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Monday, November 10, 2014

Prayer remembering Kristallnacht

In remembrance of Kristallnacht-the night(s) of broken glass-on November 9-10, 1938, when the Nazis attacked Jewish citizens and their property, marking the escalation of their antisemitic and anti-Judaic persecution, culminating in "the final solution," it is, I think in order to offer a prayer for the Jewish people-especially in light of the growing antisemitism around the world today. 
   LORD God, out of your super-abundant grace, you chose and elected the Jewish people to be a light to all nations. We give you thanks for the legacy of faithfulness of the ancient patriarchs and matriarchs, such as Moses and Miriam, and Abraham and Sarah. Down through the centuries the nations of the world have been jealous of your everlasting covenant with and blessing of your Chosen People, and therefore instigated countless pogroms, persecutions, and expulsions against them. Tonight we remember November 9-10, 1938-Kristallnacht, and the Jewish victims of the Nazi's hate-filled acts of violence, escalating into the Holocaust and the loss of six million Jewish souls. 
   In a world of growing hostility against Israel, and antisemitic and anti-Judaic acts, protect the Jewish people from evil and harm. Help the Gentile world and we who call ourselves Christians to defend Israel's right to exist as a nation and speak out and actively work against all forms of antisemitism and anti-Judaism. Unite Jews and Christians everywhere to serve your greater purposes, that through their unity all the nations of the world would be blessed and peace with justice would flourish as the prophet once proclaimed: "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Amen.