Hello, and welcome.  Thank you for joining us. Today, our prayer leader is @djirdjirak:
I followed these alternative Friday Prayers from the beginning, it started shortly after I joined Twitter
I joined because I wanted to stay informed about what happens in Iran.
Seeing what happened in this country, what was done to people who were protesting peacefully,
being so far away, I felt a lot of helplessness and anger.
But it is not natural to me to pray. 
I never really learned praying, so I don't know what to say or how to act.
I even tend to think that there is no God at all, but nevertheless-
I hope that some of the overwhelming energy shown by so many people would finally give positive results.
I have a lot of questions and doubts. Expressing those doubts could cost you your life in certain countries.
Even chanting or shouting 'Allah-o Akbar' could cost you your life in Iran-
Those people ruling the country only accept their own interpretation of this prayer.
There should be more gentle ways to convince others.
Certain people seem to believe that they would convert you by threats. If not, maybe torture will help.
How can they be so sure? How come they never doubt? And why do they need to harm others?
Praying seems to me very personal.
I find it difficult to pray in public and even when others are praying in public, I dont feel very comfortable.
I think prayers should remain private.
But of course, that's one of the things I learned these days, certain prayers need to be shared.
I learned this from people I only know through the Internet, who started this project a few weeks ago.
And I would like to thank them on behalf of us all who now await these prayers every week.
I am very grateful for what they did: showing us that we could do more than just lighting candles.
I joined twitter recently, but they trusted me, giving me the chance to participate in this inspiring project.
Ever since I followed the events in Iran, I wondered what I could do and felt so very helpless.
Of course, I signed nearly all the petitions I could find... I shared information with people I know...
I tried to stay up to date with the information while media-coverage was nearly stopped, what else could I do?
Now, I just try to translate prayers.
If you told me this only a few months ago, I think I would not have believed it myself.
But now, the translation of prayers gives me a better understanding of their deepness,
and translating them is my tiny little drop in the Sea of Green.
To all those who hesitate with translating, I know why-
Of course, it's work, and you are afraid of misinterpreting...BUT-
It is a really different experience than just reading the prayers on Twitter.
I didn't and still don't pray much, I don't know how, 
But translating these Friday Prayers is my way of participating just a bit.
And I even feel now that prayers might give us comfort and might help
especially in a situation that seems inextricable as experienced in Iran.
A prayer is not just an incantation.
In a prayer we are remembering our hopes and wishes, repeating them again and again
Repeating them again and again, so that we continue to believe in them.
Believe in them so strongly that finally they will break through and we find the strength to realize them.
Sharing these prayers is important because then we know clearly that we all have the same dreams and hopes.
I still feel helpless quite a lot of times, I still think that I am not a very religious person.
Especially when I see what was, and still is done in the name of God.
But sharing our emotions, our hopes and even our doubts and questions – call it a prayer, if you wish-
This is an energizing experience.  
I am surprised how much I feel this energy, and I wish that you feel and share it, too. 
And I hope that the prayers remain as powerful as they are when they are translated into different languages.
This is the old dream of the tower of Babel, but a tower we will bring to success.
Please, come and help building this tower of understanding and compassion, a tower of tolerance and solidarity.
The poet SAID (born in Tehran, living in Germany) reinterpreted the psalms, ancient prayers, creating his own:
"herr/ stehe zu mir und zu meiner einfalt / die mich zu dir führt"
"denn ich will die vertraulichkeiten der erde begreifen"
"sei keine flucht oh herr / aber ein gefährte / für kommende wege"
"lord / stand with me and my simplicity / which leads me to you"
"because i want to understand the confidences of the earth"
"don't be an escape oh lord / but a companion / for coming paths"