For Peace in Palestine.

The very next day, an amazing encounter with Rev. Mitri Raheb, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Palestine, spurred me to write this prayer for chapel service:

In the beginning, O God, you created one land,
One land for all people to share,
   One land, for the grazing of sheep and not bullets,
      One land, marked only by the abundance of your imagination,
Not the poverty we force on ours.
Teach us the geography of reconciliation, creative God.
Teach us the geography of forgiveness, creative God.
Hear us right now as we name the neighborhoods, cities, and
nations that need your geographic imagination: [petitions].
Show us where to find these places, O God,
   On the map of your heart.

We have the audacity to call holy
The land we have desecrated by violence.
Where the prophets once roamed,
   Where Jesus walked among us, W
      Where Muhammad was transported,
Now no one can walk freely, and the paths to your houses are
   Blocked by check-points, curfews, and air-raids.
We pray now for the signs of peace
   That would sanctify the land again.
Hear us right now, God who freely travels,
   As we name the signs, and sights, and sounds of peace
   That we hope for the Holy Land: [petitions].
Make us audacious in demanding these signs
   From all who lead and speak and act in your Holy Land.

We give thanks for those who have tirelessly sown seeds of peace,
   No matter how dry the ground has felt,
Especially Mitri and the people of the Lutheran Christmas Church.
We give thanks for that community and all communities
   Who have the courage to find water where they told there is none.
And we give thanks for the earthwide communion of
   People fighting for common justice and right relations.
Hear us right now, God, as we name those people and communities
   Who struggle for the welfare of all: [petitions].
Bless us whenever and however we join in sowing seeds.
   Chasten us and challenge us whenever we believe
      The lie that there is no water.

Planting God,
Let the soil we now send to Bethlehem only add to
The soil they have so preciously cultivated in peace.

Amen.