Liturgy 049: For Nursing Mothers in Iran and Israel

🕊️ A Prayer and a Blessing for Peace

☕️ Lectio Divina

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4

🙏 Prayer

Religious hostility,
national ideologies
give way
to air strikes
and assassinations

LORD

We hear again
the sound of
Rachel weeping for
her daughters
because they are no more

Teach me to
pause
weep
listen
intercede
reflect

Yesterday
in the breakroom
we paused to see
those ballistic missiles
fired in the night

We then watched
the Astros and the Tigers

Jesus

You once walked those lands
teaching non-violence
to a world ruled by Roman armies
Your final act was a refusal
to participate in such ways

You slowed down
to notice and heal
those who were
forgotten and harmed
by religious ideals
and the aftermath
of national wars

I have so little to offer
but grant me at least
a mindful heart

Today I pray
for pregnant women
and nursing mothers
in Israel and Iran

I join the intercession
of our brother Jesus

May his coming return
and present rule bring
good will and peace.

Amen

🕊️ Blessing

May the things that break the heart of God, break yours
May each breath you take in be received as a gift
May each breath you breathe out be a gift to the world
May God bring peace to our broken world
May God’s Kingdom Come

In the Name of Jesus
the Christ

Amen