The Third Annual Bethlehem Prayer Service will be held December 19, at 9:30 a.m. ET in both Bethlehem and Washington, DC. A joint simulcast will allow people from all over the world to attend the service. In the US the service will be held in the Bethlehem Chapel of the Washington National Cathedral. Watch the service here.
In Bethlehem, behind the wall that separates neighbor from neighbor, patient from hospital, student from school and farmer from land, Palestinian Christians continue to bear witness to their faith this Christmas, as they have done for generations. Once again, let us join our voices with theirs in seeking and offering hope for a better future.
Prayers, readings, and hymns alternate between Washington, DC and Palestine via the internet, bringing together people of different lands, languages, and ethnic backgrounds in celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace.
Participants in Washington include the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church; the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, Episcopal bishop of Washington; the Rt. Rev. Richard H. Graham, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod; the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, dean of the Cathedral, and the Rev. Canon Stephen Huber, Cathedral vicar.
In Bethlehem, participants include the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem; the Rt. Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb from Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem
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More from Church for Middle East Peace here.