The Villager Voice
After church on Sunday, some of you asked for a copy of the prayer I shared that was written by The Rev. David Grisham-Jones, pastor of The Community Church of Durham, NH. Here it is, every bit as timely, if not even more so, as it was six days ago:
“God of Bethlehem’s Child, God of Gaza’s dead, God of frightened Jews and paralyzed peacemakers, God of Palestinian mothers and children of all races and tongues: Comfort the broken today. Bring peace to the dying today. And turn the hearts of your peoples to the wind, to the mountains, to the seas, to the prophets of peace. Let there be light in our eyes and new leadership amongst our peoples. And let there be hope for the peoples of Tel Aviv and Hebron, for the children of Bethlehem and Gaza, for the families of the Galilee and Haifa. Bring peace, O God. Bring peace! Amen.”
Have you checked in with your Jewish friends this week? Are they OK? Are they anxious? I’ve connected with Rabbi Marci Bellows at Chester’s Congregation Beth Shalom a couple of times this week, and she mentioned how important it was to her and her congregation that people are reaching out to them; it means a lot, and if you haven’t, you may want to.
I’m going to take a look at the ongoing crisis in Gaza this Sunday through the lens of the psalmist, specifically Psalms 121 and 124, and of course, Psalm 23. Here are the links to the bulletin and service:
