A prayer for peace between the Ukraine and Russia

we're pausing today in the cathedral to pray especially for the situation on the border between russia and ukraine some years ago i had the privilege of traveling to saint paul's church in odessa with a coventry cross of nails which was taken to that church to recognize their experience of having been destroyed and then rebuilding and offering their church as a place of reconciliation a place of peace and of hope for the future soon after that visit which i made in 2013 as unrest began to erupt around in ukraine and in odessa in particular i know that that cross was taken out onto the streets and used as a symbol to gather around for people of faith to pray for the peace of that country and that city the symbol of the coventry cross of nails and one of the originals is in the high altar cross behind me is a symbol of christ's presence in the midst of destruction a sign that even when things seem perhaps even beyond human hope we can turn to god and find in him the grace and the love and the promise to look to the future so today we stand with our sisters and brothers in ukraine and also in russia to pray that this unrest which is there in that region at the moment may not escalate into war that there may be a found a way to live together in peace but the way to do that always begins as we recognize our own failings our own interior lack of peace as well as the lack of peace in the world so to do that i'm going to use the coventry litany of reconciliation a prayer which we've been using here in coventry now for over 60 years a prayer that lists some of those ways in which we have destroyed god's peace in our own lives and in our world to seek god's forgiveness and to pray that all may find a way to journey from a fractured past towards a shared future the coventry litany starts and ends with verses from the new testament all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god the hatred which divides nation from nation race from race class from class father forgive the covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own father forgive the greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth father forgive our envy of the welfare and happiness of others father forgive our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned the homeless the refugee father forgive the lust which dishonors the bodies of men women and children father forgive the pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in god father forgive be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving one another as god in christ forgave you loving god we pray for the peace of ukraine and of russia we pray that your grace may be close to those who live in fear and anxiety that your wisdom courage and compassion may guide those in positions of government and of responsibility we pray that the people of those lands may know your gift of peace which passes all human understanding holy and loving god we ask this in the name of your son jesus christ and through the power of the holy spirit amen may god bless you wherever you are looking in caught up or praying for this conflict and may god lead us all in his paths of peace amen

Channel: Coventry Cathedral

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Length: 5min 5sec (305 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 10 2022