We urgently need to change the way we inhabit the planet, lest
we end up so destroying its fragile equilibrium, that floods and storms
and forest fires completely engulf us.
But there are other storms
raging in our world at the moment, which even put the inconvenience of a
flood into a greater and more immediate perspective.
While I woke
up to an inundated undercroft this week. The people of Kyiv - let us
remind ourselves a European city, a popular holiday destination, only a 2
and a half hour flight from London - woke up to bombs and fighting in
the streets as President Putin, breaking his word and tearing up the
treaties of which he himself was a signatory, chose to illegally and
despicably invade Ukraine.
Today, the Archbishop of Canterbury and
I are asking all churches and all Christian people to pray for the
people of Ukraine, for peace and for a withdrawal of Russian troops.
I will offer a prayer for Ukraine and invite us to keep a time of silence at the end of this sermon.
But what can prayer do, you might ask yourself? Isn’t it just wishful thinking. How can it stop tanks and bombs?
Today’s readings helps us.
On the mountain of Transfiguration, Peter James and John see Jesus as he really is.
This
is what happens when we pray. We say the words that Jesus gave us, and
in particular we ask, ‘Your kingdom come to Lord, Your will be done.’
Not
the kingdoms of the world, not the will of despots and tyrants, not
even my own will, but the will of God as we see it in Jesus Christ.
To
pray, therefore, is to see things as they really are and as they can be
if we align our wills and our purpose to the will and purpose of Jesus
Christ. If, as Paul says to the church in Corinth, “We do not lose
heart”… (2 Cor. 4.1), and “with our unveiled faces see the glory of the
Lord as if reflected in a mirror, and are ourselves transformed.” (2
Cor. 3.18)
Prayer matters and prayer helps, because prayer changes things, beginning with us and giving us the resolve we need.
NATO
is not about to declare war on Russia and Ukraine must be feeling very
alone. But there are things we can do, such as offering generous
humanitarian aid; receiving refugees and supporting countries in the
region who will see vast movements of people; imposing the stiffest
possible sanctions on Russia, including a long and long overdue hard
look at some of the dubious and dirty Russian money that sloshes around
London. But these things won’t just hurt Russia and make it far harder
for them to sustain their subjugation of Ukraine, they will hurt us as
well. We need to be prepared to make painful sacrifices ourselves, which
will affect our own pocket and our own standards of living.
And
this, again, is where prayer will help, because it will help us to see
what is right and strengthen our resolve to do it. This is a wake up
call for us. The waters are rising. An unscrupulous and despotic enemy
really is at the gate. We have taken peace for granted, and we have
neglected the international bonds and associations between and nations
that have done so much to secure peace for most of Europe for most of
the past 77 years.
That changed on Thursday, and now we must
change, and as Christian people that must begin in prayer and proceed by
acts of generosity and sacrifice for the good of all.
As Jesus is transfigured, the disciples hear God speaking. “This is my son, my chosen”, says God, “Listen to him.” (Luke 8. 35)
May
our church and our nation listen today to the voice of Jesus Christ,
the voice of peace and good order. May Russia also hear the voice of
Christ and the voice of peace. And may the people of Ukraine know the
comfort, blessing, resolve of Christ in this terrible, dark hour of
need. And now let us pray earnestly for peace in the world and for the
part we must play to make it happen.
archbishopofyork.org
