2018 Prayer Vigil: 2 Peoples, 3 Faiths
Join Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) in a time of multi-faith prayer on May 15, 2018, 7pm, as we pray for the peace in Israel and Palestine. These guidelines are intended to help you facilitate a group time of prayer for Israelis and Palestinians and for Jews, Christians, and Muslims that live in the Holy Land. We encourage you to gather a group of people around you for prayer, however if you are unable to find a group, please take the time to pray on your own and join us virtually by sharing on social media #Pray4Jerusalem and #Pray4Gaza. (Scroll down for a printable version of these prayer guidelines.)
Please Join Us In Praying For:
U.S. Policies & Embassy Move
- This past year we saw protests in the streets following the Trump Administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. We read about U.S. policies that affirm only Jewish ties to Jerusalem and thus hinder any possible peace process.
Jerusalem: The City of Peace
- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all it might be, a city shared by Israelis and Palestinians; Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
- Pray that Jews, Christians, and Muslims will resist making exclusive claims to Jerusalem and will work to together to protect the rights of all who wish to worship in the Holy City.
- Pray for the preservation of the Status Quo that protects Jewish, Christian, and Muslim rights alike.
Israeli Independence Day and Anniversary of the Nakba (May 15, 1948)
- Pray that the joy experienced by Jews on this anniversary of Israel’s independence, as marking the end to a long era of suffering, will very soon be shared by Palestinians on their own independence day.
- Pray for those who were uprooted, dispossessed and expelled from their homes during the devastation of the Nakba.
- Pray for a commitment to nonviolence by both Palestinians and Israelis as Palestinians seek to bring to the attention of the world the ongoing legacy of the Nakba.
Israelis & Palestinians
- Pray that Israelis and Palestinians will see each other as children of God. That God might heal the trauma that Israelis and Palestinians have suffered for generations. Pray that Israel would truly seek the peace of the nations as Israel celebrates their Independence Day (May 14) and Muslims enter the season of Ramadan (May 15). Pray that leaders will find the imagination and strength to reach out to each other with hope rather than fear.
- Pray for Israelis living with the threat of rocket fire, for Palestinians in the West Bank subjected to the violation of their civil liberties and human rights and living under the constraints of military occupation and settler harassment. We pray for the people of Gaza, living under blockade and repeated military bombardment, adding fear to the misery of poverty and want. May they be allowed to have food, water, medicine, human rights, dignity, justice, democracy.
Printable Prayer Guidelines