A prayer for Israel/Palestine

Eternal God, in your love for this world,
you have made places of great beauty.

And always where heaven is present,
hell is never far off.

This is our experience;
it is the lot of your people.
We recognise it in the world.

Here, we come to hold before you
that land on which your son put his feet
and first walked the path to heaven,
across the terrain of the earth.

Help us, for we seek to enter into solidarity
with our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land.
We ask for integrity and humility.

Help us
not to keep apart Palestinian and Jew in our prayers,
but under your guidance
to find a way of holding together their fractured history.

And enable us in our lives
and through our prayers
to seek the road to reconciliation and recovery,
until we glimpse in our hearts
and establish on earth
the justice and peace between neighbours,
which you have destined for the world you love.

Amen.

(c) John Bell 2023