Israel-Palestine

How can we call a land “Holy”?

Prayers, statements and briefings from the Methodist Church and others.

As well as praying for, and keeping informed about, the war in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, it is possible to express our grief and hope through the act of singing.

The Revd Dr Andrew Pratt has been drawn back to a hymn he wrote following the 9/11 attacks: God's on our side, and God will grieve (website only). Succeeding verses affirm that God is also "on their side" and "on each side", for God loves us all. He concludes with a prayer:

God show us how to reconcile
each difference and fear,
that we might learn to love again
and dry the other's tear.

Other hymns that may be helpful at this time include:

As if you were not there (StF 724)
Deep in the darkness a starlight is gleaming (StF 625)
God of my faith, I offer you my doubt (StF 629)
I lift up eyes to the mountains (StF 631) (a paraphrase of Psalm 121)
Jesus, we look to thee (StF 686)
Look around you, can you see? (StF 525)
Within God's hands (website only)

Also see John Bell and Graham Maule's 'If the war goes on', set to John's accessible tune 'The Road to Basrah'. Available in the Wild Goose Publication I Will Not Sing Alone and on the accompanying CD.