Pastoral Prayer for February 26, 2023

Our pastoral prayer this morning, the Sunday closest to the first anniversary      of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, comes to us from the National Officers

of the United Church of Christ.

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 to 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 to 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.