Elohim, Allah, God, Holy One,

How can we call a land ‘holy’
when a festival site becomes a killing ground?
When a hospital becomes a grave?
When clean water is withheld from children?
When a new generation of anger is nurtured there?

Have mercy upon the land of Jesus’s birth
and all who know it as home.

May Isaiah’s prayer for peace be heard today,
where enemies come and eat together
and the days of hurt and destruction are over.

This prayer has been adapted for Worship Words.

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