Lord have mercy

Please pray with me:

For the people of Ukraine and Russia, Lord have mercy.

For the nations who welcome refugees, Lord have mercy.

For President Zelensky, that he may lead his people with wisdom, Lord have mercy.

For President Putin, that his heart might be turned from stone to a heart that seeks peace, Lord have mercy.

For soldiers who fight battles and shed blood and die while men in suits far away sit behind desks and scheme not understanding nor caring about the human cost, Lord have mercy.

For businesses who profit off of war, that the may be radically reoriented towards doing the public good, Lord have mercy.

For oligarchs and billionaires who pull strings and make their vast fortunes off of the sweat and labor of so many others, Lord have mercy.

For creation that has to suffer the consequences of human greed and ego, Lord have mercy.

For those whose identity is so linked to a political party or politician that they can’t see clearly, Lord have mercy.

For those who need an outlet for their anger that they attack anyone and anything that is distantly related to the conflict, Lord have mercy.For those who scapegoat and blame others, Lord have mercy.

For the peacemakers whose calling seems impossible, Lord have mercy.

For the religious figures in the midst of war who proclaim a message of peace, a message that goes against the very human desire for violence and revenge, Lord have mercy.

For all the unnamed who we lift up to you, Lord in your mecy.

We cry out to you O Holy One because what else can we possibly do? Humans are addicted to violence and cannot free themselves, whether that violence comes in the form of bringing a war, attacking people who have nothing to do with war or the reason why anything is going on, scapegoating and blaming people for war, gas prices, or anything else, come proposing simplistic “solutions” that would cause massive death and destruction and a spiral of destructive unitended consequences. Humans have been doing this for as long as humans have been walking the face of the earth. Change our hearts. Transform us. Please – for all our sakes and the sake of creation.

Amen.