It's the Wednesday Email!
Dear Church-
To mark the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United Church of Christ Elected Officers and Council of Conference Ministers offer this prayer and invite you to join them in sharing it as a part of your personal prayer time this week or in an act of public worship when you gather with your community of faith.
Creator God, maker of all that is good.
Comforter God, restorer of peace between all peoples.
Redeemer God, healer of wounds that inflict trauma and chaos:
We turn to you this day crying out for an end to a war that rages across the land of Ukraine, threatens the lives of its inhabitants, and displaces millions of children no longer able to sleep in their beds, attend their schools, or play with their friends.
May your Spirit of peace soften the hearts of the politicians who rattle their sabers and threaten nuclear annihilation.
May your vision of a just world thwart the ambitions of dictators who are thirsty for conquer and lusting for lands over which to rule.
May your hope of shalom engender within our own hearts the call to let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with us.
Help us find the pathway to peace, a Just Peace, built on human rights and equity not just in Ukraine but in every land where bombs and guns are the sounds to which children fall asleep and from which families flee.
You are the source of our peace.
You are the horizon of our hope.
You are the author of our love.
May the promise of your enduring peace, your abiding hope, and your everlasting love sustain us all and bring the promise of a new and better day to the people of Ukraine. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Linda
