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SERMON
God is under the Rubble in Gaza
By Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac
https://sojo.net/articles/god-under-rubble-gaza
Sojourners Editor’s note: This sermon of lament and anger, a cry against the ongoing war on Gaza, was preached in Palestine on Oct. 22 at both Evangelical Lutheran Church of Beit Sahour and the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. The sermon followed the Israel Defense Forces’ strike on Gaza’s oldest active church, the historic St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church. The bombing killed 18 people, injured others, and displaced about 400 civilians who were taking shelter in the church’s complex.
They besieged our Palestinian family in Gaza, described them as monsters, and blamed them. Israel Defense Forces bombed their homes, razed their neighborhoods to the ground, displaced them, and blamed them. Our families — brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nephews, and nieces — took refuge in schools where they were bombed, in hospitals where they were bombed, in places of worship where they were bombed, and then they were blamed.
We are broken. The people of Gaza are suffering. They have lost everything except their dignity. Many attained glory — they attained martyrdom — even if they did not ask for it. Now, again in our history, they find themselves facing the same choice: death or displacement. Our Nakba continues!
Where are they to go? There is no place for them in this world!
The nations of the world — including the U.S. — are against them. They use money, weapons, diplomacy, and theology against the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza. They talk among themselves about where we will end up after our ethnic cleansing, as if we were extra boxes that have no place in the house!
There is no mercy. Humanity is gone. There is no one to mourn our death. There is no one to stop this war machine because we are not from a certain people, religion, or race. We are not among the “chosen ones.” The political powers of the world see us as an obstacle, not an ally. We were broken and are broken again every day by the images of death, especially when it comes close to us — our families, our sisters, our relatives, and loved ones to whom we spoke daily. We are all broken. We hear terrifying stories about hell on earth. Hell is a reality in Gaza today. Our Palestinian siblings are in it now.
What is happening in Gaza is not a war or a conflict, but an annihilation — continuous genocide and ethnic cleansing through death and forced displacement. World political powers are sacrificing the people of Palestine in order to secure their interests in the Middle East; they say our annihilation is needed to keep the people of Israel safe. They offer us as sacrifices on the altar of atonement, as we pay the price for their sins with our lives.
Where is the justice? They talk about international law. They lecture us on human rights and look down upon us as if they are superior to everyone else in terms of values and morals. I say to them, “Go away with your laws and your talk about human rights.” You Europeans and Americans have been stripped naked in front of the whole world today. Your racism and hypocrisy have been exposed. Truly, is there no shame? I personally do not want to hear about peace and reconciliation.
The people of Gaza today want life. They want a night without bombing. They want medicine and surgical operations with anesthesia. They want the simplest of life’s necessities: food, clean water, and electricity. They want freedom and life with dignity. Those under bombardment, beatings, and persecution do not want to hear about reconciliation and peace. They want the end of aggression!
They asked us to pray. The people of Gaza are still asking us to pray, and they are still praying. Where do you get this faith?
We prayed. We prayed for their protection ... and God did not answer us, not even in the “house of God” were church buildings able to protect them. Our children die before the silence of the world, and before the silence of God. How difficult is God’s silence! Today we cry out with the psalmists:
“My God, my God, why did you leave Gaza? How long will you forget her completely? Why do you hide your face from her? In the daytime I call upon you, but you do not answer; by night we find no rest.
Do not depart from the people of Gaza, for distress is near, for there is no one to help. O Lord God of our salvation, day and night we have cried before you ... let our prayer come before you ... incline your ear to our cries ... for surely you have been satisfied with afflictions. Our souls and our lives approach the abyss ... our eyes melt from humiliation. We call upon you, Lord, every day. We stretch out our hands to you. Why, Lord, do you reject our souls? Why do you hide your face from us?” (Adapted from Psalms 13, 22, and 88)
We search for God on this land. Theologically, philosophically, we ask: Where is God when we suffer? How do we explain his silence?
But away from philosophy and existential questions. In this land, even God is a victim of oppression, death, the war machine, and colonialism. We see the Son of God on this land crying out the same question on the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why do you let me be tortured? Crucified?
God suffers with the people of this land, sharing the same fate with us. As Mitri Al-Raheb wrote in his article “Theology in the Palestinian Context,” which appeared in an Arabic book I edited:
“As for the God of this land, he is not like all the gods... His land is plowed with iron... His temples are destroyed by fire ... His people are trampled underfoot, and He does not move a muscle. The God of this earth is hidden from view. You search for His traces but do not see them. You long for Him to split the heavens and come down to see. To listen, to be compassionate, to be saved. The God of this land does not repel brutal armies, but rather shares one fate with his people. His house is demolished. His son is crucified. But his mystery does not perish. Rather, he rises from the ashes, and with the refugees you see him. He walks, and in the dark of the night he raises springs of hope. Without this God, Palestine remains a scorched land ... it remains a field of destruction. But if God tramples its foundations, he will only make it a holy land, a land in whose hills the good news of peace resounds.”
Beloved, in these difficult times let us comfort ourselves with God’s presence amid pain, and even amid death, for Jesus is no stranger to pain, arrest, torture, and death. He walks with us in our pain.
God is under the rubble in Gaza. He is with the frightened and the refugees. He is in the operating room. This is our consolation. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. If we want to pray, my prayer is that those who are suffering will feel this healing and comforting presence.
We have another comfort, which is the resurrection. In our brokenness, pain, and death, let us repeat the gospel of the resurrection: “Christ is risen.” He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. When I saw the pictures of the bodies of these saints in the white bags in front of the church, during their funeral, Christ’s call came to my mind: “Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
In front of images of death and pictures of the deaths of children, we hear today the immortal call of Christ: “Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14). If there is no place for the children of Palestine and the children of Gaza in this cruel and oppressive world, then they have a place in the arms of God. Theirs is the kingdom. In the face of bombing, displacement and death, Jesus calls them: “Come to me, you who are blessed by my Father. Let the children come to me, for theirs is the kingdom.” This is our faith. This is our consolation in our pain. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac is the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, academic dean at Bethlehem Bible College, and the director of the Christ at the Checkpoint conferences. His latest book is The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope.
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War in Palestine/Israel, 2023
SONGS, POEMS, DEVOTIONAL, SERMON, ETC
Kairos Palestine Christmas Alert (Devotional) 2023
Download this pdf
POEMS
To Bethlehem
by Susanne Hoder
O little Town of Bethlehem forgive us for the lie
our churches tell - that all is well as Christmas Eve draws nigh.
For in your dark streets roameth the settler with his gun.
In Gaza, bombs are raining down; there’s nowhere left to run.
Our carols will be lovely.
Our preachers will proclaim
that Christ is born, but ‘ere the morn more bombs will kill and maim
We ask the Christmas angels
“Where are today’s wise men?” They’re kneeling in their velvet pews, ignoring this great sin.
The baby in the manger
calls us to save the child
who lies beneath the smoldering ruins, his life and race reviled.
His parents in the rubble
are crying out for aid,
but we’re too busy making sure the bombers are well paid.
None who would worship Jesus can celebrate tonight;
while we enable all this death, we dare not speak of Light!
Loss
By Michael Ferrel, a retired rehabilitation case manager living in Toronto - October 24, 2023
Soldiers and Generals have no imagination.
They do not see that bombs become cradles for children,
And their flying missiles- coffins and unmarked graves.
Can't they see that their advance is a funeral march?
Their guns are crutches, newly minted for the battle,
Their tanks stately hearses, ready to carry the dead,
And their artillery no different than ambulances
--Rushing forward to attend the fallen.
Their cheers of victory are keening wails;
Their loud celebrations a sombre wake,
While their prayers for divine assistance
Are the Devil's ready call to arms.
In war, guns are like flags:
Nation against Nation;
People against people.
Chaos and loss - a carnival of death.
I weep for those whose loss is absolute,
For those vanquished, or lost in rubble,
And for those forsaken enemies who
Have once more lost their minds.
____________________________
SONGS
Ceasefire Holiday Remix Songs:
Holiday Songs for a Permanent Ceasefire
Carols for Ceasefire
Ceasefire Christmas Choir toolkit
ON THE LEFT: Prayers and Litanies
ON THE RIGHT: Songs, Poems, Sermons, etc.
PRAYERS
In random order
Advent Prayer 2023
by Rev. Loren McGrail, United Church of Christ
Come Human One, advent our lives.
Come like a thief in the night and disturb
our sleep, our comfortable realities that say
you can have peace without justice,
that say taking someone else’s land or life is not our concern, that says it is Ok to violate human rights,
break international laws.
Break into our lives, Son of Man,
challenge our certainties,
make us vulnerable to the urgency of your Call
for a new Jerusalem, a Beloved Community here and now
in this place where the streets still run with the blood of the martyrs, in this place all call holy, all call home.
Help us, unexpected One, to become insomniacs
to keep awake, alert, and watchful
for the ways that your coming can be thwarted, obscured, or denied by theologies that privilege certain groups as Chosen
by peace processes that deny the right of return,
that don’t demand the freezing of settlement building
or walls that separate and divide.
Christ the thief, come take away our fears and insecurities. Prepare our hearts, our minds, our spirits
for your indwelling presence
your incarnation as a baby, a refugee,
our brother, our redeemer.
May we become uneasy and alive
unafraid and able to hear angels announcing or singing. May we become your advent lights
of hope, peace, love, and joy.
__________________________________
A Prayer for the Middle East
ChristianAid.org
God, hear our prayers for peace in the Middle East.
May all people in the region be protected, safe from harm.
We pray that this crisis will end now, with no further loss of life.
God, may the injured and distressed know your healing presence.
May the powerful and the decision-makers follow the paths of justice, mercy and peace. We pray for recognition of the dignity and value of every life.
May the clamour of violence cease,
Replaced by the beating of swords into ploughshares.
God, in your name,
Amen
____________________________
A Litany for the Holy Land
By The Rev. Leyla Kamalick King,
Palestinian-American priest based in Texas
God of Love, you created all people as one family and called us to live together in justice, harmony, and peace.
Surround us with your love as we pray for the Holy Land. Lord, in your mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER
God of Righteousness, who demands that our worldly governors take up their responsibility to protect those in their charge and uphold the dignity of all human beings, pour your wisdom into the leaders of this world [especially Benjamin Netanyahu, the leaders of Hamas, and Joe Biden].
For all who bear such responsibility, that they may put the good of the whole over their own greed for power, Lord, in your mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
God of Compassion, who even in the darkest times, shows us your path: we give you thanks for all those who in the face of crisis wrought by evil-doers, work to help the helpless, to hold out hope to the desolate, to speak for the voiceless and to bring understanding and knowledge to a world darkened by ignorance and hate.
For our siblings who risk much to aid others, that their actions may be successful, and their words may be heard, Lord, in your mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
God of Mercy, who binds up the wounds of those who suffer, bless the victims of the consequences of fear and hate in the last week and over the past 75 years of conflict in the Holy Land: those injured and traumatized, those bereaved and grieving, those held as captives and prisoners, those who face deprivation and desperation because of systems of violence and oppression, so that they may move forward in this life standing firm in your truth and avoiding the temptation of vengeance.
For all whose lives are forever marked by suffering, that they may be blessed with the hope of your presence, Lord, in your mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
God of Life, whose faithfulness to us is never-ending, we remember before you those who have died by the violence that has become shockingly routine in your Holy Land; receive them into your heart where they may know the peace and joy of eternal life in you.
For all who have died, that they may rest in that place where pain is no more, Lord, in your mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
God of Justice, who calls us to uphold the dignity of every human being, every child of this earth, beloved of you: empower your Church to help you heal this terrible cycle of violence and revenge; give us courage to rise above our fear that nothing can be done in the face of the conflict and chaos of our own creating; grant us the conviction to advocate for change and to work for the establishment of your peace, your shalom, you salaam, in this broken world.
For your dream of justice and peace on earth, and for us, that we may take up your call to build it, Lord, in your mercy,
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
All this we pray in the name of the One who offered his life so that we might live, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
________________________________
A Prayer for This Moment
Rabbi Alissa Wise, Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council
October 2023
May the One Who Comforts hold all those grieving and traumatized and frightened for however long it takes
May the One Who Releases the Captive release all those caught and bound
May the One Who Makes Peace illuminate paths of peace for those seeing only paths of violence and vengeance
May the One Who Loves Justice fortify us to reinforce our solidarities with all those who share our vision of justice and dignity for all people
May the One Who Knows Hope instill in us the confidence to imagine wholeness, safety, and freedom for all people
May the One Who We Need be there for us as we waver and struggle, as we are confused and uncertain until we find solid ground once again
May the One Who Remembers allow us to hold in one hand 75 years of occupation, dispossession and violence and in the other a future of peace, justice and freedom
May the One Who is Slow to Anger soften our hearts and our fists helping us to put down the sword even at the height of the arc of our rage
May the One of Possibility remind us that a future of peace with justice is possible
May the One Who Awakens Us to Life hold us in our pain and vindictiveness until we set those down for the sake of life May the One Who Endures allow us to act for the sake of the coming generations
May the One Who is Without Limit expand our senses of what is possible as we reach for justice, freedom and peace for us all.
May the One Who Knows Life is Precious help us to affirm life is precious
May the One Who Grants Peace, Goodness, Blessing, Grace, Lovingkindness, and Mercy grant them now no matter how undeserving we are.
______________________________
Prayer for Illumination
By Katie Reimer
God of Life,
We come to you with feelings of despair at all that is broken around us. Our world is suffering. Our Palestinian siblings are surrounded on every side by people and systems bent on their destruction. We sit here in the United States, feeling angry at the ways our own country is solidifying the annihilation of Palestine. Feeling helpless as we watch their suffering from afar. The sun has vanished. The moon refuses to shine. Hope is falling.
Open our hearts and minds to what you are doing in the midst of this brokenness. Help us to see the ways you are shaking the foundations of all that destroys life. Give us the stamina to stay awake, to watch and to wait for you. Grant us wisdom and courage to participate in the ways that you are moving to restore life.
Amen
_____________________________
A Prayer for Peace in Israel and Palestine
By Rose Marie Berger
God of Comfort,
send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives
are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine.
You are the Advocate of the oppressed
and the One whose eye is on the sparrow.
Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression.
Let hearts mourn rather than militarize.
God of Justice,
give strength to those whose long work for a just peace
might seem fruitless now. Strengthen their resolve.
Do not let them feel alone. Show us how to support their work
and bolster their courage. Guide religious leaders to model
unity and reconciliation across lines of division.
Guide political leaders to listen with their hearts as they seek peace and pursue it. Help all people choose the rigorous path of just peace and disavow violence.
God of Love,
we lift up Palestine and Israel — its people, its land, its creatures.
War is a monster that consumes everything in its path.
Peace is a gift shared at meals of memory with Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Let us burn incense, not children. Let us break bread, not bodies.
Let us plant olive groves, not cemeteries.
We beg for love and compassion to prevail
on all your holy mountains.
God of Hope,
we lift up the cities of the region: Gaza City and Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Ashkelon, Deir El Balah and Sderot,
so long divided, yet so filled with life and creativity.
Come again to breathe peace on your peoples
that all may recognize you.
God of Mercy,
even now work on the hearts of combatants
to choose life over death, reconciliation over retaliation,
restoration over destruction. Help us resist antisemitism in all its forms, especially in our own churches. All people, Israelis and Palestinians, deserve to live in peace and unafraid, with a right to determine their future together.
God of the Nations,
let not one more child or elder be sacrificed on altars of political expediency.
Keep safe all people from unjust leaders who would exploit
vulnerability for their own distorted ends.
Give wise discernment to those making decisions to pursue peace.
Provide them insight into fostering well-being, freedom, and thriving for all.
Teach all of us to resolve injustices with righteousness, not rockets.
Guard our hearts against retaliation, and give us hearts for love alone.
Strengthen our faith in you, O God of All Flesh,
even when we don’t have clear answers,
so that we may still offer ourselves nonviolently
for the cause of peace.
Amen.
_______________________________
A Litany for the Holy Land
For use on October 17, 2023, a day of fasting and prayer, called by Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem
God of Love, you created all people as one family and called us to live together in justice, harmony and peace.
Surround us with your love as we pray for the Holy Land.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer
God of Righteousness, who demands that our worldly governors take up their responsibility to protect those in their charge and uphold the dignity of all human beings, pour your wisdom into the leaders of this world [especially Benjamin Netanyahu, the leaders of Hamas, and Joe Biden].
For all who bear such responsibility, that they may put the good of the whole over their own greed for power, Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of Compassion, who even in the darkest times, shows us your path: we give you thanks for all those who in the face of crisis wrought by evil-doers, work to help the helpless, to hold out hope to the desolate, to speak for the voiceless and to bring understanding and knowledge to a world darkened by ignorance and hate.
For our siblings who risk much to aid others, that their actions may be successful and their words may be heard, Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of Mercy, who binds up the wounds of those who suffer, bless the victims of the consequences of fear and hate in the last week and over the past 75 years of conflict in the Holy Land: those injured and traumatized, those bereaved and grieving, those held as captives and prisoners, those who face deprivation and desperation because of systems of violence and oppression, so that they may move forward in this life standing firm in your truth and avoiding the temptation of vengeance.
For all whose lives are forever marked by suffering, that they may be blessed with the hope of your presence, Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of Life, whose faithfulness to us in never-ending, we remember before you those who have died by the violence that has become shockingly routine in your Holy Land; receive them into your heart where they may know the peace and joy of eternal life in you.
For all who have died, that they may rest in that place where pain is no more, Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of Justice, who calls us to uphold the dignity of every human being, every child of this earth, beloved of you: empower your Church to help you heal this terrible cycle of violence and revenge; give us courage to rise above our fear that nothing can be done in the face of the conflict and chaos of our own creating; grant us the conviction to advocate for change and to work for the establishment of your peace, your shalom, your salaam, in this broken world.
For your dream of justice and peace on earth, and for us, that we may take up your call to build it, Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
All this we pray in the name of the One who offered his life so that we might live, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
________________________________
A Non-Traditional Blessing: Franciscan Benediction Adapted by Sister Ruth Marlene Fox
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
___________________________________
A Closing Litany of Commitment to Faith in Action
Adapted from Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum Liturgy Resource Toolbox
Christ is our peace.
And now we commit to sharing that peace with the world.
He is our peace.
Therefore, we will be peacemakers: in our relationships, our families, our churches, and our communities.
He came to us in flesh, born in Bethlehem.
Therefore, we will not forget the people of Bethlehem, and all who live in oppressed communities today.
In Jerusalem, He showed us the way to the Kingdom of God.
Therefore, we live in solidarity with all the people of Jerusalem, God’s children.
He has made both groups into one
Therefore, we will treat all humans with dignity, respect, and honor— Palestinian, Israreli, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and all people of the land.
We refuse to be divided by hatred.
He came to reconcile all people with God, and to reconcile humanity with itself. The walls forged by hatred cannot endure his love.
Therefore, we will insist that our governments, our lawmakers, and our churches advocate for peace and justice in the Holy Land including defunding of the Israeli military occupation.
May the God Almighty who is sending us into the world to love our neighbour give us the wisdom, and courage to live in his will. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
_____________________________
Prayer for Gaza (updated in 2023)
"The people of Gaza with nowhere to run.
They are imprisoned under a harsh siege, bombed by the most sophisticated new weapons and then attacked in their own streets and houses.
O God where can they find refuge?
No one has listened to their suffering for 75 years.
O God of the oppressed and suffering we see you in the wounded of Gaza – we hear your cries of pain – we share your tears. May we never be silent in the face of such pain.
O God may world leaders at last hear the cries of the children
and the suffering of Gaza.
May the siege be removed. The gates be opened. May they be allowed to have food, water, medicine, human rights, dignity, justice, democracy.
O God hear the cry of Gaza.
May freedom come – may healing come – may hope come.
May they be treated as we would like to be treated.
And we pray for the people of Israel because there will be no peace for them until the occupation ends and the siege is over – no peace for them until justice comes to Palestine.
And we pray that peace will come soon and that each person will recognise the value of the other and Israel and Palestine become a Holy Land once more."
Amen.
Garth Hewitt
Director, Amos Trust
Canon, Jerusalem Cathedral
January 2009
_____________________________
A Jewish prayer for an interfaith lament service for the people of Gaza and Israel
by Mark Braverman
Oct 21, 2023
I pray for all of us.
I pray for us to be able to look out from behind our eyes, from behind our habitual and learned perceptions and feelings, beyond the images of suffering and violence and shouting that beset and pummel us at every turn.
To see truly, to the heart of things, the heart of humanity, the beating, shimmering heart of humanity.
Beyond us and them.
Beyond revenge, protection, safety.
Beyond settling the score.
Beyond what they have done to us.
The rabbis wrote: she who saves one life, it is as if she has saved the whole world.
We are one. He who hurts another, hurts himself.
In the synagogue we pray: God, spread over us the tabernacle of your Peace. Literally, in the Hebrew, pros aleynu sukkat shlomecha. Shelter us in the sukkah of your peace. We have just passed through the Jewish festival of sukkot, where we build temporary shelters in our backyards and porches and rooftops to commemorate the wanderings in the desert on our journey from enslavement to freedom. The catastrophe that has gathered us here today began on the first day of sukkot, just two weeks ago.
The flimsiness of the sukkah reminds us of the vulnerability of life, the fragility of safety, our responsibility to safeguard the pricelessness of peace. Not through war, not through defensiveness, but through the preservation of that which is most precious, most vulnerable.
Spread over us your sukkah of peace. Do not let us lose hold of what is most precious and what is most easily forgotten: the unity of all humankind. Do not let us forget the truth that the Rev. Martin Luther King reminded us of, that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar, when we acknowledge the overwhelming power of God’s commandment to do justice, alongside of the equally limitless power of forgiveness, we proclaim, “Let the great shofar be sounded, and a small, quiet voice be heard.”
It is the voice of our hearts, beating in the rhythm of all of humanity. It is the voice that speaks to us from behind our eyes, from above our feelings of fear and hurt and injury,
A voice deeper, fiercer, more powerful than the blast of the shofar, than the clash of weapons and the thunder of bombs. The voice that connects us to all life.
To the heart of our humanity, the beating, shimmering heart of humanity.
A voice calling us to see:
Beyond us and them.
Beyond revenge, protection, safety.
Beyond settling the score.
Beyond what they have done to us.
This is my prayer for my people, today, especially, urgently, today:
We are one. He who hurts another, hurts himself.
Mark Braverman
FOTONNA Senior Consultant
Friends of Tent of Nations North America
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