Thank you for joining us. Today, our prayer leader is @djirdjirak:
Welcome to this alternative friday prayer sermon!
At first, I thought it would be presumptuous: pretend to be a Friday Prayer leader!
Who am I, what are my qualifications to do that? I don't have a degree in theology,
I do not even attend any religious services except these alternative Friday Prayers by pray4Iran.
I already said how much they touched me. And yes, they confirmed me in the idea:
We should not wait for "official" leaders to tell us what to think and how to pray.
Especially when these "official" leaders do not really exist or lost their legitimacy.
Can't we think by ourselves? Why shouldn't we be able to pray by ourselves?
Perhaps it sounds a little naïve:
Saying prayers, lighting candles, positive thinking...., being nice to each other.
But this is not just "peace & love" or a "feel good place" – we are all very much aware of the difficulties.
It's not easy to stay green, or even just to stay.
And of course, we know that praying alone is not enough.
But in the middle of different actions, news or debates, we also need to stay back for a moment-
We need to stay back and  be quiet for a while, we need to find some new energy as well.
But of course, there are so many distractions and comfortable places where you may just relax and feel good.
For those of us who do not live in Iran, it would be so easy to go back to our 'normal' lives:
It would be so easy to have fun with friends, go dancing, playing funny games and try to make more money...
–Why should we put our energy, our creativity into something as abstract as 'freedom'?!
We take freedom for granted most of the time.
And so we feel free to be more excited by Hollywood-Stars or glamourous people than by political activism.
Politics? Activism? Civil rights? It sounds so much like the 1970's or 1980's, doesn't it?
Even if it is now online and on twitter, it still isn't very "sexy".
But the protests in Iran should remind us all, that freedom is not free and not that abstract at all.
We should be aware of it, enjoy it as much as we can and, most of all: take it's defense.
Because that's what the Iranians were and are still showing us: freedom is essential, but very fragile.
Even, or perhaps even more, in democracies- People could use their freedom to attack these exact values.
So please: Don't take your rights and your freedom for granted, take their defense!
Imagine how difficult it is to speak up in a country where the basic human rights are not respected at all, 
Imagine how difficult it is to speak up in a country where you can't expect justice.
How much courage it needs to demonstrate peacefully when you're facing armed militia as soon as you go out?
How much energy it would cost you to just wear a green wrist-band?
And even when you're only mourning your dead brother or securing your injured sister,
security forces could come to your house at any time and arrest you in the middle of a prayer.
Just imagine, this is reality and everyday-life in Iran.  I myself have difficulties to really imagine.
And so most of us try to support the people in Iran, to show our solidarity,
Try to make sure the world won't forget them despite the fact that all journalists are arrested or expelled.
The voices of the Iranians need to be heard in the middle of the talks about nuclear issues-
They need to be heard, so we try to be their mouthpiece and spread the word.
I admire all those of you who create posters, websites, songs and videos to show what happens in Iran.
I admire all those of you who support the brave people over there.
Seeing all this creativity and energy is really amazing.
Some of you seem to spend your lives on the Internet, searching for the news and spreading the information–
So I ask myself: am I doing enough?
But then I heard about others who were just having a crack-down.
Years ago, I was singing in a choir,
We learned techniques about how to breathe, especially how to breathe without the audience noticing.
Well, you need to breathe in turns: when you are breathing, your neighbour continues to sing-
And when your colleague is breathing, you continue to sing. And so on.
So, please, try to adapt this technique of breathing-pauses to your activism:
take breaks, because you'll need your energy and don't hesitate to ask for help when you need a break.
A quite beautiful way to take a break, even just for a short moment, is to meditate or to say a prayer.
So I pray that we keep this green wave going and going and going....
....and that we will have the energy to continue this movement as long as necessary.
Jane Goodall said: "Never forget that every individual matters and has a role to play."
Saying that, she had another green movement in mind, concerned by the preservation of our environment.
Green is definitely a beautiful colour!