PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN OF PALESTINE’S WEST BANK

Israeli-Demolition-Operation-West-Bank

Palestinian boys sit on the rubble of a demolished house in the Khirbet Khallat Al-Fara area near Yatta, in the occupied West Bank, on August 10, 2026. The Israeli army demolished the home of Palestinian Ahmed Ibrahim Abu Alian, which housed six people, on the grounds that it was built without a permit. Local Palestinians report an increase in demolition notices and land confiscations following the expansion of the nearby Otniel settlement. (Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

For our “Let Children Live” focus this week, please pray for children of the West Bank whose homes have been demolished. Pray that our God of Compassion and Justice will protect children from the cold, danger, and trauma of displacement. Pray that God heal their broken spirits and ease the deep confusion they feel. Pray that the children know they are not forgotten. Pray that God strengthen the aid workers and neighbors providing food, tents, and care. Pray that the hearts of those in power be softened to choose justice over destruction. Pray that the children are able to experience lasting peace in the land and a future free from fear.

Context: Impact of home demolition on West Bank children

In 2026, home demolitions and related displacement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have surged to record levels. According to tracking by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), total displacement in the West Bank surpassed 3,000 Palestinians by mid-year. Reports by organizations like Save the Children’s Resource Centre and UNICEF show that losing a home strips children of their fundamental sense of safety and takes a severe psychological and emotional toll. Children whose homes are demolished experience the following:

• High rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe anxiety, and depression.

• Frequent nightmares, bedwetting, and sleep problems.

• Behavioral shifts including social withdrawal, regression, and unexplained aggression.

• Feelings of profound powerlessness and a loss of faith in adults or authorities to protect them.

• Declining academic performance and an inability to concentrate on studies.

• Long-term family instability, deepening poverty, and overcrowded temporary housing or tents.

• Loss of access to basic municipal infrastructure, clean water, and community support systems.

Additional reading:

https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/demolition-homes-schools-and-childhood

https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/hope-under-rubble-impact-israels-home-demolition-policy-palestinian-children-and-their

Hiring: Director of Worship Arts

Southminster Presbyterian Church, a warm, open & affirming congregation in Tulsa's Brookside neighborhood, is seeking a Director of Worship Arts to provide visionary and musical leadership for our congregation's worshipping life.

We're looking for a musician/conductor who understands worship as a communal act of faith, someone who brings both artistic excellence and genuine collaborative skills to a dynamic team, and who wants to help shape a program where volunteer and scholarship musicians alike feel invited, mentored, and valued.

What You'll Do

• Collaborate with the Pastor/Head of Staff to weave music thoughtfully into weekly worship, the lectionary, and the liturgical calendar

• Lead weekly rehearsals and select repertoire for the Chancel Choir

• Recruit, mentor, and place scholarship singers, and cultivate real relationships between them and the wider congregation

• Recruit and support volunteer instrumentalists, vocalists, and other worship leaders

• Plan special seasonal music for Advent, Christmas, Holy Week, Easter, and other holy days

• Coordinate musicians for weddings and memorial services (with additional compensation for these services)

• Serve on the Worship and Music Committee and help shape the annual music budget and program goals

What You'll Bring

Required

• Formal training in music, church music, or a related field (degree preferred)

• Demonstrated experience directing a choir or vocal ensemble

• Familiarity with the Reformed liturgical tradition and the Glory to God hymnal

• Strong collaborative, relational, and communication skills

• Keyboard proficiency (piano and/or organ)

Preferred

• Experience working across a multi-disciplinary staff

• Willingness to mentor or support a Children's music director, and integrate handbells into worship rotation

• Familiarity with Presbyterian polity and worship practice

Why Southminster

You'll join a collegial, collaborative staff and a congregation that values musical excellence as a form of genuine pastoral care. This role works closely with clergy and lay leadership, with real trust and creative latitude to shape the program's direction, all within a congregation that is committed to being open, affirming, and welcoming to all.

Four Sundays off annually. Formal review at one year.

Southminster Presbyterian Church is an affirming congregation and an equal opportunity employer.

A Prayer for the Children of Palestine's West Bank

LET CHILDREN LIVE. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN OF PALESTINE’S WEST BANK

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - NOVEMBER 08: A view of a damaged house of a Palestinian family burned by Israeli settlers in the village of Abu Falah near Ramallah, West Bank on November 08, 2025. A group of illegal settlers stormed the outskirts of the village and torched the one-story home, causing parts of the house to burn, local sources told.

God of peace and justice,

We lift before you the children of Palestine, a third generation that is growing up with the trauma of military occupation.

We pray for all who have directly experienced violence and intimidation, or who have witnessed family and friends being attacked;

For all who are experiencing trauma, fear, anxiety and tension.

Be near to them that they may know your healing and comforting presence.

We pray for partners who strive to bring hope and light to dark situations. Bless their work to provide emergency and long-term mental health support to young Palestinians.

We pray for those in power – may you lead them in the way of peace, justice and reconciliation.

We pray for a future where peace will prevail in the Holy Land.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

From Embrace the Middle East Facebook Post July 24, 2023

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Context: Settler Violence in the West Bank, Palestine

Settler violence in the West Bank severely harms children by causing physical injuries, massive displacement, severe psychological trauma, and disruptions to their education.

• Casualties: Children face physical assaults, including being shot, stabbed, beaten, or pepper-sprayed during attacks on their communities. Dozens of children have been killed or injured in West Bank violence involving both armed settlers and military operations.

• Forced Displacement: Surging attacks have driven mass displacement, with over 1,000 children forced from their homes by mid-2026, destroying rural and herding communities in areas like the Jordan Valley. Families often flee with no belongings, losing their homes and livelihoods.

• Trauma and Fear: Continuous exposure to intimidation at gunpoint, home invasions, and nighttime raids leads to high rates of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among children. Children experience a profound loss of safety and normalcy, frequently expressing confusion and fear about their future rather than normal youthful hopes.

• Disrupted Schooling: Fear of violence, blocked roads, and community displacement severely interrupt children's schooling, impairing both their learning and long-term development.

A PRAYER FOR PALESTINE

LET CHILDREN LIVE. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN OF PALESTINE’S WEST BANK

A Palestinian child looks out from behind a gate as an Israeli soldier stands guard in the Old City of Hebron, West Bank, on September 20, 2025. The army reinforced security in the area during a settler raid that triggered clashes and the arrest of a foreign activist. (Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images via AFP) (Photo by MOSAB SHAWER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Let us pray:

In a world that God made good

let us pray for people seeing things no human being should see

for people seized by terror no human being should experience

for people whose depths of suffering no human being should know.

God of unquenchable hope confirm our belief that this is not how things should be;

Affirm our belief that things can and will be different;

Strengthen our belief in Jesus who opens the way from death to resurrection,

And help us, as his disciples, to be your agents for change in our broken world. Amen

https://www.methodist.org.uk/faith/prayer/israel-palestine/prayers-for-israel-palestine/

Context: A brief comparison of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

For the past 9- 10 months we have been praying for 9-year-old Khalid and his family in Gaza. We have learned of the horrors and destruction of life there- the thousands of people killed, the shattered homes, the destroyed hospitals and schools, the lack of security, lack of medical care, lack of education, lack of food, lack of sanitation, lack of hope.

Now we are turning our attention to the children of the West Bank.

Both the West Bank and Gaza are territories occupied by Israel since 1967, but they differ significantly in geography, internal governance, current crisis conditions, and their day-to-day realities. 

Gaza, a narrow, coastal enclave bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt, has been subjected to a strict blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007. The Gaza Strip, with an area of about 365 sq km and a population of somewhat over 2 million, governed by Hamas, is an active conflict zone experiencing widespread devastation, high civilian casualties, and restricted aid.

The much larger West Bank (2,270 sq km) is a landlocked territory located east of Israel with a population of approximately 3.3 million Palestinians and over 700,000 Israeli settlers. Under the Oslo framework, the Israeli military retains overriding security control across the entire West Bank and full administrative control over Area C, which contains all Israeli settlements. The Palestinian Authority (PA) manages civic, educational, and medical services for the local population. The West Bank is largely defined by Israeli military control, accelerating settlement expansion, and frequent settler violence. It is fragmented by over 800 Israeli checkpoints, roadblocks, and expanding settlements.

Why 'Presbyterian' Will Never Be A Political Party

A Resource Worth Your Time: "Why 'Presbyterian' Will Never Be a Political Party"

The Moderators of the 227th General Assembly including committee moderators, moderator support team, and the Revs. Tony Larson and CeCe Armstrong.

As we mark our nation's 250th anniversary this year, our denomination has offered us a timely gift: a short, accessible resource drawing on "God Alone is Lord of the Conscience," the PC(USA)'s 1988 social witness policy on religious liberty and church-state relations. Prepared by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP), it distills nearly four decades of careful theological reflection into five clear convictions, among them that faith cannot be coerced by human authority, that civil government is a genuine gift from God for the sake of peace and justice, and that our obedience to that government is always conditioned by our first allegiance to God.

At the heart of the piece is a claim our tradition has held for almost two hundred years: no political party or system can embody God's will. We advocate for justice as vigorously as we can, but we do not form a Presbyterian Party, and we do not seek to wield the power of the state to enforce our own vision of faith on others.

This is the same theological ground from which the 227th General Assembly, meeting this summer, spoke clearly against White Christian nationalism by naming it a distortion incompatible with the gospel and calling the church to public witness against it. Read together, the two resources show a tradition that has thought hard, and long, about the difference between prophetic witness and political capture.

We commend both to you for your own reading and reflection. Read the full resource here: pcusa.org/resource/why-will-never-be-political-party

Update on the 227th General Assembly

Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (USA) submitted 54 overtures (items of business) for discussion and action at the recent General Assembly held in Milwaukee.

Decisions made at the GA represent the work PC(USA) departments and organizations will implement over the next two years.

The overtures went first to one of the 10 standing committees established for the General Assembly. Each committee was composed of the delegates- clergy and elders- selected by each Presbytery to represent them in the General Assembly. The committees, meeting by Zoom, reviewed the overtures assigned to their committee, prayed, worshipped, discussed, researched, heard relevant testimony and finally decided on the exact recommendation for each overture to the plenary for further discussion and vote.

Delegates addressed a sweeping array of theological, institutional, and social justice issues. Significant actions included:

• creating a commission to investigate the closure of Presbyterian World Mission

• advancing a comprehensive denomination-wide study on modern sexuality, family structures, and relationships

• supporting all individuals in accessing medically necessary evidence-based gender affirming healthcare

• declaring White Christian Nationalism a “theological error” and advancing a constitutional amendment declaring it incompatible with Jesus' teachings

• affirming by a vote of 454-15 an overture declaring Israel's war in Gaza a genocide and calling for an Israeli arms embargo.

• approving a new budget and per capita rates

• taking action on ordination and racial justice issues.

You can find the full text of all overtures at https://myga.pc-biz.org/business/search. Choose the committee you are interested in from the drop-down menu, and all overtures assigned to the committee will display.

-Thanks to Nancy Collins for following the business of the assembly and for providing this summary.

Please pray this week that somehow the PC(USA) overtures have a positive impact on 9-year-old Khalid, his family, and all Palestinians.

People mourn for the Palestinian policemen killed by Israeli bombing at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, May 23, 2026. Five Palestinian policemen were killed by Israeli bombing of a police site in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's General Directorate of Police said in a statement. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Please pray for Khalid.

Gracious and Holy God, we come before you seeking your wisdom as the commissioners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gather in Milwaukee. We lift up all overtures and business before the 227th General Assembly. We especially lift up the overtures related to addressing the violence in Palestine and Israel. Lord, we pray for a spirit of discernment for committee members and all commissioners as they discuss the overtures wording and content. Pour out your Holy Spirit. Grant the commissioners the grace to listen to one another and to honor the diverse voices in the Presbyterian church. We especially ask that the overtures for Palestine and Israel might in some way work to provide Khalid, his family and all Palestinians with justice, peace and hope in their land. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.

Context: Overtures to the 227th General Assembly related to Palestine and Israel.

Overture RIW-04 proposes five actions. If approved, it would:

• condemn the Israeli government’s violation of the UN Genocide Convention, citing a January 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice finding “plausible” evidence of genocide and ordering Israel to stop;

• encourage members to contact Congress and the president to block military sales to Israel until it complies with international human rights law;

• encourage boycotts of Israeli company products;

• stand against both antisemitism and Islamophobia; and

• affirm explicitly that “standing up for basic human rights is not antisemitism.”

Overture RIW-06 proposes nine actions. If approved, GA would:

• call on the church to not remain silent to the “wanton killing that has taken place in Gaza and the Middle East”;

• condemn “unequivocally” the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 people, a majority of whom were civilians;

• condemn “unequivocally” Israel’s war in Gaza and the assault on Palestinians in the West Bank, reasserting the 225th GA’s labeling of Israel’s action as apartheid;

• call Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian people a genocide;

• call on the U.S. president and Congress to stop military sales to Israel;

• express a commitment to justice and lasting peace for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples;

• condemn and stand against all forms of antisemitism/anti-Jewish hate and Islamophobia/anti-Arab racism, as evil, while also affirming that standing up for the denomination’s values is not antisemitism.

• encourage PC(USA) congregations to preach and teach on these critical issues; and

• publicize the overture’s passage on the PC(USA) website and other print or digital formats.

Historical Context: These proposals represent the strongest actions proposed by the denomination since the Israeli Palestinian conflict began, building on prior 2024 General Assembly actions that included divesting from Israel bonds and reaffirming previous designations of Israeli policies as apartheid.

Additional reading:

https://pres-outlook.org/2026/05/overtures-seek-israel-embargo-genocide-declaration/

For the full RIW overtures, click on the link below, then click on the overture name of interest.

https://myga.pc-biz.org/business/committees?event=3000005&committee=3000131

Please pray this week that 9-year-old Khalid receives humane treatment according to International Humanitarian Law

Please pray for Khalid, his siblings and all the children of Gaza for protection from conflict.

Embed from Getty Images

God of justice and peace We bring before you the children of the land we call holy. Those whose laughter is silenced by fear, whose dreams are interrupted by night raids, hand-ties and weapons and whose childhood is taken in the shadow of conflict. You know each name, each face, each story. Hold them close when they are far from home, comfort them when they are alone or afraid, and shield their hearts from despair. God of hope, we pray that justice will roll down like waters in Gaza, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, so that all who call the land of the Holy One home can live without fear. Amen.   (https://embraceme.org/our-prayers/israel-palestine-urgent-prayer-for-peace )

Context: Principles of International Humanitarian Law

International Humanitarian Law (IHL), or the "law of armed conflict," is a set of rules seeking to limit the effects of armed conflict for humanitarian reasons. It protects people who are not or are no longer participating in hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare. Key foundations are the Geneva Conventions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acts as the "guardian" of IHL and works to ensure it is respected.

Core Principles

• Protection: IHL protects civilians, medical personnel, aid workers, and combatants who are wounded, sick, or prisoners of war.

• Limits on Warfare: It prohibits weapons and methods that cause unnecessary suffering or fail to distinguish between civilians and combatants.

• Humanitarian Relief: Parties to a conflict must permit and facilitate rapid, unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for civilians.

• Application: It applies strictly to armed conflicts and does not address whether a war is legal or not.

• War Crimes: Grave breaches of IHL, such as willful killing, torture, or attacks against civilians, are considered war crimes, which the international community (via the International Criminal Court) or nations must punish.

International humanitarian law in Gaza is widely reported as being under systemic failure. Findings from the UN indicate that IHL obligations—such as the protection of civilians and unhindered access to aid—are being severely violated.

Additional reading: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/27/how-does-international-humanitarian-law-apply-israel-and-gaza