On Monday, 25^th August, I was privileged to be in Kyiv for the National Prayer Breakfast of Ukraine. The event was held under the patronage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and brought together 1,200 guests including clergy and religious leaders, international diplomats, government officials, military personnel, chaplains, volunteers and the families of the fallen.

Throughout the three hour ceremony, countless scriptures were referenced in the prayers, particularly from the Psalms and Old Testament prophets.  There were prayers by Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholic and Orthodox priests, Ukraine’s chief rabbi and a leader of the Crimean Tatar Muslim community. 

Needless to say, they have fundamental theological differences but on one thing they agreed: that at times like this, when faced with death, it is to God we turn or as one of the speakers put it: “In the trenches there are no atheists”.

Among the guests of honour were US Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Støre, General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance Elijah Brown, Chief Operating Officer of Samaritan’s Purse Edward Graham, Chairman of the Pentecostal European Fellowship Marek Kaminski, and many others.

Even President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned to the Almighty as he ended his intervention with these words: “I want to thank you for spreading the truth about the war, for uniting people in calling on all the hearts of the world to be with Ukraine, with Ukrainians, with truth, with people striving for peace. I thank you. I thank you, God Almighty. Save Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine.”

Moving moments

Apart from the protocolary interventions, there were two particularly moving moments.

The first was a candle-lit tribute to the children, both those who have been killed in the war and the nearly 20,000 children who have been abducted and taken to Russia.

The second was a testimony of a father whose wife and three children were killed in a bombing earlier this year.

I met many Ukrainian and foreign dignitaries and church leaders on Monday but it was my conversation with a young Ukrainian navy chaplain that really struck me. He told me: “War is cruel, and any soldier — myself included — could stand before God at any moment. My greatest desire is that the soldiers God has entrusted to me would come to know Him as their Lord and Saviour. Even if someone leaves this life sooner than expected, I want them to already belong to Him — and for Him to know them.”

Maidan Square

The next morning, I made my way down to Maidan Square, scene of the 2014 protests against the decision of then president, Viktor Yanukovych, to reject a Ukraine-EU cooperation agreement in favour of closer ties with Russia, that led to the first shots of this bloody war. 

The sea of flags and photos of fallen heroes bear witness to the devastating impact of this war on Ukrainian families.  So many fathers, sons, brothers and, yes, daughters and sisters too.  So much loss and grief. So much violence and death in an unjust war.

How long?

After a two-day trip to get home, I woke up this morning to news of a fresh wave of Russian attacks on the city of Kyiv: an overnight strike of 629 drones across Ukraine that killed at least 17 people, including four children, the second largest attack of the war so far.

How long, O Lord?

I have lived through the most extraordinary period of peace in Europe. Unlike previous generations, I have never had to pick up a gun to defend my homeland and family. What a privilege I have enjoyed. Yet there is no guarantee that will be true for my children and grandchildren.

I stand with Ukraine against Russia’s unjust war. I pray for them to hold firm and to be victorious. I pray that such violence never comes to your home and to mine as it came to theirs. Yet if it does, I pray that Europeans might remember the one to whom they can turn in their darkest night: Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

“If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent” (Psalms 91:9-10 )

Slava Isusu Khrystu. Slava Ukraini. (Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Ukraine)

Jim Memory, Co-Regional Director for Lausanne Movement Europe.

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