Living and meeting for worship in the “virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars,” in the words of George Fox, Ukrainian Friends held in the light all victims of wars and prisoners of conscience punished for their refusal to kill, all those who suffered from attacks of Russian army on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Odesa, prayed for the divine guidance to achieve peace and justice in the worlds and save the United Nations that is dangerously underfunded and shrinks humanitarian and peacebuilding activities laying off the staff, while the fortune is stupidly wasted by reckless militarist governments on the war efforts and preparations for wars that are killing people and planet. Despite the dire circumstances, we live our faith finding joy and relief in prayers for peace in Ukraine and in the world, and we are expecting a visit of European Friends this month.
Introduction:
Friends, good day. Before we center down in stillness, I want to make an announcement. In a week, a delegation of the Friends World Committee for Consultation will come to Ukraine, and we will have an opportunity to worship together online and offline, we will publish details on our website.
For the next half hour, we will joyfully worship for peace, and Christ will be in our midst; we will record and publish this meeting for worship to preserve and spread the kingdom of heaven in human hearts. Wait in the silence for a move of the spirit, speak the truth and you will be heard.
Yurii Sheliazhenko:
Before this meeting for worship our Friend Artem shared sad news that he heard explosions near the Dream Town shopping mall in the capital of Ukraine not so far from place of his residence, also the housing nearby was damaged.
Friends, we hold in the light all those who suffered from the brutal attacks of the Russian army on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa.
Children should not die because of the stupidity of adults who consider it normal to declare each other enemies and kill instead of being friends and living happily.
There could be also no trust to Putin’s promises not to kill people while celebrating the so-called victory in the global mass murder of the past.
The most terrible thing is that people are forced to participate in the mass murder. The Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets reported in the parliament about numerous cases of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture and cruel treatment of people during mobilization, but neither the Commissioner, nor the parliament, nor the courts are able to cope with the challenges of massive human rights violations both domestic and by the aggressor state. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine lacks judges and cannot hear cases. I pray that new judges will be appointed and the violated rights of prisoners of conscience will be restored after constitutional complaints of Dmytro Zelinsky and Vitalii Alekseienko.
The Supreme Court, unfortunately, disappointed with the injustice in judgment in the case of a prisoner of conscience, a Jehovah’s Witness Serhii Ivanushchenko: instead of adhering to the Constitution and international treaties of Ukraine, the court decided to follow the dogma of militaristic ideology “everyone must fight war”, claiming that the state allegedly cannot recognize the right to freedom of religion or belief during such large-scale wars as the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
However, civilized states during all the great disastrous wars, including the first and second world wars, respected freedom of conscience, because they knew that this freedom always was here, is here and will be here, that no crimes and atrocities can destroy the faith, attempts to do that will be nothing more than a waste of time and moral decline, because freedom of conscience is not given by the state, it came from the Divine Light, and the state can only be humble and wisely accept God’s will or stupidly fight against the kingdom of heaven and inevitably suffer defeat.
Friends, the greatest stupidity and madness is that the worldwide military spending, investments in the mass murder of people are approaching three trillion dollars, and the United Nations, which was created to achieve a just peace by peaceful means and overcome the curse of endless wars, receives a thousand times less funding, although its work is a million times more important. The United States alone is going to spend a trillion on bloodshed, while they owe to the UN one and a half billion dollars and because of these arrears some funding of humanitarian programs is stopping, and millions of people who depend on UN aid are suffering, thousands of people are being laid off, and international activities are being curtailed. We must pray and act to save the United Nations. It is thanks to such institutions of peaceful governance on our common planet, the Biblical prophecy will one day be fulfilled: “Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).
Artem Denysov:
Friends, I would like to add something about the night attack on Kyiv. Yesterday there were many attacks and attacks by the Russian Federation on various cities and regions of Ukraine, but regarding the hits that occurred at this night on the Dream Town shopping center, I can say that it was a completely non-military target. No residents of neighboring houses ever saw any appearance of military people or equipment there. A pizzeria was also completely destroyed and burned down, which is literally 10 meters from the shopping center. This Domino’s pizzeria had open glass windows and open processes, it was also completely visible that there could be no military there, nothing like that. Of course, cars burned down there. But, unfortunately, the most striking thing is that residential buildings are damaged, and some people living on the top floor were literally lucky, because before everything started, people came out of their apartments to walk their dogs. God called them to care for their pets, and they were spared the explosion, they survived. Let us pray for all who are suffering from Russian attacks.
Friends, let’s hold in the Light our Friend Serhii Yamkovenko, as he asked. God save him.
Farooq Javed:
May your Sunday be filled with peace, love, and joy. May you find time to relax and recharge, and may you feel blessed and grateful for all the good things in your life. Have a wonderful Sunday filled with happiness and positivity.
Vadym Korzh:
Let it be a nice quiet week to everyone.
Liudmyla Holchanska:
Have a good, peaceful week.
Conclusion:
Thank you very much to everyone for today’s peaceful and joyful Meeting for Worship in the circle of Friends. I would like to remind you that there will be an announcement about meetings for worship with our guests, the European Friends from FWCC EMES. See you at the next meeting for worship.