I'd Sing Out Love

it is impossible to stop thinking about the war in ukraine.  as i watch the wanton destruction of this country, individual ukrainians stand out in my mind.  their bravery in the face of the russian onslaught is inspiring.  in this post i want to write about a few who fill me with admiration.  

the most obvious hero of the war is president zelensky.  we saw his unwillingness to bow to pressure when our former president tried to intimidate him into being a partner in a failed attempt to investigate president biden's son, hunter, for his involvement in ukrainian business.  just as he refused to bow to pressure then, he has not given in to the russian tyrant and the russian armed forces.  he has rallied his people by standing firm in kyiv when he and his family could have been evacuated to safety.  as russian forces appear to be preparing for the battle for control of the ukrainian capital, he remains there, ready to fight alongside other brave ukrainians.  he exemplifies leadership at its best, as he suffers along with the people of his country in defiance of overwhelming russian military might.

i saw the video of armed men carrying the mayor of melitopol away.  we are told that the mayor, ivan fedorov, was working at his desk adorned with the ukrainian flag when his office was invaded, and he was forced to leave.  his whereabouts are unknown, and president zelenksy has called for his release by his kidnappers.  apparently, mr. fedorov refused to cooperate with occupying russian forces and was forcibly removed from office.  several thousand citizens of his city rallied in his support in the town square.  this brave young man exemplifies the unwillingness of ukrainans to bow to putin's demands and surrender their country to his control.

there was a news interview of a ukrainian-american who had returned to his birthplace to fight the russians.  he was an american citizen who had served in afghanistan in the armed forces of this country.  when he saw the desperate plight of the people of ukraine, he left the safety of the usa and went to help in their struggle.  now he is putting himself in harm's way to defend the independence of the people with whom he shares a heritage.

another news story told of several ukrainian ballet dancers, both male and female, who returned to their homeland to aid in its defense.  they could have continued their careers in western europe, but they chose to abandon them because of their love for their country.  

a young man who spoke fluent english told of his efforts to communicate with the world outside ukraine, relaying information through social media about conditions inside his country.  he told the interviewer with whom he spoke that he was not trained to fight, but he believed he could best defend his country by using his skills to tell the world of his people's struggle.

there are many other stories of brave ukrainian patriots.  in all of them, we see deep love for country, determination to prevent its takeover by putin's armed forces, and compassion for others, even for the enemy.  we are learning much about a country that many of us would have had difficulty finding on a map before this war began.  our hearts are filled with admiration for them as they fight this battle.

may we learn from the example of the ukrainian people who refuse to surrender their independence.  may we do whatever we can to assist them, even though that may mean paying a few dollars more for each tank of gas.  may we be united in our support of their efforts to repel the invaders.  may their struggle be our struggle.  shalom.

The Cruel War Is Raging

as the war in ukraine rages, i've tried to put myself in the place of ordinary unkrainians.  i watch them as they are interviewed on tv and listen to their stories of loss, fear, and bravery.  i see their compassion for young russian soldiers who have been captured, as these soldiers express their bewilderment at being forced into a conflict that they don't understand while being offered food and a chance to call loved ones back in russia.  i see how torn many ukrainians are when confronted the choice of whether to stay and fight or flee to save their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.

as i look around my comfortable home where i'm surrounded by beautiful things, i contemplate being forced to leave it as the enemy's bombs come closer.  i think about what it would be like to give up everything i've spent my life collecting to escape to safety in another place, knowing that if i am ever able to return all will be lost.  it must be awful for a mother and her children to say good-bye to a husband and father who is staying to fight as they go to a safe location in another part of the country or across the border.  i wonder if i could have done what many ukrainian men have done as they said what could be their last farewell to their families.  

i try to put myself in the place of the young russian soldiers who are caught up in this conflict.  ill-trained and poorly equipped, they are being sent as cannon fodder to face death because of a mad leader intent on forcing his will on the ukrainian people.  they see their common humanity with the ukrainians they have been sent to kill, and many of them lay down their arms or turn around and head back toward the russian border.  i wonder what fate awaits them after the war is over.  perhaps they will be executed by their government or sent to prison camps in siberia.  perhaps they will make it home to loved ones and escape retribution.  others follow orders and play their parts in the killing machine of which they are a part, either having convinced themselves that the lies of their leaders are true or accepting their fate as pawns on a stage they did not choose.

the world is filled with admiration for the ukrainians who are fighting fiercely to hold off the onslaught on their homeland.  they have refused to accept the analysis of military experts that fighting the might of the russian army is futile and have fought bravely and brilliantly.  we hope against hope for a negotiated peace that will leave ukraine intact as a sovereign, democratic nation.  perhaps putin's military commanders and his wealthy cronies will turn against him and bring the war and his leadership to an end.  the situation is not good for either side now, but it ordinary ukrainians that are suffering most.  no matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to understand fully what they are experiencing.

may we be filled with deep compassion for their suffering.  may we do what we can to aid them.  may we support our government and its allies who are aiding the ukrainians in whatever ways are possible short of expanding the armed conflict.  may we see that they and the russians who are invading their country are like us, that they are us and we are them.  may we sense our common humanity and work for peace among individuals, clans, and nations.  shalom.

Give Peace a Chance

as i begin writing this, the battle for kyiv is raging.  by the time it is published in a couple of days, the situation may have changed dramatically.  for now, we watch in horror as the russian armed forces invade ukraine.  we feel powerless to help.  our hearts are filled with admiration for the ukrainians as they fight to defend their country.  undoubtedly, many of them will die, including innocent civilians killed by the indiscriminate bombing of their cities.  others will be combatants who have chosen to take up arms in their country's defense.  we ask ourselves why putin has chosen to send his country's armed forces to take over his neighbor which has done nothing more than to assert ukraine's sovereignty and right to self-determination. 

many countries, including our own, have instituted sanctions against the russian government and the oligarchs who control it.  some have furnished military equipment to the ukrainian armed forces.  short of sending in troops, the industrialized democracies of the world are providing aid in every way possible.  as the fight plays out, we will see if their actions, coupled with the bravery of the ukrainian people,  are enough to affect putin's aggression.  many brave russians have spoken out against their country's actions.  some have taken to the streets and have been arrested as they stage peaceful protests.  there has even been one report of russian soldiers surrendering in protest of their orders to kill their neighbors in ukraine.

president zelensky has provided a model of leadership and bravery to his people and the world.  when offered american assistance in evacuating the capital, his statement, "i need ammunition, not a ride, the fight is here," will no doubt become a rallying cry for all those who fight oppression.  his refusal to abandon his people and his willingness to give up his own life for the sake of his country's freedom is heroic.  he is one of many heroes struggling in this david-versus-goliath battle.  we pray that the david-that-is-ukraine will triumph as did the legendary david.  

comparisons to hitler's actions in invading poland are inevitable.  this time the aggressor is meeting much stiffer resistance than was the case in the earlier dictator's war against a weaker neighbor.  we hope that the steps taken by ukraine's many friends around the world, coupled with the resolve of the ukrainian people, will cause putin to reconsider his destructive path.  perhaps a diplomatic resolution of the differences between the two countries will emerge before the invasion has decimated ukraine.

may we support our government and governments around the world as they come to ukraine's aid.  may we learn from the example of the brave ukrainians who are willing to lay down their lives for the ideals in which they believe.  may the russian fighters see the folly of war and refuse to be used as pawns in their leader's global chess match.  may the world turn from the path of destruction of human life and embrace peaceful ways of resolving differences between nations and one another.  shalom.

I Say a Little Prayer for You

each morning as part of my meditation time, i say this phrase:  "may i think kindly of others, may i not get angry or think badly of others."  some days, i am successful in living up to my goal regarding others, but on most days i find myself having thoughts about others that are less than kind.  i get angry, and i think badly of others.  perhaps my failures are not as frequent as they once were, but my thoughts betray my intention to become a kinder, more compassionate person.  i find petty irritations with others arising in my mind.  most of the time, that's where they stay, but occasionally that pettiness is expressed aloud.

i suppose transforming myself into someone who has nothing but kind thoughts will be a lifelong project.  i must admit that there are times i enjoy finding fault with others and thereby congratulating myself on my moral superiority.  i say to myself, like the pharisee in luke's gospel, "i thank you that i am not like other men."  i need to "first take the log out of [my] own eye, and then [i] will see clearly to take the speck out of [my] brother’s eye," as matthew's gospel reports jesus saying.  it is all too easy to see the shortcomings of others while ignoring our own.

the question is how to let go of the delight in finding fault with others and at the same time recognizing our own faults.  in the letter to the romans, the writer says, "i often find that i have the will to do good, but not the power. that is, i don’t accomplish the good i set out to do, and the evil i don’t really want to do i find i am always doing."  this is a common frailty that we all must work to diminish if we wish to avoid thinking badly of or getting angry with others.  each morning as i meditate, i am going to set this as my intention.  perhaps through reminding myself at the start of each day that i intend to recognize my unkind thoughts towards others and label them as unwanted, my mind will turn from those destructive patterns of thinking and acting and will pivot towards more positive attitudes.

may we each recognize "the evil i don't really want to do" as that evil arises.  may we learn to think kindly of others and turn from anger and bad thoughts.  may we not take delight in the faults of others in order to feel better about ourselves.  may we make it our intention to follow the path of compassion and lovingkindness.  shalom.

Peace, Peace, Deep Peace

life is full of changes.  we cannot escape them.  when we moved from our home of thirty-plus years to a new town, our lives changed in many ways.  we were excited about the change at the time of our move.  now what seemed so different is our new normal.  we went from living in a medium-sized city with many shopping, dining, and cultural opportunities to the slower pace of a small town that lacked many of the amenities that we were accustomed to.  we still miss our former home, but there are advantages to our new home, such as the natural beauty that surrounds us and becoming acquainted with new friends.

we've seen the pastor of our church retire and a new pastor take his place.  the coming of the new minister completely changed the pattern of the church's worship and the focus of the church's mission to something that feels alien and disconcerting to us.  in a short period, our church has gone from being a place where we felt at ease to something very foreign to us.  now we feel alienated from the church we thought would be our spiritual home for the rest of our lives.  another church we thought might be a better fit for us is going through some wrenching changes that make us question whether we want to be a part of it or not.  now we feel adrift from our spiritual roots, wondering if we will ever find a church where we seem to belong.

our children are facing changes in their lives as well.  our daughter is questioning whether the career to which she has devoted her life is the right one for her because of the changes the covid pandemic has forced on the way her job is performed.  our son is devoting many of his free hours to developing new skills that will lead to a new career for him, one that will be radically different from his present job.  both of them may soon find themselves in changed positions with new challenges.  they are both optimistic and fearful about the possibility of leaving jobs to which they have become accustomed to venture down new paths.  

many of the changes in our lives are beyond our control.  we endure rising prices because of the supply chain and labor market difficulties brought on by the pandemic.  we are forced to take precautions that are alien to us to prevent infection from the covid virus.  others changes are of our choosing, such as our move to a new home and a new town or our children's looking forward to the possibility of new careers.  those changes that we have some degree of control over and which are the result of our own decisions are often easier to deal with.  even though they may cause us some discomfort, we usually regard them optimistically.  those that are forced on us are harder.  we stress over them.  we rail against them.  in the end, we must accept them or find ways around them.  whatever our attitude toward a particular change, change comes to us, and we must choose how we deal with that change.

may we find the wisdom and strength to accept change as an inevitable part of life.  may we consider how we will deal with change.  will we develop strategies to ward off an unwanted change?  will we consider the positive aspects of some change that comes to us, or will we see only the negatives?  may we be at peace with change that comes our way, regardless of how we choose to regard it.  shalom.

And Lifts Her Leafy Arms to Pray

this week we had a beautiful snowfall, the second of this winter season.  the snow still covers the ground and will probably be around for another couple of days.  the streets have begun to clear, and we may venture out today to buy groceries.  we had planned to go to a concert this evening, but i'm uncertain whether that's a safe trip to make.  we would have to travel about seventy miles each way and would be coming home late in the evening when moisture on the highway may have turned to ice.

as i admire the beauty outside our windows, my thoughts turn to the shoddy way in which we have cared for the planet we call home.  i wonder if future generations will enjoy the same lovely winters that we experience.  will the hardwood forests survive?  will several deep snows fall each winter?  will there still be four distinct seasons, each with its own charms?  one of the reasons we moved here is the mild summers, the characteristic fall colors, and the chilly, but not too severe, winters.  where we lived before, summers were oppressive and winters were more like a continuation of fall.  when it snowed, it barely covered the ground and seldom lasted more than a few hours before melting.  we love the transitions between the seasons here and hope that those who come after us will experience the same enjoyment.

as the earth warms, that hope seems less likely to be realistic.  i fear that we will take steps to ease the pressures on our climate only when it is too late.  the time to act is now.  with each day that passes without recognizing the dangers of continued spewing of greenhouse gasses into the air, the chance to reverse the damage we have done grows slimmer.  we are so greedy that our short-term comfort and wealth have taken precedence over the earth's long-term well-being.  if we deny that we are the reason for climate change, we can eliminate the need to take responsibility for it, telling ourselves that we are going through a natural warming cycle that will in time reverse itself.  those who have made the study of climate change their lives' work tell us otherwise.  the overwhelming majority of climate scientists insist that our practices are the reason climate all over the world is changing, as storms become more frequent and more severe and drought afflicts some regions while flooding happens more often in other areas.

may we awaken to the dangers we are creating.  may we elect leaders who will take the steps necessary to reverse harm to our planet.  may we do what we can as individuals to lessen our carbon footprints, recognizing that these individual efforts can have a huge collective effect.  may we take our responsibilities to future generations seriously, rather than engaging in practices that endanger those who come after us.  may we truly care for one another.  shalom.

We Are But a Moment's Sunlight

we humans are proficient at creating "others" to blame for what's wrong in the world.  for me, the others are those with whom i disagree politically, those blankety-blank right-wingers.  why can't they see that they are wrong and that those who agree with me are right?  it's easy to see republicans and their allies as the enemies.  i can cry in righteous indignation about their indifference to the poor, their hatred of immigrants, their desire to protect the rich at the expense of the rest of society, their anti-democratic embrace of dictators and misogynists, and a multitude of other mistaken positions that they embrace.

i believe i'm right in opposing them in every way i can but i'm not right in failing to see them as people more like me than different from me.  we christians have a saying: love the sinner, hate the sin.  that cliche has some truth in it, but it is most frequently a way of defending hatred that is directed more at the person than at their ideas and the actions that flow from them.  bigots use this bromide against the lgbtq community.  it's too easy to pretend that we can get beyond our hatred of a particular point-of-view or life-stlye to see the person who embraces it as worthy of love and compassion.  all too often we hate "the sinner" as much as we hate what we view as "the sin."

the problem is to figure out a way to put myself in the shoes of another with whom i disagree strongly.  i don't want to have compassion for them.  after all, they are so different, so wrong that they don't deserve my concern.  nevertheless, they are human, just as i am.  i don't know the past experiences that have brought them to embrace an ideology that is repugnant to me.  i can't explain or understand why they believe as they do.  do they crave power?  is their seeming indifference to the suffering of others a way of justifying their desires for enriching themselves?  perhaps these things are true of them or maybe they honestly believe that the liberal philosophy that those of us on the left promote corrupts society by making people dependent on government assistance rather than earning an honest living. 

i don't want to think that these "others" could be sincere in the point-of-view they preach, much less contemplate the possibility that there could be some truth in what they say.  instead, i villainize them so that i won't feel compelled to have compassion for them.  if i make them the enemy, i don't have to engage with them or see them as fellow sufferers.  i can tell myself that they are so different from me that i am excused from viewing our common humanity.  all of us tend to look for others that we can blame for the suffering we endure and the shared hurts of society.  what we must try to avoid is this scapegoating that so easily takes root in our minds.

may i learn to see the humanity of another first.  may i avoid labeling and stereotyping those with whom i disagree.  may i love without condition, even when the object of that love is not so easy to love.  may i defend my beliefs without denigrating those with whom i disagree.  may my heart be filled with lovingkindness and compassion for all, as i seek to get past the idea of creating "others" who are unworthy.  shalom.