“Virtual” Rally and Real Prayers for Peace

CONTACT: Rev. Talitha Arnold, 505-988-3295, unitedsf@aol.com, The United Church of Santa Fe

“Virtual” Rally and Real Prayers for Peace   -    The Weekend of February 6-8

The Interfaith Leadership Alliance of Santa Fe is sponsoring a “‘Virtual’ Rally and Real Prayers for Peace” the weekend of February 6-8.

Faith communities of many traditions—Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant—will set aside time in the regular worship services to offer prayers for peace in the Middle East and other war-torn areas of our world.

The “virtual” rally is also a time to re-affirm our commitment as faith leaders and communities to the rights of all people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, said Imam Aziz Eddebbarh, President of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance.

Rev. Talitha Arnold, of the United Church of Santa Fe, one of the organizers, stated that an Interfaith Prayer for Peace from the National Council of Churches will be included in worship bulletins and newsletters of the faith communities. “Our hope is that people will take the prayer home and continue daily to offer their prayers for peace.”

The Interfaith Leadership Alliance has also set up a memorial fund to honor Bessan Abuelaish, the young Gazan woman killed recently in Gaza. She was one of the participants in Santa Fe's Creativity for Peace program that brings together Palestinian and Israeli girls each summer to promote peace. The funds will be used for humanitarian aid in Gaza and donations, made out to the Interfaith Leadership Alliance should be mailed to Sue Breslauer c/o TBS 205 E. Barcelona Rd. Santa Fe, NM 87505

For more information on the “Virtual Rally” please contact Aziz Eddebbahr (702-267-8957) or Rev. Talitha Arnold (988-3295, unitedsf@aol.com).

The Interfaith Prayer for Peace is as follows:

Dear Lover of humanity and all creation, we come to you because we trust in your power and take comfort in your compassion.

Our world is in chaos.

Your children suffer greatly in Afghanistan and Darfur, in Burma, the Congo and Sri Lanka, and the Middle East is a place of soul-wrenching strife.

With no end in sight and no reason for easy hope, you are the One to whom we turn.

Strengthen us, Merciful God, to act and to know that our acting matters: raising awareness at home of suffering in distant places, advocating for peace instead of violence, bringing together those who have been estranged, trying, ourselves, to see the world as others see it.

Fill us, we pray, with the vision of a time when children are not killed in war, and in which the neighbor’s well-being is a first priority.

We have not always agreed on decisions involving war and peace; but we do agree that you are on the side of those who suffer, and that peacemaking is our ultimate vocation.

We pray in different ways and languages; but we each long to hear your voice and to discern the way you wish us to travel.

Blessed are you, Holy One!     May your will for peace prevail!    Amen.