A Tiny Prayer for Ukraine
Posted by In a pre-dawn televised address on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine as Russian forces invaded the country from Russia and Belarus in the east and north and by landing on the southern coasts from the Black Sea and Azov Sea. Within hours, Ukraine's military sites had been bombed and Russian troops had taken over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and Hostomel airport near the capital of Kyiv. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to defend their country while leaders in Europe and the United States considered their options to respond.
And so we pray this news . . .
People of Ukraine, may you feel the solidarity of so many surrounding you as evil acts invade your land and your lives, may you be safe from violence and enveloped in peace, may transformative wisdom reshape the hardened hearts of those who too often choose brutality over bonds, may those in power use their strength and resources to protect the very real, vulnerable humans most harmed by petty politics and propaganda, and as our overwhelmed attention inevitably wanes, may we all recommit to keeping our focus fixed on the weighty war being waged, not only on one country but on the entire idea of freedom, and may we the world not only hope for but actively become the better place and people we know are possible.
Amen