Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem in 2026

 

                                                    The Western Wall & Temple Mount 

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

    “May they prosper who love you.

                             Psalm 122:6 NRSVue 

Every day we are reminded that the Middle East is in the midst of uncertainty leaning to chaos as the United States and Israel wage war on Iran. Predictably the evil regime in Iran has retaliated leaving surrounding nations on edge and pushing the global economy toward instability. 

The Americans underestimated Iran's determination and ability to fight back and Israel has been dealing with missile and drone attacks that have done physical damage and the curtailing of regular daily life. This includes Jerusalem at a time of the year when the monotheistic religions usually converge on the city for festivals. 

I wrote recently that Muslims were not allowed onto the temple mount at the conclusion of Ramadan even though there would normally be tens of thousands gathered near or in the Al Aqsa Mosque. For Christians this is Holy Week, beginning last Sunday with Palm Sunday and continuing until Easter in a few days. Tomorrow marks the commencement of Passover/ Pesach for Jews.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said the initial decision to close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was an "extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship" [Getty Images]

This Palm Sunday there was no procession of Christians pilgrims into Jerusalem because of the restrictions on gatherings due to safety reasons. And the Roman Catholic Patriarch of the city was not allowed to celebrate mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the fourth century church where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead. This was the first time in centuries and while eventually this ban was lifted it was deeply unsettling. The large plaza at the base of the Western Wall will be all but empty during the next few days even though in would normally be teeming with Jews during Passover. 

At this point we have no idea whether the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Garden Tomb area will be open for Easter. 

I have been following all of this closely because three years ago beginning on Good Friday we were in Jerusalem and while there were cautions for visitors the Old City was alive with Muslims, Jews, and Christians. On Easter Eve we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and took in the mystery of the traditions more than a thousand years old. My evangelical sister-in-law was moved by this experience even though she had never been there during decades living in Israel. We all attended a celebratory Easter morning service at the Garden Tomb and I was enchanted by the butterflies moving through the foliage along with the worship itself. 

We also walked up the ancient steps at the south of the Temple Mount, a surprisingly quiet and holy moment, as well as praying at the Western Wall in the midst of a crowd.  

It was as though we were in an oasis of calm in the Holy City which so often through history has been unholy and even demonic because of strife. Looking back it seems like a dream. Once again this year the troubles of the world come to Jerusalem and it is a nightmare. Will this ever end? We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the Middle East. 

A missile fragment is seen in Jerusalem following an Iranian attack on March 16, 2026. 

(Fire and Rescue Service)

Waiting for Thoreau

This evening I'm going to pretend that I'm decades younger than I actually am and stay up to 11 PM. Or that's the plan. I want to watch the first of two PBS installments  on the life of Henry David Thoreau. The three hours are described by PBS: 

HENRY DAVID THOREAU examines the life and work of the 19th-century writer in the context of antebellum New England and the larger United States, as well as through the universal themes he focused on in his writings: an individual’s relationship to the state, how to live an authentic life, our connection to nature, and the impact of race on American life. 

Set against the political and social tensions of the mid-19th century, the film traces Thoreau’s journey from his early days in Concord, Massachusetts to his deep engagement with the moral crises of his time, including industrialization, slavery, war, and environmental degradation. Through his essays, journals, and landmark works such as Walden and Civil Disobedience, he became an inspiration for generations of writers, thinkers, and activists. 

As you can see, there is a star-studded cast for this exploration of Thoreau's life including George Clooney as the narrator while Jeff Goldblum voices Thoreau. Those who will reflect on Thoreau's legacy include Pico Iyer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Drew Lanham all of whom I've blogged about along the way. 

I'm curious about how the series addresses Thoreau's spirituality and sense of God in the world, including nature. He has been characterized as anti-religion and in some respects this is true. He and his sister left their congregation because the denomination refused to condemn slavery and he felt other aspects of church life were repressive and regressive. 

I wasn't really all that interested in what felt like the cult of Thoreau until I read the biography Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Dassow Walls a few years ago. I hauled it out and saw that I'd put in the neighbourhood of 50 tabs in the pages to mark her insights into his life. 

I now have a couple of other books on Thoreau including the insightful Thoreau's God by Richard Higgins. 

So, I will stay awake, I will stay awake...

Oh yes, I have already learned that he pronounced his name to rhyme with "thorough" rather than Thor-oh. So my corny blog title allusion doesn't work in that way either!

No Kings & the Improbable Reign of Christ

 

 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”  Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”  Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”

                                          John 18:33-38 NRSVue

Okay, how was that for timing? Yesterday millions of Americans took part in more than 3,000 No Kings rallies and marches across the country with an estimated eight to nine million people involved.  They were protesting the autocratic rule a president who styles himself as an emperor. This wasn't the first No Kings Day and probably won't be the last because of the growing dissatisfaction with Trump.

Today, on Palm/Passion Sunday we are reminded that peasant Jesus road into Jerusalem mounted on the colt of a donkey, lauded by a Jewish crowd assembled in the city for Passover/Pesach. Some scholars say that Pilate, the regional ruler of the Roman Empire arrived the same day in a procession designed to demonstrate the might of the Pax Romana to quell any possibility of insurrection. 

A few days later Pilate asked Jesus --twice --, "are you a king?" and heard "My kingdom does not belong to this world."  The scene was an intimate yet cosmic reminder of the justaposition of seemingly insurmountable power and the upside down reign of God embodied in Jesus, the Christ. 

4 Ride on! Ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die; 

bow thy meek head to mortal pain,

then take, O God, thy power, and reign.

                                             Voices United 127

Addressing Slavery in the United Nations

President John Mahama of Ghana during the U.N. General Assembly last year. Ghana introduced a U.N. resolution to recognize the trans-Atlantic slave trade as the “gravest crime against humanity” this week.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

This past week the United Nations General Assembly backed a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity" and calling for reparations.  Welcoming the vote, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the wealth of many Western nations was "built on stolen lives and stolen labour". From the 15th to 19th Centuries, around 12-15 million African men, women and children were captured and trafficked to the Americas to work as slaves.

The vote in the 193-member world body was 123-3, with 52 abstentions. Argentina, Israel and the United States were the three members voting against the resolution. The United Kingdom and all 27 members of the European Union were among those that abstained.

Before the vote deputy U.S. ambassador Dan Negrea said that while the United States opposes the past wrongdoing of the transatlantic slave trade and all other forms of slavery, it does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred. These are weasel words, absurd really. Everything that happened in Nazi Germany was legal yet we recognize the horror of the Holocaust/Shoah and that the "laws" were immoral and indefensible. The suppression and genocide of Indigenous peoples around the world was legal in most instances but a number of countries, including Canada, have recognized that these laws were wrong and have introduced processes for reconciliation including reparations. 

The Bahamas Maritime Museum in Freeport is involved in the effort to identify the slaver ships. This display there describes the trans-Atlantic slave trade. (Image credit: © Allen Exploration)

I've noted that the Church of England has embarked on creating an 110 million pound reparation fund because of its links to slavery, once owning a company that transported 34,000 slaves in crowded, unsafe and inhumane conditions over a 30-year period.  This is a project that is controversial and while some say it is not enough others criticize diverting money from critical work to ensure the survival of the denomination. 

Before the vote John Mahama, the president of Ghana, said that American schools were being discouraged from teaching about slavery and racism. He called the resolution “a safeguard against forgetting.”

The UN Resolution is not legally binding and it may be imperfect in it's wording but it gives a voice to countries profoundly changed by slavery, along with the descendants of those who were enslaved. It brings to light the injustices which can't be swept aside as "from the past." 

Praying for the Middle East

Prayers for peace 

God, I come to You not as someone strong, but as a person in a place that feels heavy. You know our fears, struggles, challenges; the fear from the sounds of planes and bombs, and the silent worries we carry. Lord, hold us close and remind us that we’re not alone. 

Give us courage to keep hoping, to choose kindness over anger, patience over fear, and hope over despair. Let Your peace reign here in Lebanon, and from this small place, let it spread across the Middle East and the hurting world. Use us to be a light, a listener, and a bearer of Your peace. Amen 

(Prepared and led by Maria Bzdigian, Armenian Evangelical Church of Nor Marash - Christian Endeavor Movement) 

Prayer for the victims 

O God of compassion, we come before You with much hope, lifting up the Middle East to Your loving care. We pray for all who have been injured. Grant them healing in body, mind, and spirit. We remember those who have died. 

Receive them into Your eternal peace, and console those who mourn their loss. We entrust to You all who suffer, the displaced, the fearful, the weary, the broken-hearted. Let Your justice rise, Your mercy flow, and Your peace take root in every land. Amen 

(Prepared and led by Elia Nasrallah, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East- Orthodox Youth Movement)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 NRSVue 

The World Council of Churches invited Christians around the planet to pray for peace in the Middle East yesterday, so I really should have mused about this 24 hours ago.The prayers above and the benediction below are from the prayer resources provided for the day.

 Some people, even some Christians would ask "why bother" because we do a lot of praying and at times it's hard to discern any results. The world seems to be addicted to war and madmen direct the missiles and drones with a Strangelovian fervour. Sometimes they do pray with a maniacal tone that is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ -- I'm looking at you Pete Hegseth. 

Part of the reason I continue to pray is because the alternative is so much worse. Prayer is an expression of hope even when it seems like whistling in the dark. I have literally sung hymns  in the dark (a form of prayer)  when I was afraid and it made a difference in ways it's hard to explain. Sometimes when I wake in the wee hours when every worry is amplified and mumble my way through little prayers and portions of scripture and I'm comforted. 

I'm not so naive as to equate prayers for personal comfort with prayers to end global conflict yet the God I beseech in each instance is the same. 

Some observers are asking whether we have actually shambled our way into WWIII with conflicts everywhere. I would rather continue to seek glimmers of prayerful hope  that to curse the darkness.

“May the unconditional love of the Triune God envelope all people in justice and peace, prospering the work of our hands, so that God’s shalom may reign.”

Praying for the Supreme Court in Canada

It might not surprise you that I've prayed (not a lot) for the Supreme Court in the United States. You might conclude that my prayers aren't exactly efficacious given the dreary outcome of some important rulings. 

This week I am praying for the Canadian Supreme Court as it hears arguments for and against Bill 21, as well as broader questions around the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause.  Bill 21 is a chilling piece of legislation in Quebec which essentially overrides the Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding freedom of religion and misuses the Notwithstanding Clause, an odd "you're not the boss of me" tool that provinces can use to opt out of constitutional expectations. 

While there has been a lot of excellent coverage of these days of Supreme Court deliberation I'm not sure that most Canadians could give a damn. But our liberal democracy and the right of individuals and communities to express faith could be damned if Quebec continues on this disturbing pat of expunging religion in any form from the public square.

The term Quebec uses for these draconian measures is "laicite" which means secularism which has been borrowed from France where there is also serious restrictions. Even in translation Quebec uses "laicity" rather than secularization to denote a legal framework. 

One writer, Shema Khan, has perceptively identified that "In Quebec, laïcité has become its own kind of religious orthodoxy" to use the headline from her opinion piece in the Globe and Mail. As Kahn, who wears a hijab herself says: The province is devoted to its relentless march toward rigid laïcité; Bill 94 is even more restrictive than France’s similar laws, and Bill 9, which aims to further curtail religious freedoms, is on the horizon. Ironically, it makes Quebec look “more Catholic than the Pope,” as they say, on the issue of laïcité.

Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers and educational support workers and other government workers have lost their jobs already, not because they didn't their work well but because they where a hijab or a turban or a kippah. As I wrote recently, parents have been told that they can no longer go on school trips with their kids or volunteer in school libraries for the same reason. People are no longer allowed to pray in public places. It is all misogynistic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, and racist. Just writing about this makes my blood boil. This is secular fundamentalism and it isn't Canada. 

                                                              Good Friday Procession in Quebec City

Next week is Holy Week for Christians and I know that there will be Good Friday processions in Quebec. Quebec's Roman Catholic bishops have joined in condemning the legislation but I doubt that any of the processions or outdoor Stations of the Cross will be cancelled or restricted. And church bells will ring on Easter morning without the religious police showing up. But of course, this isn't about restricting Christians even though most Quebecers have long abandoned the once omnipresent Roman Catholic Church. 

I hope you'll be praying with me about the outcome even though I might be disappointed once again. 

Musicians for Water

 

But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5: 24 NRSVue

 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’

John 7: 37-39 NRSVue 

 When we head toward Pontypool, Ontario. on our way to visit two of our grandchildren (and their parents) we usually pass through Millbrook (pop 1500) and see the sign claiming musician Serena Ryder as their own. Serena has won lots of awards including seven Junos and even hosted the event.  Her song Stompa was a huge international hit and she's on the Canadian Walk of Fame. 

I had a brief conversation with Ms Ryder on a shuttle bus to Santa Fe airport years ago. She was on tour and played there and I was heading home after some retreat time at Ghost Ranch, north of the city. To my surprise she said that she would like to go there because she was a fan of the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. I told her that I'd been staying at Casa del Sol, the retreat centre at Ghost Ranch, just down the dirt road from O'Keeffe's isolated home, now a museum of sorts. This is an arid part of the state where water is precious, although Ghost Rance is not far from the Chama River and I have waded in it. 

                                    Georgia O'Keeffe looking over the Chama River, 1961 

                                                           Chama River 1937 

I see that Serena is joining other musicians, including Sarah Harmer, also a longtime environmental activist, for a benefit concert tonight called Musicians for Water Last year Sarah received a Juno Humanitarian Award presented by David Suzuki. 

Here is a description of their concert: 

Ontario has over 5,000 active gravel pits and quarries—far more than the province needs. While the industry claims a supply shortage, the government actually has licenced 13 times more than the construction industry uses each year. The real problem isn’t supply; it’s how these projects are fast-tracked without considering the bigger picture. This approach puts the Headwaters region in southwestern Ontario—where eight major rivers begin—at serious risk, disrupting natural flows and polluting rivers that feed the Great Lakes, threatening drinking water, farms, and ecosystems.

I'm always encouraged when artists, including musicians, take up the many causes of environmental care and protection, raising awareness and funds. 

This past Sunday was World Water Day  and while it doesn't seem possible, Canada may be on the verge of a water crisis with more regions experiencing drought. Glaciers are disappearing and rivers are running dry. Canada's extensive wildfires are the outcome of drought and agriculture depends on timely rain and irrigation. 

Patient readers will know that I've written about the spiritual and practical importance of water many times, including Jesus, Living Water. So I'll declare this evening's concert "holy", even if the musicians don't quite see it that way!