The Methodist Church offers this Statement on the situation in the Middle East.
The URC offers the following prayer for personal and public use as we reflect on and pray for all caught up in the escalating violence in the Middle East.
Eternal One,
we remember before You
the people of Iran, Israel, Abu Dhabi, Oman, and Bahrain
and those sailing through the Strait of Hormuz:
all places of pain and division where the nations rage furiously together,
where drones and missiles fly overhead, children cry in bunkers,
and the bodies of the dead await funerals.
We remember the Earth, herself,
longing for redemption from humanity’s cruelty,
where every drone and missile wreak havoc and fear
even as they further despoil the earth
and add to the climate change which brings yet more death and destruction.
We grieve a world where there is neither peace nor justice,
where divisions are made into weapons and where ideology is used to maim.
We bitterly regret the failure of diplomacy, and wonder if it was designed to fail.
Guide now, Prince of Peace,
those who dare to work for peace,
those tending the injured,
those seeking to change our world,
those working for democracy and human rights,
and those who advise our political leaders;
that Your wisdom may shine through,
Your compassion be a watchword,
that consequences of our actions may be acknowledged,
and the cries of the children may ring in their ears.
Most Holy Spirit,
breathe Your peace to our troubled world,
comfort the parents of the girls killed at the primary school in Minab,
the relatives of those killed in Beit Shemesh,
and all who mourn in these days filled with war.
Inspire Iranians longing for a free and fair society,
and those who must now lead and guide its future.
Inspire, too, Israelis working for peace and justice,
longing for security and the chance
to finally turn swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks.
Eternal Trinity of Love,
Source, Guide, and Goal,
help us to work for peace even in a world at war. Amen