On this third day of the Week of Prayer for World Peace, we pray for those working with courage to improve our world. Serge El Helou from Beirut, Lebanon offers prayers from the Lebanese Maronite Christian tradition. As our hearts are heavy with the news of war, as we search for ways to be of support to those in our own communities whose every breath is gripped with the terror of violence and loss, we pour out our prayers in every language and every tradition we can for peace.
Hearing Our Own Prayers
These daily prayers for the Week of Prayer for World Peace were chosen and created over the last seven months in preparation for them to be shared globally this week. And, of course, we cannot help but feel the urgency of these prayers for peace during the horrific events that are ongoing and unfolding right now. So many have commented, how timely this is. But one other thing has been striking even in these first days of the WPWP. Even as we open ourselves to including prayers from other traditions, we need to hear our own prayers too.
Interfaith work has never been about wanting to wash over the differences, blending all into one voice. It has been about embracing all the voices. Although in these eight days of prayer, Sunday to Sunday, eight traditions are highlighted, the intention is that this will open us to seeking connections with as many traditions as we can find. Many find that in sharing their traditions with others as well as in opening to other traditions, they feel strengthened in their own faith. Being engaged in interfaith connections is not a call to abandon your own tradition. It is a call to stand with those who are also seeking peace. Seeking a connection to the divine. Seeking something so deep within ourselves and so far beyond ourselves that naming it feels limited. We cry out to G-d, to Allah, to spirit, HaShem, creator. We called to a God that is not limited, but cosmic, as J.P Newell notes in his latest book.
Opportunities to Pray Together
Serge El Helou is a frequent prayer leader with Alignment: Interfaith Contemplative Practices where he plays the oud and piano as he sings prayers to the community that gathers for moments of contemplative prayer to end and begin the week. Those who gather for Alignment are not of one tradition. They are not a selected group. It is online and open for anyone who needs half an hour of grounding and centering. There is a different leader each week. There are as many different voices and ways of finding connection as we can offer. We hope you will stop in and share some moments when you need them. The Week of Prayer for World Peace prayers are a sample of what we share in these synchronous sessions.
Serge works with the Al Bustan Seeds of Culture community, teaching about Arab culture through song. He shares his many years of experience in music therapy, orchestration, teaching music, leading prayer in Syriac, Lebanese Arabic, and Greek. His offering for the Week of Prayer for World Peace:
O Lord, use me for your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me bring your love;
To forgive where there is no pardon
To bring harmony where there is discord
To bring the truth to the lost
To share my faith with those who have doubt
To bring hope to the desperate
To bring light where there is darkness
To bring joy where there is sadness
فَأَضَعَ الحُبَّ حَيْثُ البُغْضْ،
وَالمَغْفِرَةَ حَيْثُ الإِساءَةْ،
والإِتِّفاقَ حَيْثُ الخِلافْ،
والحَقيقَةَ حَيْثُ الضَّلالْ،
والإيمانَ حَيْثُ الشَّكْ،
والرَّجاءَ حَيْثُ اليَأْسْ،
والنّورَ حَيْثُ الظُلْمَةْ،
والفَرَحَ حَيْثُ الكَآبَةْ.
Ya Rab, Ista’milni li salamika
Fa ada’ l houbba haythou l-boghd
Wal maghfirata haythou l-issa-a
Wal ittifaka haythou l-khilaf
Wal haqiqata haythou ddalal
Wal Imana haythou shek
Wal raja haythou l-ya’s
Wan-noura haythou zolma
Wal faraha haythou l ka-aba
Ya Rab, Ista’milni li salamika
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The Spirit unites us, hallelujah
Through the Spirit we become children of God
الروح يجمعنا هللويا
الروح يجعلنا أبناء الله
Al rouhou yajma’ouna, Hallelujah
Al rouhou yaj’alouna, abna’ allah
Lord, have mercy
كيرياليسون
Kyrie Eleison
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n.b. The doors open at midnight US Eastern Time each day of this week with a new prayer. Once a prayer opens, it will remain open to be revisited through the year. Please contact us if you would like the embed code to host the WPWP on your own website.
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