WCC renews fervent prayers for Holy Land for “true peace, founded on justice”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee expressed solidarity and accompaniment in prayer to churches and people in the Holy Land, in a statement published 20 May.
The WCC governing body, meeting by videoconference on 17-20 May, expressed that they were “appalled and deeply moved by the suffering inflicted as a result of the currently ongoing hostilities in the Holy Land, mindful of the history of the people of the region.”
The WCC conveyed to the churches and the people of the region close accompaniment in prayer and in solidarity. “With all those who have lost loved ones, been injured, suffered harm and fear as a result of the awful violence and destruction, we grieve,” the statement reads. “We renew our fervent prayer that God will bring compassion and wisdom into the hearts and minds of those responsible for the violence, and healing and consolation to the victims of their confrontation.”
The WCC is praying for the search for true peace, founded on justice and an end to occupation, to really begin. “We yearn for a just peace in the Holy Land for all the people of the region – Jews, Muslims and Christians, Israelis and Palestinians, in equality and mutual respect – so that all may sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid,” concludes the statement.
Message to Churches and People of the Holy Land, 20 May 2021
[Photo credit: WCC/Albin Hillert]