Yurii Sheliazhenko:
Friends, the Russian army continues to kill Ukraine brutally.
After one of these shellings of residential blocks in Zaporizhzhia, the whole world saw terrible videos, this hell at night, a storm of fire and death. Ten people dead, including two children, dozens injured.
Yevhen Matveev, the mayor of the occupied Dniprorudne city in Zaporizhzhia region, kidnapped in 2022, recently died in Russian captivity, where he was brutally tortured.
We hold in the light all the victims of Russian aggression and strive to stop it peacefully.
Let’s pray that Ukraine will not become like an aggressor state, that imprisonment for conscientious objection to military service and expressions of criticism towards government and the army will stop. Let’s pray that a student of the Bible college in Kharkiv, whose Evangelical Christian beliefs do not allow killing people, will be acquitted from the satanic charge of so-called “draft evasion”. Let’s pray that people will not be taken by force against their will to the territorial recruitment centers of the army and will not be intimidated with any violence and will not be subjected to inhumane treatment due to their unwillingness to fight, will not be not publicly threatened by an officer to gouge out their eyes, as we saw in the scandalous video from Poltava.
We pray for peace and justice.
One of the factors that stopped the WWI was the unofficial Christmas truces.
Let’s remind the aggressor state about last year’s calls for a Christmas truce and politely ask them to cease fire, to stop the war of aggression, to stop tormenting Ukraine.
Let’s pray for peace.
We should pray for peace every day, and work for peace every day, and celebrate every day the sanctity of life and the success of our peaceful work.
George Fox wrote in his journal: “when the time called Christmas came, while others were feasting and sporting themselves, I would have gone and looked out poor widows from house to house, and have given them some money.”
By the way, Saint Nicholas, whose day was joyfully celebrated on December 6th, is also known for tirelessly helping the poor.
We the Quakers may share in the joy of other people on special days, but we believe that every day is special and joyful for us. And during silent worship we rest, as God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2), having completed the work of creating the world and people.
Another special day is approaching for our joy: the Human Rights Day on December 10th. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Protection of human rights is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. So let’s protect human rights for the common good of all people in Ukraine and around the world, of the great family of humankind on a common planet, as says the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This week I went to spread the word about Quakers to the Civil Society Development Forum in Kyiv and bought there a collection of Lina Kostenko‘s poetry. I will share with you what I read, because it is very timely. She writes with sadness:
What path? Where can I go today?
Where is God’s Promised Land?
Shame: barracks in the Gethsemane,
All nations bleed in pain…
And then she finds solace in the first Psalm:
One true to conscience, not betrays, –
God’s shoulders for the soul to rest.
Or, as it is literally said (Psalms 1:6), the Lord watches over the way of the righteous.
So let’s walk in the light together!
Kristen Richardson:
Friends, I find myself thinking along the lines of how Friends do not observe a church calendar, as Yurii has mentioned; we don’t observe special days, but the world has a way of keeping time for us, independent of human devices. And the season called Advent always reminds me that the winter solstice is coming, and the winter solstice, of course, is the longest night of the year and the shortest day. But the paradox is that the shortest day of the year, the longest night of the year, the longest dark is the end of the domination of the dark, because the very next day the days become lighter as the Earth keeps turning and moving around its orbit. It reminds me of George Fox’s image of an ocean of darkness covered by an ocean of light, and there are times when we find ourselves in the ocean of darkness and we cannot see that light, but we have to know: it’s there, and that our journey through time bring us closer and further away, blocking or aiding our vision. But whatever we see with our eyes, we know they are both there, and can draw on that light no matter how dark it is.
Yevhenii Raspopov:
Greetings to all dear Friends! Peace and goodness to all of us!
Farooq Javed:
I am very happy to see all of you, Friends, at the meeting, and I am grateful to God for once again giving us this opportunity to come together.
Vadym Korzh, Anton, and Mihail Drijiruk also expressed their greetings.