Friends, it’s difficult to find adequate words to express how we are feeling about the terrible violence being inflicted upon the people of Ukraine. Scripture tells us that at such times the Spirit intercedes on our behalf with sighs too deep for words. (Romans 8:26) So rather than fill this page with outrage, and horror, and shock, and pain, I will share a prayer from our Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Richard Bott. On this day, Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance, we pray that hardened hearts will be broken-open and that light and love might burst through.

God of all Creation,
God of the heights and the depths,
and everything in-between,
God of this blue-green bauble,
spinning in space,
a place of such wondrous creatures,
and abundant life…

we are praying for a miracle,
one of the smallest of changes,
but one that would have immense consequence.

As a delegation from Russia,
meets with a delegation from Ukraine,
on the border of Belarus,
seeking to end the war
that Russia has perpetrated on Ukraine,
seeking to end the death,
seeking to make a peace,
what I am praying for is a change of
mind, a change of
heart, a change of
worldview,
in the Russian leadership,
who brought this into being.

Help them, God of all hope,
to see that this is the chance to
step back from the war,
to pull back the escalation,
to let go of whatever it is
that made them choose
the path that has led to
the chaos,
the destruction,
the death,
in Ukraine.

We need a miracle that will
help them to not only pull back,
their forces to within their borders,
their rhetoric of nuclear option;
but to be part of the rebuilding
of the nation they sought to overtake…

in the midst of the grief and tears
and anger and rage,
of the parents and grandparents,
of the siblings and children,
of the friends and neighbours,
of those who have been killed
in this act of aggression.

Help us to bring this to an end, God,
one that will allow the sunflowers of Ukraine
to reach their growth,
sprouting in the soil of peace,
under a hope-filled sky.

Help us to make that miracle, God,
for it is truly needed.

In Christ’s name,
in the Spirit’s power,
in the Creator’s love,
I pray.
Amen.