One God, one community, one hope, one future.
Amen
A prayer in the time of Covid
Lord, the Covid-19 virus continues to be a cause of great concern and suffering
In Palestine and Israel and around the world.
We pray for wisdom for all those in authority who have to make decisions.
We pray especially for those families who have lost loved ones to the virus.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer
A prayer for Gaza
Lord we pray for Gaza – forgotten Gaza – courageous Gaza –
Standing alone and experiencing a brutal blockade.
It is clearly a war crime.
We pray for justice to prevail,
For the blockade to end
So that the people of Gaza may be free at last from all oppression.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
A Blessing – Make a difference in the world
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers
Half truths, superficial relationships
So that you will live deep within your heart
May God bless you with anger at injustice
Oppression and exploitation of people
So that you will work for justice, equity and peace
May God bless you with tears to shed
For those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war
So that you will reach out your hand to comfort them
And change their pain to joy
And may God bless you with the foolishness
To think that you can make a difference in the world
So that you will do things which others tell you cannot be done
Unknown
Bible reading – Isaiah 40: 3-5
A voice cries out in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”.