We live and act in hope that “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)
It is three years since the brutal attack of October 7, when 1,200 people in Israel were killed by Hamas, and more than 250 taken hostage.
It is three years since Israel's horrific intensification of violence against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. More than 70,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children—have lost their lives.
We pray...
O God, it’s been three years.
Three years since the brutal attack of October 7, by Hamas.
Three years since the peace and security of families and communities was shattered.
Though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea. (Psalm 46:2)
God, it’s been three years since Israel began its relentless and dehumanizing military assaults on Gaza.
It’s been more than three years of genocide and deepening occupation.
It has been more than three years that we have laboured for a just peace in Israel and Palestine.
The nations are in an uproar;
the kingdoms totter. (Psalm 46:6)
Not just kingdoms, God, but ordinary people: grandmothers and young men, toddlers and teenagers. Also: olive groves and music concerts, birthday parties and math lessons, chemo treatments and soccer games.
So much life lost.
So much grief.
So much fear.
When will we learn that violence and war do not bring healing?
When will there be real justice?
When will this end?
When will we ever learn that no people can be made safe by the suffering of another?
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. (Psalm 46:4)
God, why is the psalmist pointing out a babbling brook in the middle of so much chaos, trauma and devastating pain? What can a river do?
Selah
Breathe
Selah
Witness
Selah
Act
O God, bring your River of Life—
the river that flows from your presence, that brings healing to the nations,
that opens our hearts to your image in each and every human being.
Let your justice roll like this river.
Let what is good and right flow like an ever-flowing stream.
Bring that river to Jewish people who, with the rise of Anti-Semitism, are afraid to wear a Star of David necklace, afraid to worship without armed guards.
Bring it to Palestinians who, under deepening occupation and military attack, are still dying, still hungry, still being displaced, still demonized.
Bring it to Ukraine and Russia, to Sudan, to the whole Middle East, and to every place where violence has taught people to see one another as enemies.
Bring your river, O God,
to all the world.
God makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
God breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
God burns the shields with fire. (Psalm 46:9)
May it be so.
May it be so.
Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)
God your deeper peace is here.
Show us how to live in it.
Show us how to practice it and teach it.
Show us how to become people of your peace—even here.
Especially now.
As followers of Jesus, may we be still and may we act to midwife your peace.
Amen.
—The Right Rev. Dr. Kimberly Heath
We pray, advocate, and act for just peace in the region.
We live and act in hope and wait for a time that “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)