Lord, renew among your war-weary people the gifts of lamentation in the face of wrong, sharing in suffering, partnering with all who stand in and for peace and good, and offering oneself to protect from harm anyone branded as "enemy".
Ten years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, CPT, together with uncounted Iraqi families, laments the ongoing carnage that continues to echo from that moment.
Give thanks for God’s gift to young Iraqi Kurds of openness and honesty in both naming violence in all its forms and imagining alternatives. Ask for humility and reawakened hope of older, "wiser" ones to listen, believe and act in new, redemptive ways.
The classroom was cold and crowded with old and squeaky benches. We began moving them aside a bit, to make room for the exercises. A group of girls came in and eagerly sat in the front benches. "Oh, there's no electricity! We can't show them the film clips that we've prepared!"
CPT Iraqi Kurdistan met with two shepherds who had spent nearly three weeks in Iranian detention last fall. The shepherds said they were grazing their flocks in Iraqi Kurdistan territory when they were kidnapped by Iranian border guards.
