As the world recently commemorated the anniversary of the end of first world war and Ukraine withstands the darkness of brutal invasion and criminal corruption, Friends pray for a future world without wars and armies, where people will live in joy and happiness, determined to work for the coming kingdom of heaven. We were moved to welcome new people and new ideas for the media committee.
Introduction:
Hello, Friends, and welcome to this sacred space online. Glad to see a new Friend Antonina at our worship. Congratulations to Farooq with his 27th year of life. Happy birthday, Farooq.
Once George Fox wrote a letter with these words: “So all Friends that be to the Light turned… Christ Jesus the saviour of your souls, with which light you come to see him, which comes from him, with which Light you will see all sin and evil and corruption that are contrary to it — stand still in the Light; you will see your salvation…”
In this Light, we will start our half-hour silent worship, which will be recorded and published. Every vocal ministry is welcomed.
Yurii Sheliazhenko:
On November 11, the world celebrates Armistice Day, the day when the First World War ended. Our poet Ivan Franko wanted to live to see it, but he passed earlier. He went to heaven with the hope that he expressed in his last poem:
“Clean skies are proudly azure,
When bloodshed of inhuman war is ceased,
And peace endure.”
With this hope, we live and pray today for a just peace.
This year, the anniversary of the Armistice was overshadowed by the exposure of the criminal greed of large-scale corruption schemes of personalities close to power. Now these individuals are under sanctions, they are being held criminally liable.
The greatest cynicism was that they extorted money, threatening otherwise to destroy businesses that brought electricity and light to homes of the people. If they were not paid a bribe, they threatened with a brutal military mobilization of workers of critical civilian infrastructure.
That is, their robbery of the people of Ukraine employed unaccountable, arbitrary power of the army.
And it was the military, the border guards, who let the thief out with the loot.
The head of the Ukrainian state did the right thing when he imposed sanctions on his business partner, who turned out to be a thief.
And when people say that the ruler should not multiply his wealth, this is stated in the Bible, in the book of Deuteronomy 17:17.
But let’s remember that truth is deeper than that.
It is also said in Deuteronomy that the government should not multiply horses of war, the military power, but instead should rely on God’s law.
The point is not about personalities, but about the fact that absolute power is self-deception that corrupts absolutely.
When people trust in violence too much, when they believe in the army more than in truth and love, it inevitably ends in boundless greed, wars, arrogance and moral degradation of power, theft of taxes and theft of freedom and life of people. This happened with our Russian neighbors, who are now killing the Ukrainian people, and this can happen with us if we believe in weapons and not in God.
You cannot believe in violence. As Psalm 20:7 says, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Artem Denysov:
Recently, I found a very interesting resource of Buddhists in England. They published an analysis of a part of Quakerism, faith and practice of Quakers. There is an anecdote in oral tradition of the Friends, a story telling how William Penn stopped carrying a sword after George Fox advised him “to wear it as long as thou canst.” He came to the understanding on his own that he cannot wear a sword. And it was quite interesting to see how this is understood as enlightenment, how Buddhism and Quakerism intersect and complement each other. It would be good for Friends to share similar spiritual information both among themselves and on social networks.
Yurii Sheliazhenko:
I want to thank Artem for such a spontaneous moment of worship with attention to business of our faith community. And, by the way, it is worth reminding that we have a media committee to spread the word of God, the message of light, goodness, love and truth. This is very important. If anyone here wants to join the media committee, tell me or write in the chat. And I think we can simply discern this matter of joining and cooperating in publishing the truth right today, if the sense of the meeting is so.
Farooq Javed:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I request you, as Christmas is coming next month in December and everyone is busy preparing for Christmas, I request you to hold in the Light the weakest and helpless people in Pakistan. I want to distribute warm clothes for Christmas to children and warm blankets to women. I want to include all these people in the joy of Christmas, and I request your prayers and help.
Margaret Tracy:
Kevin T. McEneaney, the Poet Laureate of Smithfield Valley in the state of New York, wrote this poem about Formicidae, that’s a Greek word for ants.
Only one hundred twenty millions years young,
a landlord of this dizzy spinning globe
at twenty percent of the biomass
the famous formidable formicidae –
to the Greeks renowned myrmidons –
they march in black wedge formations
on a morning raid to the honey bee hive
to plunder the golden hoard of wealth
from their distant cousins the honey bee
while the queen bee tries to protect her young.
And let us lay down our missiles and guns
before we befouled this glorious garden.
And that’s my interpretation. The bee wants the honey. The ant wants the honey. These little creatures all fighting over this wealth, fighting even their distant relatives in the biological order Hymenoptera, because everybody wants the honey. I mean, the animal kingdom as he is saying in his poem is very much like what we’re doing today. And at the end of his point he says, “And let us lay down our missiles and guns before we have destroyed this glorious garden.” So he’s taken an analogy from the animal kingdom to mean that there we are acting like they are. And we’re not just going to destroy the honeybee hive, we’re going to destroy the whole Earth. Then we won’t have an Earth to live on. That’s his point because we have to get rid of the missiles and the guns.
Yurii Sheliazhenko:
Bears also want honey. I mean, as Putin is covetous of Ukrainian lands; he must lay down his weapons of war. Just an addition of mine. Wonderful poem.
Antonina Spirina:
I am a Ukrainian woman, currently living in the UK. I lived in darkness for many years, figuratively, of course. Somehow, Quakerism was suddenly revealed to me. I thought a lot about it before attending the meetings for worship. And it was such a thoughtful decision. I am truly happy to be here. It is very nice to be among like-minded people, among the people who find kindness and humanity in their hearts despite all this propaganda, this all negative informational energies and all the stuff.
Conclusion:
Friends, at the end of today’s meeting for worship, I call upon you to pray for a just peace and to uphold in the Light all those who suffer from war, those who nonviolently resist war, those who refuse to kill despite all hardships and persecution for their faith and beliefs. Let us cherish hope for a world without wars, where lives of all people will be joyful and happy. Let us work for the coming kingdom of heaven. See you at the next meeting for worship.