Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Eye on the World: Syria and the Middle East
The conflict that began in Syria in March 2011 has descended into civil war, as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad battle against opposition forces. Bomb attacks killed at least 30 people on Sunday night in Aleppo, the country’s largest city, which has become a center of fighting. Meanwhile, the new UN-Arab League envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, met with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis. And Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces growing pressure from the Syrian war as well as from tensions between Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds in Iraq.
With all that’s going on in the Middle East, can prayer play a role? Is there anything concerned citizens can do to help calm the region?
It can, and there is — no matter how intractable conflicts appear, prayer reminds us that we’re all united under the loving government of one God. This kind of prayer heals divisions, ends violence, and reconciles apparently disparate interests anywhere in the world.
“Prayer that goes beneath the surface in Syria,” written by an author living just over the border in Turkey, gives us a place to start. She shares how the biblical story of Abram (later the patriarch Abraham) and his nephew Lot illustrates how spiritual discernment leads to peaceful solutions that bless everyone, even when land disputes or other divisions seem to enter into the picture. She also shares two personal stories of harmony and cooperation between Sunnis and Shiites in her community, including members of her family.
Not just peace, but respect and even love can take root in the Middle East as we allow God to sweep out mistrust, hatred, and fear in public thought. “Peace in the Middle East: what your prayers can do” explains further, and explores how trust in God’s purifying, unifying nature — which we all reflect — allows individuals and factions to let go of the past, overcome apocalyptic prophecies, and allow unity to come to the fore.
You may be interested, too, to read about how Christian Scientists have prayed about other issues in the Middle East in years past. “Resolving conflicting interests,” published in the October 1978 issue of The Christian Science Journal, explains how we can “wake up” spiritually by praying for the world. “Conflicting interests,” writes the author, “even those … concerning issues as gray as a dawn fog—you and I can help resolve by our total acceptance of the omnipotence and ever-presence of God.” Surely that counsel can guide us in our prayers for the Middle East today, too.