Sabeel Wave of Prayer: Ethiopians, and Settlements
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.
Last week several thousand people mostly from Israel’s Jewish Ethiopian minority protested in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem against discrimination and police brutality after a video emerged showing officers beating an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin in an unprovoked attack. Protests erupted into clashes with police, causing injuries. Lord, we pray for an end to discrimination in all its forms in Israel against ethnic, religious and national minorities. Lord in your mercy…
A recent study by a right-wing organization in Israel found that 2,026 settlement homes are built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. The study was conducted in support of possible legislation to expropriate land from Palestinian owners in exchange for reparations. Lord, we pray for an end to all efforts to take over Palestinian land through illegal settlement building, which creates an obstacle to peace in Palestine Israel and the whole region. Lord in your mercy…
Last weekend a march of Palestinian journalists was met with tear gas and stun grenades by Israeli forces as the marchers marked World Press Freedom Day and protested Israel’s violations of freedom of press. As of April, 20 Palestinian journalists were being held in Israeli prisons and as many as 17 were killed during the 50-day military offensive in Gaza, including an Italian photographer. Lord, we pray that all journalists, but especially those who cover the Palestine Israel conflict, are able to tell their stories without fear of suppression. Lord in your mercy…
Lord, we pray for our programs this week, especially a young women’s educational trip to Nablus to visit the Samaritan community and isolated villages with small Christian populations. We also pray for two meetings in Nazareth on the 1948 Nakba. Lord in your mercy…
We pray alongside the World Council of Churches for the countries of Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. Lord in your mercy…