Day of prayer for war-torn areas set for Friday

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This article was published 14/02/2024 (656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anglicans, Lutherans and other Christians across Canada are being invited to participate in a day of fasting and prayer Friday for peace in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine.

The call is being issued by Susan Johnson, national bishop of the Winnipeg-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, and Linda Nicholls, archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

“Over the past two years, we have watched with dismay and grief as the violence in Ukraine, and in Israel and Gaza, has devastated those regions,” they said, drawing attention to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the “horrific violence” by Hamas on Oct. 7, and the “decimation of Gaza by Israeli bombing and the displacement of 1.9 million Gazans.”

Johnson and Nicholls are also “heartbroken for the Christian community in Palestine, who find themselves caught in the middle, struggling to hold on to their presence in the Holy Land.”

The call to pray and fast is a way “for people to do something,” Johnson and Nicholls said, adding participants can choose to fast from food, social media, listening to music, watching TV or other ways that help them take time to pray.

The day will conclude with an online prayer service led by Johnson and Nicholls at 6 p.m. CT.

For Johnson, the invitation feels more personal because she was in the West Bank, at the invitation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, last month. She met Lutheran and other Christian leaders in places such as Bethlehem, Ramallah and Beit Jala.

“The war in Gaza is affecting them, too,” she said of people she met in the West Bank, noting many of them have relatives or friends in Gaza. “There is a lot of grief there.”

Residents in those communities are also suffering because of the loss of income from the decline in tourism, along with being cut off from their jobs in Israel for security reasons, Johnson said.

“There is increasing poverty and hunger in the West Bank,” she said.

Pastors she met are exhausted from supporting their congregations, she said, adding that while there she pledged her Canadian denomination’s “ongoing support, prayers and partnership.”

Taking a day to pray and fast is one of the ways Anglicans and Lutherans can respond to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Nicholls said.

“Many Christians are struggling about what they can do,” she said, noting prayer is one important thing they can do to show their concern for those suffering from war and violence.

In addition to asking people to pray for peace for both Palestinians and Israelis, participants are being asked to pray specifically for a ceasefire in Gaza so humanitarian aid can be delivered, she said.

When it comes to the Middle East, Nicholls and Johnson emphasized that both denominations condemn all violence, by both Hamas and Israel. The goal is “fairness and justice” for everyone in the region, Nicholls said.

In addition to inviting people to pray and fast, the two denominational leaders have sent letters to the Canadian government on behalf of their churches urging it to stop sending arms to Israel, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of a humanitarian corridor in Gaza, and asking for Canada to support the ruling of the International Court of Justice and “to do everything in its power to urge the State of Israel to fully comply with the ruling.”

More information about the day of prayer and fasting, including a link to the online service, go to http://wfp.to/jKv.

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