Over the weekend, the Rev. Dr. Hosam Naoum, Primate and President Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, released a letter. In Iran and the countries surrounding the Gulf, in Israel, in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and so forth, Bishop Naoum oversees all Anglicans and Episcopalians in faith communities in that region. I have found strength and hope in his letter. After a clear description of the effects of this war on his province, he turns to his faith:

He calls upon the global church to join him in urgent, unceasing prayer. He implores God to protect the innocent, and he prays for a “sound mind” for the leaders of the US, Israel, and Iran, that they might turn back from the precipice of a global catastrophe.

He urges his own clergy to be beacons of comfort, and urges all his people to offer each other the sanctuary of Christian love. He calls on all of us to speak and preach the message of the unchanging promise of Christ’s peace: to build each other up (1Cor 8:1), for “our hope is not in the strength of armadas or missile shields, but in the Prince of Peace.”

Finally, he calls all Christians to be “bridge builders,” challenging the church to keep the doors of reconciliation open and to refuse to see our neighbors as enemies. He asks all of the Anglican Communion to intercede for his area now.

And he ends with “May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

May we hear and heed his words. May we be with our brothers and sisters in the Middle  East in thought and unceasing prayer. May we work hard, with God’s help, to never see our neighbors as our enemies.  God have mercy on us all.

In the hopes of peace-making, and God’s authority and power,