Across gatherings, vigils, services, protests, and hui we’ve collated a number of prayers and liturgy that can be used in a variety of settings and contexts.
Some we’ve created afresh, some are familiar prayers repurposed, traditional liturgies adapted, and some are words of truth and hope that have been spoken over injustice for millennia. Take them, use them, adapt them – make them yours.
Importantly, some have been gifted and generously shared for our use from our whānau in Palestine – these are precious taonga.
And remember, prayer is both word and action; faith without deeds is dead. May relationship with God invite us into the holy work of active peacebuilding and practical reconciliation.
Amen.
Save Al Makrour Prayer Vigil
Save Al Makrour is a global interfaith movement, praying and educating in solidarity with the Palestinian Christian Kisiya family near Bethlehem. In the predominantly Christian village of Al Makhrour is being ethnically cleansed through Israel’s systemic policies and military/settler incursions. The family have faced forced (illegal) eviction from their land, the demolition of their home and family-owned restaurant, multiple arbitrary arrests and ongoing court cases to retain their land. We act, we educate, and we pray.
Vigil for St Porphyrius Church in Gaza
We gathered for a prayer vigil and memorial in Auckland’s Browns Bay, marking one year since an Israeli airstrike targeted a church hall in Gaza filled with displaced families, killing eighteen Palestinians who were sheltering there, and wounding many more. We unveiled and blessed a memorial plaque to honour the martyrs, and to continue the call for the NZ government to grant emergency humanitarian visas to those trapped in Gaza with family members in Aotearoa, and to pressure Israel to open the borders and end their siege on Gaza.
Christmas language guide
We created a short guide to help support people speaking about Palestine during the season of advent – though many of the themes and nuance are useful year-round! Whether you’re a church leader, pastor, preacher, public speaker, pray-er, or anyone else; we hope and trust that this one-pager can help guide you to speak helpfully and constructively about Palestine in whatever faith space you’re in.
Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage – Ōtautahi/Christchurch
Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages began as a global movement of peaceful, prayerful, protest-ful pilgrimage, with over ?? people journeying the length of Gaza (42km) in solidarity with Palestinians facing genocide. In partnership with Common Grace Aotearoa we helped facilitate four pilgrimages across the motu. This is the liturgy we used during the hīkoi in Ōtautahi, where we journeyed from Rangiora to central Christchurch.