A Prayer for Ukraine

A Prayer for Ukraine

The news can be difficult to listen to and to read.
When that news relates to faces we know
and to voices familiar to us,
it becomes all the harder to hear.

Lord God,
We ask you to hold the people of Ukraine deep in your heart.
Protect them, we pray;
from violence,
from political gamesmanship,
from being used and abused.

Give, we pray,
the nations of the world the courage
and the wisdom
to stand up for justice
and the courage too,
to dare to care―generously.

Lord, in your mercy,
take from us all
the tendencies in us
that seek to lord it over others:
take from us those traits
that see us pursuing our own needs and wants
before those of others.

Teach us how to live in love
and dignity
and respect―following your example.
In your name and for your sake,
Amen.

―Issued by Lord Wallace, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland,
and the Very Rev. Dr. Susan Brown, convener of the Faith Impact Forum, Church of Scotland