A Prayer on the 7-month anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack

O Lord, we are between hope and despair, between horror and apathy, between weeping and being too tired to weep.

Prince of Peace, we hear of talks and hopeful words spoken of ways forward that would at least bring a ceasefire. And we hear of more violence, more bloodshed, more graves. O Lord, act to make peace – at least a ceasefire – a possibility.

Compassionate God, we are shocked by the violence, the destruction, the death, the agony in people’s voices. We are bombarded by the images; our hearts are weighed down by the burden of what we have seen and heard. For seven months we have seen images of death and destruction, and we confess that we are growing immune to what we have seen. Feeling unable to change we grow apathetic. O Lord, break our hearts anew, that we might participate with you in praying for, living towards peace.

Mighty God, we have wept until we have no more tears. We have come to a place where we are so emotionally exhausted that we are without tears, without words, in the face of this violence, hate and vengeance (violence, hate and vengeance wreaked by all sides in the conflict). All we know is that we want the hostages to be freed, the violence to stop, for food and water and medical supplies to get to those who need them, so that adults and children can walk the streets of Gaza, Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine in peace and safety.

For this we pray, O Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.