Prayer Vigil for a Ceasefire: Remarks by Rev. Susan Wilder, IPMN co-moderator

January 13, 2024

Greetings, and thank you, every one of you, for being here.

I’m Susan Wilder, and I am proud to represent the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and our church’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network, and my local church, Grace Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Virginia. Together, that’s thousands of Presbyterians, and with along with the other speakers and all of you here, we represent millions of American Christians.

What I want to say to Palestinians is this: You are seen, you are heard, we hear your cries for solidarity, and we answer them with our presence. 
Palestinians in the United States – we see you. 

Palestinians in the global diaspora – we see you. 

Palestinian refugees – refugees for decades! – in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza – we see you. 

Palestinians in the West Bank now – living under crippling Israeli closures of your cities and towns, harassed and assaulted by Israeli settlers who act with impunity – we see you. 

And Palestinians in Gaza where thousands have already been killed by relentless Israeli bombing and grief, hunger, fear, and pain are the constant reality for the living – we see you.

We call for an immediate ceasefire.  Stop the killing. Stop killing women, men, children, civilians. Every minute that goes by is another minute of human suffering. For the sake of human life, we call for a ceasefire now.

We call for the release of all hostages and prisoners. Let the prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza go free and return safely to their families. And free the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Many of these Palestinians are being held indefinitely and without charges, and many of them are children, kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.  Set the captives free.

To our US government leaders: President Biden and Members of Congress, we urge, we beg, you to use the power entrusted to you by the American people to end this violence. As Americans, as taxpayers, we do not want another dollar to be used to massacre civilians, destroy property, and reduce swaths of God’s creation to rubble.  A major shift in US foreign policy is within your grasp – a shift to valuing and preserving every life, Israeli and Palestinian.

Our Christian faith calls on us to weep with those who weep, and we do. We stand here today looking forward to the day when we will also rejoice with those who rejoice, in a world where every human being, made in God’s image, is valued, nourished, cherished, and loved.  Thank you.