Global Ministries

Written by Dr. Bernard Sabella, Executive Secretary
Department of Service for Palestinian Refugees
Jerusalem, May 28, 2020

On Covid-19 it looks like some down trending in infections and speeding up of recoveries have occurred across the region.  The  relatively low mortality experienced in the countries where DSPR works is due according to analysts to  ‘demographic good fortune’ with more  younger generations in the population and the fact that this virus is age-gradient, meaning that the elderly are more prone to infections than the younger groups.  The death rate per million population according to worldometers is 0.6 for Palestine; 0.9 for Lebanon and Jordan and 31 for Israel.

In response to the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity’s latest initiative, the Global Initiative for “Human Fraternity," the Middle East Council of Churches renews its appeal for people to actively participate tomorrow, on the 14th of May 2020, in a day of prayer, fasting, invocation, and charity, each according to his/her own religion or sect or belief, asking God to help us overcome the Corona pandemic which is threatening the lives of millions of people, to inspire scientists to discover the appropriate cure, and to save the world from the medical, economic, and human consequences of this detrimental virus.

This Thursday, May 14, 2020 Pope Francis and The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb have called for a day of prayer, fasting, and charitable works to end COVID-19. 

Lectionary Selection:  John 14:15-21

Prayers for Lebanon:  

Abundant and abiding God,

We often think of Easter as a culmination – of the season of Lent, of Jesus’ life. Yet you remind us that our work is not complete. In this time of uncertainty and global crisis, it is even more evident that the good news of Easter is not that something is ending, but that something even greater is just beginning.

In a joint letter to heads of states that are part of the European Union, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) appealed for a firm and principled stance by the European Union against any annexation by Israel of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

The letter expresses the WCC and MECC’s commitment “to the vision of a just peace for all people in the Holy Land.”

I’ve been in Beirut now for about almost two months, and two of the most common questions I receive from folks here and in the US are 1) are you still in Beirut? and 2) What are you doing there right now?

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Adyan Foundation, the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and the UNHCR took a unified ethical stance inspired by faith, and jointly decided to meet and discuss the repercussions of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on refugees and host communities. As they are all aware of the need to promote solidarity in order to overcome these difficult times, they issued the following joint statement:

After receiving a special message that Mr António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, addressed to religious leaders and authorities on 11 April 2020, urging them to join forces in coping with COVID-19, especially during the Easter season and Ramadan, Dr Souraya Bechealany, Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), responded to the call in a letter, in which she commended his initiative that left a positive impact on MECC and on its partners of various faith based organizations, religious Christian leaders and leaders of other religions with whom it shares a common responsibility.

Lectionary Selection:  John 20:19-31

Prayers for Lebanon:  

Our Lord and our God, help us to stop doubting and to believe, even when we huddle behind locked doors, building walls of anxiety that are not a true refuge for our souls. Because of your boundless love you enter our hiding places unhindered and boldly declare, “Peace be with you!” We sit, wounded and paralyzed by our fears and sins, yet you heal us through the wounds you bore for our sake on the cross and victory of your resurrection. As you spoke to Thomas, speak to us now in our doubts and invite us to touch and remember your pain, to receive your forgiveness, to believe, and to go and minister in your name. Send us out into the world, help us bring this message of peace and reconciliation accomplished through your redeeming death. No matter how broken our world is, and no matter how self-centered and fear-driven our societies are, no matter how crushed our spirits are, O Christ, you are still our only hope for peace, forgiveness, and life. We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord and our God. Amen!

In late January at 1 a.m., not far from where we live, a long-dilapidated, stone building reflective of Beirut’s architectural heritage collapsed into rubble. It was not without warning; eight years earlier the municipality had ordered the owner to refurbish it. But in recent days ominous cracks appeared, and, providentially with no loss of human life, most of the structure tumbled onto the street. Its sidewalk-level breakfast shop remained intact with the lights still on, yet unusable.