Sabeel Wave of Prayer, Sept. 17, 2015
Wave of Prayer: This prayer ministry enables local and international friends of Sabeel to pray over regional concerns on a weekly basis. Sent to Sabeel’s network of supporters, the prayer is used in services around the world and during Sabeel’s Thursday Communion service; as each community in its respective time zone lifts these concerns in prayer at noon every Thursday, this “wave of prayer” washes over the world.
O God, you have given us a mind to think and a desire to learn. We pray at the beginning of this new school year, for the 47 Church-run Palestinian Arab schools in Israel who serve about 33,000 Christian Muslim and Druze Arab children. These schools have launched a strike in protest of the Education Ministry’s decreased funding of their institutions. We pray that Israel’s discriminatory policy against these schools will end so that all children can enjoy their natural right to education equally. Lord in your mercy..
Dear Lord, we know your son Jesus travelled among the poor, the homeless, and often had no place to lay his head. As the growing hundreds of thousands of homeless refugees, uprooted by war and conflict and heartless political regimes, are searching for safe havens, give us all the will to share this common home you have given into our care. We pray that Israel would grant the request of the Gov’t of Palestine to allow a number of Palestinian and Syrian refugees to find a safe haven inside the territory of occupied Palestine. Lord in your mercy..
At the Last Supper our Lord Jesus Christ prayed that all may be one. Hear the prayers this week Lord as the World Council of Churches with all Christian Palestinian groups and organizations join together in the World Week of Peace for Palestine/Israel. Especially remembering the church leaders and people standing against more walls being built in the Cremisan Valley, we pray that walls between us may come down and that in humble service to one another our prayers for peace and understanding will rise up. Lord in your mercy…
We ask your blessing on the work of Sabeel in this troubled land of Palestine and Israel. Be with the women who travel to Birzeit on Friday to learn more about this town and to participate in the annual folklore festival. Be with Omar as he travels in Sweden with Christian youth, sharing faith and learning together. Be with Violette as she returns to Nazareth, with their youth and women’s programs and the ministry of Sabeel in Galilee. Lord in your mercy…
We pray alongside the World Council of Churches for the countries of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.