CSD - Sample Worship Resources

The following responsive readings and prayers are simply a suggestion to CSD partners for their use.

L: God judges the world with righteousness.

P: God judges the people with equity.

L: The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed.

P: The Lord is a refuge in times of trouble.

L: Do not be deceived, O you mighty, for God is not mocked.

P: Do not be deceived, O you powerful, for you reap whatever you sow.

L: Do not grow weary, O people, in doing what is right.

P: Do not grow weary, O people, for you will reap at the harvest time.

(Psalm 9:8-9, Galatians 6:7,9)

L: Woe to those who devise wickedness and evil deeds!

P: When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power.

L: They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and they take them away.

P: They oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance.

L: They abhor justice and pervert all equity.

P: They build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong!

L: "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?"

P: God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

(Adapted from Micah 2:1-2, 3, 9-11; 6:6-8)

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As you pray for justice and peace in Palestine/Israel, we would suggest that you pray for the following:

--Pray for children scarred by violence. Nearly one-third of the 100 Palestinians killed are children under 18. Palestinian children have been traumatized by images of violence, particularly the footage of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura trying to hide behind his father before being shot to death. One Palestinian friend reported that his son told him, "If Muhammad's father couldn't protect him, how can I trust you to protect me?

--Pray for families who have lost loved ones to the wave of violence.

--Pray for the thousands who have been injured. Many Palestinians will be left permanently disabled as a result of injuries inflicted by the Israeli army. . .

--Pray for the Palestinian church. Palestinian Christians join their Muslim brothers and sisters in mourning at the recent violence. Give thanks for the witness of Palestinian Christians for justice and peace, and pray that it will be strengthened.

--Pray for the courageous witness of Israeli peace groups such as Gush Shalom and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions who understand that lasting peace cannot be built on a foundation of injustice. Pray that their witness may be strengthened and their numbers increase.

--Pray that Israeli, Palestinian, and world leaders might strive for a just and equal sharing of the land of Palestine/Israel. Our Palestinian friends and partners, along with many veteran Israeli peace activists, believe that the Oslo "peace" process has not fostered a just peace, but has instead led to an apartheid peace which imprisons Palestinians within disconnected cantons. Reconciliation cannot be brought in such apartheid conditions of separation.

--Pray for a peace of justice and reconciliation, instead of a peace of coercion.

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