Prayers

for Palestine

The World Day of Prayer Palestine Committee has written the following additional prayer to go along with their 2024 program:  We pray for women, who even now are losing children and other family members. We pray that their strength be a beacon of resilience, as they endure all challenges and pain with grace. Grant them courage to navigate adversity. And may their aspirations for peace and prosperity shine brightly in the midst of these difficulties. In this time of war, we pray for the healing of hearts and the restoration of peace. May compassion prevail over hatred, and may the suffering of all those affected by the war be alleviated. Grant them strength, solace, and hope for a brighter and harmonious future. We pray for all families who have lost members; for the kidnapped, the missing, and all who are still under the rubble. May the spirit of God grant them all patience and strength as they wait to be reunited.Lord Jesus, we pray for the end of all wars, especially in the land you called home. You are our Savior, the one who taught us the real meaning of peace. Guide us and give us power to practice peace in our daily lives. Amen

– Katie Reimer WDPIC Executive Director

for Palestine

Prayer
God of Peace and Justice,
We cry out to you with broken hearts and deep anguish for what is unfolding in Israel and Palestine. It is difficult to find the words to express the weight of this moment. We rest on your Spirit, who intercedes with sighs too deep for words. We ask that you heal every wound, and you give us wisdom for how to stop this cycle of violence. We pray especially for women who are particularly vulnerable in times of war. Move our world quickly towards peace and justice.
Amen.

Prayer
Let’s pray together for the people suffering due to war. Yes, they’re suffering a lot. Children, the sick and elderly are suffering; many young people are dying. Let’s not forget Ukraine. Let’s think of the people of Palestine and Israel, that the Lord might bring them a just peace….

And our thoughts turn every day to the very serious situation in Israel and in Palestine. I am close to all those who are suffering, Palestinians and Israelis. I embrace them in this dark moment. And I pray for them a lot. May the weapons be stopped: they will never lead to peace, and may the conflict not widen! Enough! Enough, brothers! In Gaza, let the wounded be rescued immediately, let civilians be protected, let far more humanitarian aid be allowed to reach that stricken population. May the hostages be freed, including the elderly and children. Every human being, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, of any people or religion, every human being is sacred, is precious in the eyes of God and has the right to live in peace. Let us not lose hope: let us pray and work tirelessly so that the sense of humanity may prevail over hardness of heart.

Pope Francis

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Living God, today we pray for all the people in Israel/Palestine,that they may discover the courage and humility to build peace together and that they will seek a just path of reconciliation.
For our Muslim brothers and sisters in Israel/Palestine this day, we pray “Assalamu Alaikum”.
For our Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel/Palestine this day, we pray “Shalom Aleichem”.
For our Christian brothers and sisters in Israel/Palestine, this day, we pray “The Peace of Christ”. Amen.

Adapted from a longer prayer, © WWPPI The Baptist Union of Great Britain

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Eastern Mediterranean

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10 Days of Prayer – World Day of Prayer

World Day of Prayer

Elizabeth Burroughs – EWNI President

Gracious and Loving God, the focus of all our hopes, we thank You for the World Day of Prayer, for the opportunity it gives us to share our hopes and our concerns we are sisters and brothers around the globe and for the way in which it calls us to bring our prayers alive through prayerful action. We thank You for the plans and promises You have made for us, which give us hope for today and tomorrow. Gracious and Loving God, as we move forward into an uncertain future, which many people see as black and hopeless we ask You to help us to be people who listen to your word, who follow Your plans for us and who radiate confidence and hope to all, in Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 10

Rev David Miller, Free Church of Scotland

Loving God, we come to You to praise and worship You for Satan is defeated. For all that is necessary has been done so that we may return to our loving Father and to You. So we give thanks for the gift of Your Son the Lord Jesus. And we give You thanks for the promise that the plans You have for us are good. We live in a world that may seem bleak, we live in a world where our times seem strange and difficult and confusing. We live in a situation where, for many of us our churches seem to be struggling  and yet in these difficult and unsettling and even overwhelmingly times we give You thanks that the Gospel remains true. That the plans You have to give to us all a future and a hope remains true. Your Gospel is good news for the world and good news for us. So may we live and walk as people of hope, people with hearts and minds fixed on You. People open to Your guidance and leading. We pray in particular that will lead and guide the international committee meeting in June. But for each one of us, as we pray and lift our world to You, and as we seek to walk in that world of people of hope may we have our eyes fixed on You and may we walk boldly into the plans You have for us. And we ask these things in the name of Jesus. Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 9

Major Irene Houston, Salvation Army

Lord Jesus, You fed the hungry, You shared your bread with all, your people hunger now, and we are called to share Your bread. May the rains fall upon the dry and broken earth and quench your peoples thirst, so that seeds grow tall and flourish, producing a bountiful harvest. May we share the blessings you give us and bring comfort to those in need, may we show love through our actions so that all have enough to eat. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 8

Most Reverand Leo Cushley, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh of the Roman Catholic Church::

Glory be to You, Father Almighty, for You have revealed Yourself through Your creation and invited all people to stand in Your presence. Unite us with one another as we come from the North, from the South, from the East and from the West, old and young, men and women, to bow before You, and offer You homage, our heavenly King. Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 7

Rev Martin Hodson, General Director, Baptist Union

God of All History, we light a candle of Hope to celebrate with all your people as we watch and wait, for Your plans and promises to be fulfilled. God of the past, the present, and the future, we thank You that Your life is faithful and You love us uniquely. You loved us before we knew anything about you, you care for us in every moment of our lives. You know our deepest thoughts, our highest hopes and our greatest fears. You know the best and the worst in us and still you love us. Thank you for you never let us go. Thank you for the plans and promises you have made for us, which give us hope for today and tomorrow. God of our past our present and our future receive our thanks and praise which we offer in Jesus name. Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 6

Rt Rev Kevin Pearson, Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway, Scottish Episcopal Church

God of All, we cry out to you for help, in your mercy, Here our Prayer. Protect us Lord and be with us especially those of us most vulnerable during this Corona Virus crisis. Move us to reach out in love to our neighbours both near and far so that the humble may be exalted, the hungry filled with good things. Grant us the courage, Lord, not to rush back to our coldish ways, but to rebuild our world together, creating foundations of justice with equality and peace for all. Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 4,

Rev Paul Whittle: Moderator of the United Reformed Church National Synod of Scotland

Bless the creators O God of Creation, who by their gifts make the world a more joyful and beautiful realm, through their labours they teach us to see more clearly the truth around us. In their inspiration they call forth wonder and awe in our own living. In their hope and vision they remind us that life is holy. Bless all who created your image O God of Creation. Pour your spirit upon them, that their hearts may sing and their works be fulfilling. Amen

10 Days of Prayer Day 3

Welcome today the Rev Mark Slaney, Chair of Methodist Church in Scotland

Gary was a member of a local Methodist Church somewhere in the North-West of England where I served as Minister. One Tuesday night, over a post football pint, Gary told me that he’d just had the best and worst day at work. Gary bought and sold copper for an automotive parts manufacturing company who in turn were owned by a much larger conglomerate. The day in question he had made a clear million dollars profit for that multi-national enterprise. He was likely to be employee of the month. “Well done,” I said, “So, what’s up?” He explained the circumstances and context which had led to such financial success. Copper miners in Mexico were on strike over safety conditions following the deaths of a significant number of their colleagues in a mining accident. The strike had led to less raw copper being available to the market. This scarcity had led to its price rising. Which had led to Gary choosing the right market-moment to sell and make a massive profit. And, he told me, those miners were paid a pittance – a few dollars a day. “What should I do?” asked Gary. “I need to pay the mortgage but how can I stay and be part of that?”

A million-dollar profit made off the back of a mining accident in which poor workers were injured or lost their lives.

Gary agreed to share his story and dilemma with the congregation on Sunday morning. “What can we say or do to help Gary?” I asked those gathered for worship. There was a long, weighty, impotent silence. Then someone spoke up, half-jokingly: “We’re just glad that’s Gary’s problem and not ours!”

What’s our place in the world?

With the profiteers or the poor or both?

With Gary and his dilemma or are our own problems enough to handle without having to think too much about anyone elses’?

Is it more important to be employee or the month or to be true to one’s values and beliefs? Should I stay or should I go? Do nothing or change everything?

Soon after, Gary left that company.

Last November, one evening, I sat in a Methodist Church in Glasgow listening to a small delegation from Fiji share how rising sea levels are destroying coastal communities, sweeping away homes and burial grounds. Folk who have only known fishing passed on from generation to generation forced to move inland where a boat is of little use.

A Prayer following COP26*

Sustaining God, in November, we witnessed how, at great cost and with great urgency, the leaders of our species and those with concern for their common home gathered in Glasgow.

We ask for your welcoming, affirming presence in the many layers of gathering and scattering which were part of that event.

Give to those who make decisions a freedom from the burdens of a past which have pushed us to this cliff-edge.

Give a dawning vision of your offer of healing greater than the blocked horizon of what it might cost.

Argue and wrestle with the powers and principalities of expediency and despair.

Open every human ear to the voices of the Earth, and of sisters, brothers, siblings who already suffer sharply.

Save us from the despair of complacency and the toxic temptation when the visitors have departed to embrace ‘business as usual’ for that ‘normal’ has gone.

And our only future will be in wakefulness trust, hope, yes, joy as we live out your love for the Earth we are part of through your Word made Flesh Jesus, our Friend. Hosanna- God help us! AMEN

(Prayer from Eco Congregation Scotland)

*(The United Nations Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)

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10 Days of Prayer Day 2

Welcome to Rev. Neil MacMillan, Minister of The Free Church of Scotland

World Day of Prayer. “I know the plans I have for you”

Thought for the Day: People, Diversity and Migration.

When I planted Cornerstone Church in Morningside, Edinburgh 8 years ago, we wanted to create a new church for our neighbourhood, which was local and walkable. One of the unexpected joys of planting this church is that we have become home to a good number of Latino families. Most of them are economic migrants from Latin America. This was not part of our plan but it was part of God’s better plan. Many of the Latinos arrive in Edinburgh without English, and without a job. Life is tough for them but they are determined to make a better life for themselves and their children. Now at Cornerstone we regularly worship God in English and in Spanish. As we sing songs in both languages at the same time we are being given a taste of the future – when people from every tribe, nation, and language will gather before the throne of Jesus to worship him. This is God’s ultimate plan and purpose for his creation. Our Latino brothers and sisters have enriched the life of the Cornerstone in so many ways.

God is the God of the nations and in his plan he sent Jesus to be a blessing to every nation. It is a joy for the Christians to see God bring people from all parts of the world to live in the United Kingdom. At the same time we grieve that many have arrived here fleeing from scarcity, danger and trauma. Loving our neighbour, being a good Samaritan, doesn’t come naturally to us. We need a growing experience of God’s grace in our own lives to sustain as we offer hospitality to those who have come to the United Kingdom from other countries.

We want to pray for those who have recently arrived in the UK from Afghanistan and Syria and those who came before them from so many nations across Africa and Europe. Our hope is that they will truly find a home here – not just a place to live but a place to belong and to be loved. It’s such a privilege for us as the church to welcome people from other nations and be a blessing to them. Let’s keep praying that we get to be part of God’s mission, that our churches will more and more reflect his great purpose – uniting people across languages, ethnicities, nations and cultures. Pray too for humility and love to shape how we move towards all those God has brought to live in the UK from around the world.

PRAYER

You are the peace of all things calm

You are the place to hide from harm

You are the light that shines in dark

You are the heart’s eternal spark

You are the door that’s open wide

You are the guest who waits inside

You are the stranger at the door

You are the calling of the poor

You are my Lord and with me still

You are my love, keep me from ill

You are the light, the truth the way

You are my saviour this very day.

Amen

Celtic Oral Tradition

10 Days of Prayer Day 1

Video presentation by Lord Wallace, Moderator of the Church of Scotland. Click Video

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