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Sunday Mass at the Lutheran Church of the Savior in Jerusalem’s Old City. Pastor Sally Azar, a Palestinian Christian, leads prayers for a small congregation seated around the altar of a Protestant church.
On Friday, Azar will be one of several local pastors to lead a service on World Women’s Day of Prayer.
“I grew up in the church here and always attended the World Day of Prayer service, and it was very ecumenical and it stuck with me. I thought, ‘Oh, what a great day for women.’ “So it’s an honor to be able to preserve the tradition,” Hazard told DW after the service.
The 27-year-old from East Jerusalem is the first female pastor to be ordained in the Lutheran community of the Holy Land.
This year, the Palestinian National Committee prepared the Women’s World Day of Prayer, a global Christian grassroots movement. First celebrated around the world in 1927, ecumenical services are held on the first Friday of March each year in 150 countries around the world.
On this day, the same liturgy and prayers, written by a different country each year, are celebrated in each participating country. This day focuses on women’s concerns, hopes and prayers and is the largest ecumenical event for Christians.
depicting the existence of Christians
“In many cases, [Palestinian] Women, it is very important that the World Day of Prayer depicts the presence of Christians in the Holy Land, and it is very important that it depicts the suffering that women face in the Holy Land as well. [Israeli] It’s a profession that we’ve lived in all these years,” Azar said.
“It’s also portrayed in the liturgy, where they all long for peace, and they all have many responsibilities in this society.”
Azar is often described as a “trailblazer” for women in the region.
“I’ve only been ordained for almost a year, but it’s completely new for people. Not everyone knows how to deal with being a female pastor in this land and in this society. “Not. At least in the Lutheran congregation, they know better. They learn about equality,” she said.
One of the smaller challenges, she says, is how to properly address herself in Arabic as a female pastor. But there’s more to the problem. While the Lutheran church is tolerant of women’s roles within the church, most communities, such as the Greek Orthodox and Catholic churches, are not so supportive.
“Religious leaders have been talking about this quite publicly, and of course they don’t support it,” Azar said. “But at least they’re addressing this issue respectfully.”
Israel-Gaza war becomes more tense
This year’s theme resonated with many people. Themes are chosen years in advance, just as the national committee prepares the service.
But the current conflict adds urgency to that message. Azar said this Bible verse resonated with the women preparing the liturgy and sparked much discussion.
“They asked, is this our Christian brothers and sisters here now? Is it our literal neighbor? Is it Israeli? Is it Jewish? Is it Muslim? So, All these questions arose when we were talking about enduring each other in love, ”Azel said.
But for some it also had a deeper meaning, as the Arabic word “childbirth” is related to the word pregnancy. “They all reminded us that we’re not just carrying an entire generation,” Azar said. “And it’s their responsibility to protect their children, but they don’t feel like they can do that.”
The Palestinian community has been working on liturgy and prayer for the past two years and submitted a donation last year. Then, on October 7, a Hamas attack occurred in southern Israel, with the militants killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.
Israel has launched a retaliatory military operation and vowed to defeat Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others. Nearly five months later, some 130 Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed and much of Gaza has been rendered uninhabitable.
In the aftermath of October 7, criticism and accusations of anti-Semitism surfaced in Germany in relation to Palestinian liturgy and prayers.
“It was very hurtful that Germany was the only country in the world that changed the liturgy. “I thought you knew you had a problem,” Hazard said.
Adding context is important, but for many people, it’s too much, she said. She said, “It felt like someone was teaching us how to pray. Someone was telling us what words to use to describe our situation and feelings.” It felt like.”
Support from Germany
Despite the controversy, her German counterparts have emphasized their solidarity with women in the Palestinian territories.
“Of course, we support the World Day of Prayer and are part of a global chain of prayer of around 150 countries,” said Ulrike Göken Hausmann, Chair of the German Committee for Women’s World Day of Prayer. told DW.
In light of the October 7 attack, the planned document was tailored and adapted to the situation “very carefully and deliberately,” Göken Hausmann said. She said the changes were well-received by the women in the German congregation, who cited feedback from emails and phone conversations.
“And we stand in solidarity with Palestinian Christian women,” she said, adding that relations have not been easy in recent months, but dialogue continues.
Göken Hausmann said he believed it was important for services to be held in as many parishes in Germany as possible on March 1 so that “these voices from Palestine can be heard,” especially in this time of the Gaza war. added: , the situation requires more attention than ever.
prayers for those who are suffering
Several prayer services will be held on Friday in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. However, not everyone can participate here.
Since October 7, it has become increasingly difficult for Palestinians to access holy sites and see each other. Generally, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank had to apply to Israeli authorities for permission to come to Jerusalem.
In recent years, Christians in the Gaza Strip have received limited permits to visit relatives in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and only during Christmas and Easter.
“It was very difficult. As far as our congregations go, we have six congregations in the Lutheran Church, one in Jordan, one in Jerusalem, four in the West Bank. And those four churches… We can’t get permits for everything, because we’re all coming together,” Azar said, adding that more checkpoints in the occupied West Bank have been closed or have limited opening hours since October 7. He added that There are concerns that access to holy sites could become even more complicated next Easter week.
Azar said the celebration of World Women’s Day of Prayer is especially important this year given the situation, adding: “We are thinking of all the civilians suffering in war. We ask for prayers against this situation. “I added it,” he said.
Editor: Rob Mudge
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