Prayer walk for Gaza in South and East London
On Maundy Thursday (28 March) a group of Christians and others will be undertaking a pilgrimage in prayerful solidarity with the people of Gaza
There are similar such prayer pilgrimages being planned across 145 cities in 18 countries in the run-up to Easter .
The London group will be departing Peckham Rye and doing a circular route back to Peckham taking in Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church and Bonny Downs Baptist Church on the way. The total length of the walk is 41km, the whole length of the Gaza strip.
As they walk, the group will be praying for four specific things:
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Enduring and Sustained Ceasefire.
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Immediate flow of life saving food, water, aid, fuel and humanitarian assistance.
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Release of all hostages – both the Israeli hostages held by Hamas – and the Palestinian hostages held in the Israeli prison system.
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End of occupation and talks towards a two-state solution, so a just-peace can begin.
Walkers will set off from Peckham Rye station at 5:00am, stop for refreshments at Bloomsbury Baptist, lunch at Bonny Downs and return to Peckham via the Excel Centre (where the annual arms fair takes place), arriving at between 8:00 and 8:30pm for Middle Eastern food, foot washing and prayer.
People are invited to join for any or all of the journey and those unable to walk are warmly welcome to join at Amott Road Baptist Church at 8:00pm for the closing prayer activity and food.
The local organiser of the pilgrimage is Baptist minister the Revd Alex Ellish. She said, ‘For weeks we have been watching with deepening horror the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people.
'We’re walking on Maundy Thursday as a way of embodying our grief, as a lament for the devastation wrought, and to enact our prayer for a ceasefire and just peace.
'We’re walking to show our Palestinian brothers and sisters that, in some small way, we are with them.
'We’re walking because Jesus calls us to be peace-makers, and we hope that moving our feet in prayers for peace will pierce the darkness of violent combat and open the doors to conversation, dialogue and mutual understanding.’
The Palestinian community in Gaza is vibrant and diverse with Muslim and Christian citizens living side by side in harmony.
Organisers add how their prayer is that this will continue into the future.
'It is particularly poignant that this year, at the time of Ramadan, when the communities would normally get together to share food at the end of the day, so many are going hungry because of the blockade.
'Our hope is that as we join our prayers with so many from around the world, God will move to bring about rescue for all caught up in this appalling and heart-breaking situation.'
The event information can be found on Facebook
Baptist Times, 21/03/2024