Mist over Lake Windermere photographed by Gill Henwood.
My friend Gill sent me this photo of Late February mist over Lake Windermere in the Cumbrian Lake District. It breathes an air of hope and expectation at this very complex time in the world’s life. So much hate, divisiveness and pain is often hard to bear. So this photograph reminds us that there is another earth, a different view. If you study the photo the predominant colour is green,the colour of nature and new life Now in late-February in the Western Hemisphere, as the sun grows stronger, we are beginning to sense a change of mood in Nature. We receive a new joy. May it change the inner heart of humanity.
A prayer of hope by John Birch.
This prayer thought is by John Birch. He is a Methodist Local Preacher and writer who lives on the beautiful South Wales coastline. He is a prolific writer of prayers, some of which he has collected into books such as Sunshine & Storm, prayers for hope and justice in a fragile world. His collections are printed by Amazon and can be purchased from them. You can read more from him on his website, Faith & Worship. I find his prayers an inspiration and a comfort. His words open me to the nearer presence of God.
I am also grateful to Gill for her photographs and thoughts which together also speak to me of God. In these present times I am needing to hear God more and more and to see the divine reflections in Nature.
An extract from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Address when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984
“Unless we work assiduously so that all of God’s children, our brothers and sisters, members of our one human family, all will enjoy basic human rights, the right to a fulfilled life, the right of movement, of work, the freedom to be fully human, with a humanity measured by nothing less than the humanity of Jesus Christ Himself, then we are on the road inexorably to self-destruction, we are not far from global suicide; and yet it could be so different.
When will we learn that human beings are of infinite value because they have been created in the image of God, and that it is a blasphemy to treat them as if they were less than this and to do so ultimately recoils on those who do this? In dehumanizing others, they are themselves dehumanized. Perhaps oppression dehumanizes the oppressor as much as, if not more than, the oppressed. They need each other to become truly free, to become human. We can be human only in fellowship, in community, in koinonia, in peace.
Let us work to be peacemakers, those given a wonderful share in Our Lord’s ministry of reconciliation. If we want peace, so we have been told, let us work for justice. Let us beat our swords into ploughshares.
God calls us to be fellow workers with Him, so that we can extend His Kingdom of Shalom, of justice, of goodness, of compassion, of caring, of sharing, of laughter, joy and reconciliation, so that the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Amen.”
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Desmond Tutu
In every war, it is the children who suffer. Fathers, brothers and uncles are sent out to risk their lives; families are destroyed; mothers huddle with their children in air-raid shelters waiting for the worst. Death, destruction and displacement …and now poverty, stalk the children of Ukraine. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has filed this report…….
“Children in Ukraine have experienced a year of horror,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Millions of children are going to sleep cold and scared and waking up hoping for an end to this brutal war. Children have been killed and injured, and many have lost parents and siblings, their homes, schools and playgrounds. No child should ever have to bear that kind of suffering.”
This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva
LVIV, 21 February 2023 – “The past year has been one of violence, fear and loss for the children of Ukraine. There is not a single aspect of children’s lives that the war has not impacted, with children killed, injured, forced from their homes, and missing out on critical education. Amid the death and displacement, the stress and fatigue, Ukrainian families now face a worsening fiscal crisis. The loss of income, and the energy and socio-economic crises triggered by the war are devastating families. UNICEF analysis suggests the percentage of children living in poverty has almost doubled to more than 80 per cent. This is in the space of one year.
Thousands of children fleeing conflict across the country are also missing vital vaccines to protect them from disease. This is in no small part due to the more than 800 health facilities that have reportedly been destroyed or damaged by shelling and airstrikes. In response, UNICEF has provided healthcare services to five million children and women. As we seek to alleviate just another form of stress on Ukrainian families –increasing poverty – UNICEF has provided multi-purpose cash assistance to almost a quarter of a million households in Ukraine.
“We have provided learning supplies to more than one million children in Ukraine, and access to safe water for more than 5.5 million people but as we approach the one year mark, Ukrainian children have become aware that the world is unstable, unpredictable, and can be a terrible place. Such a loss of a basic sense of safety has a catastrophic effect on their learning and emotional and social development. Their invisible wounds that must be healed through sustained efforts to prioritise children’s mental health needs. As part of that response, UNICEF has provided mental health and psychosocial support to 4.6 million children and caregivers. Of course what Ukrainians need most of all is an end to hostilities. But as children experience every day, that is not their reality.
“I arrived in Ukraine almost a year ago to the day, here in Lviv. This morning I went to the hospital where innumerous times I have met the achingly brave medical staff, who act as both surgeons and counsellors. Surgeons for children with horrendous wounds of war – in a war where shelling from heavy artillery and missile and air strikes have consistently struck where children should be safe – and counsellors to those broken parents who, despite everyone’s efforts, leave hospital without their children. An hour ago I sat with yet another bright, articulate, brave Ukrainian child. This time a teenage boy – his body is tormented by shrapnel wounds, the result of an artillery attack as he sought to get water for his family near Bakhmut. He is in immense pain, but focused on the unknown whereabout of his two sisters. Down the corridor was a two year old girl – also from Bahkmut– paralyzed after another artillery attack.
The year of imposed suffering on Ukraine’s children appears to have no end in sight.”
[] If you would like to support UNICEF, please go to their website.[]
Photo: The Guardian newspaper
A prayer for Ukraine and her little ones by Sally Foster-Fulton, Head of Nations and Church Relations of CHRISTIAN AID
God, please protect peace
Borders, barricades, bewilderment… When the bargaining begins, God please protect peace.
Sanctions, security measured in minutes and it’s scary… When safety scatters, God please protect peace.
War dresses up in peace-keeper’s clothes, Troops amass, the ground trembles and so do people… When the future feels fragile, God please protect peace.
The littlest, the least likely to have a say, Those whose lives are sanctioned and bargained over – Violence always finds them first. And the ‘oh-so-important’ political manoeuvres mean nothing to them. They just want to live. When the winners want to wipe them out of the way, God please protect peace.
We will not turn away. We will stand together – God give us the strength to protect peace.
This photo has been sent to me by my friend, Andris, who lives in Latvia.
The photo was taken at Jurmala which is a seaside resort about 16 miles (25 kilometres) from the capital of Latvia, Riga. It has 33km (21 miles) of white-sand beach and a population of almost 50,000 When Latvia was part of the Soviet Union it was a favourite place of Communist Party officials including Presidents Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Krushchev. The people of Latvia and their Baltic neighbours, Lithuania and Estonia are praying that the current president of Russia doesn’t come calling with his army! As they are members of NATO there is some defence.
They join with the Nordic States of Finland and Sweden in a watchfulness as things continue to unfold in the Ukraine. They know they are at risk, especially Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as well as Finland, all of which border Russia. Sweden is also feeling vulnerable.
I write this just after the Russian Terrorist attack in Kremenchuk. Scores of people are dead or injured in what many are now calling a ‘War Crime’. The attack was a show of power to the G7 leaders but what it really showed is the demonic force at work in the hearts of Russia’s leaders.
The photos coming out of Ukraine are horrendous.
Contrast that with this beautifully serene photograph of the Baltic Sea. There is an amazing tranquillity with a pale sun kissing the water in the distance. There is a sense of peace. The sky is uncluttered and blue and even the clouds seem to be resting gently on the surface of the water. How different that is to the trauma and turmoil in the vortex of violence near that other sea, the Black Sea.
Yet, there is, too, a little blackness in the clouds, perhaps sending to us a warning. Peace is fragile. Humanity can be threatened and be threatening very quickly. Many of us are fearful of what is happening to our world right now and there is a sense of foreboding and apprehension, not least in the nations close to Russia.
This makes the prayer below all the more poignant and deeply appropriate. It was written by Jeanne Smith, a Latvian lady in one of the Reformed churches and translated into English.
Prayer:
“Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for the people of Ukraine, give them strength and miraculous protection from the horrors of war. I pray for the people of Russia, God, to allow them to see the truth and to give them the courage to face the terrible regime. I pray for the people of Latvia and other countries, give us open hearts and wisdom on how to help the refugees. I ask that there be unity and love among people, that evil be destroyed, and that peace may come, so that more and more people may have the eternal peace that only You can give. All this I ask of you in the name of Jesus Christ, and for his merit. Amen”
Mr G's Ponderings 