praying for my colleagues in the work of peacebuilding

i 'm so concerned about my fellow peacemakers who work with the christian peacemaker teams (i learned my peacebuilding skills from cpt) who have been kidnapped in iraq. they are:
:: tom fox, age 54, from clearbrook, virginia;
:: norman kember, age 74, from london, england;
:: james loney, 41, a community worker from toronto, canada; and,
:: harmeet singh sooden, 32, a canadian electrical engineer
from montreal.

please pray for their immediate release. for more information, go to the cpt site.

i joined a group of people who gathered together to pray for tom, norman, james, and harmeet. it was pretty emotional. many of them know james and harmeet personally. they are from different christian persuasions--catholic, protestant, conservative, liberal, modern, postmodern, etc. there were also some muslims and some who just want to be called spiritually-conscious people. i know most of them would not want to be categorized like this. i guess i'm just fascinated by the unity of the spirit i experienced in that prayer vigil.

our community at peace mennonite church prayed for these cpt members held in iraq. i was surprised to learn that james has an uncle and an aunt in our church. in fact, james' uncle and aunt has a son who is still serving with cpt in baghdad right now. no, this son is not part of those who were kidnapped. thank god! he is part of the group negotiating for the release of his four colleagues. now, i feel i am somehow connected with james loney.

a national leader of the mennonite church canada called his fellow church leaders to pray:
our lord, saviour and prince of peace,
who desires that all peoples experience justice, reconciliation and peace—
we confess that our country and our country's leaders
have not done as much as we might have
to avert the suffering of the people in iraq.
we pray for harmeet, james, norman and tom,
that you will sustain them and give them courage
as they have placed their faith in you;
that they may bear witness to christ's example of love for the enemy;
that in your mercy they may be delivered to freely serve your kingdom.
we pray for their captors that they will see the futility of violence.
we pray for the families and loved ones of the captives
that you will comfort them with your presence.
we pray for all iraqis who are being held captive,
that they may also be united with their loved ones.
amen.

today, wednesday, december 7th, we prayed this prayer simultaneously as a body called mennonite church canada.

various palestinian leaders—like the islamic resistance movement/hamas, palestine people's party, democratic front for the liberation of palestine, democratic union of palestine/fida, fatah, popular front for the liberation of palestine, palestinian liberation front, palestinian popular struggle front—have called for the release of harmeet, james, norman, and tom. the electronic intifada has reported that there has been a widely-supported rally in palestine to release the four cpt hostages. electronic iraq, the online voice of the iraqi anti-war movement, refers to these four cpt peaceworkers as their friends, and demands for their release. mahdi akef, the president of egypt islamic brotherhood (the world's oldest islamic movement) has condemned the kidnapping of these cpt-ers. a former guantanamo prisoner begged the kidnappers to release the hostages. cnn also reported that—

an inmate identified as osama bin laden's ambassador in europe pleaded from full sutton high security prison near york in britain for the group to let the hostages go. the message from abu qatada, jailed as a security threat since last august, was beamed to middle east satellite stations. the jordanian also has been described as bin laden's spiritual ambassador. "i urge you to release the four prisoners," qatada said. "this is a merciful act according to the principles respected by islam and allah."

i am amazed how the muslim leaders and communities around the world trust and support these men and what they represent—the peace of god.