“There are ‘no minor incursions and small nations.’”President Volodymyr Zelensky
God, of the sparrow falling,
the existence of beauty in a field lily,
the bread-potential of leaven
sheltering branches which come
from the mustardseed,
a pearl of great price or single cup of water,
and the assumption of kindness
at the knock in the night
of someone with hungry children.
God of those who become
least of these because of situation,
we give you thanks for Jesus’ stories
so long ago,
that remind us to follow you,
teach all of your world,
who would prefer to yell out
“we are already comfortable in bed
with our own families,”
that it is the holy time to get up
and share that which is helpful. Amen.
Gifts in Open Hands 
Well … this one made me weep.
Thank you, again, for your words.
Mary
>
You are very welcome — it is a terrible situation
Thank you, Maren, for reminding us all of our responsibility to do something about this situation, even if what we do is to remind our government of its moral obligation to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression.
I think that even a small thing done by the United States makes a tremendous impact.
From your blog to God’s ears – and the ears of all humanity, Maren.
I guess I never thought of it that way … guess I do have a lot of presumption. Thank you.
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you were presumptuous (now I’m wondering if all prayer is presumptuous – it may well be). I suppose it’s optimistic to believe that some human ears, hearing your prayer, might choose new directions. OK, it is optimistic. I feel better to believe it.
Oh dear, no. I was feeling pleased that I was presumptuous, Eric, not thinking you implied it! I worry that my deeply unifying concept of being inclusive often ends up with my being, well wishy-washy.
How odd. I’m just finally coming to read this comment, and this morning I read these words in a Terry Pratchett novel: “Sacrificin’ your own life, one day at a time, to the flame, declarin’ the truth of it, workin’ for it, breathin’ the soul of it. That’s religion. Anything else is just… is just bein’ nice. And a way of keepin’ in touch with the neighbors…
“And I don’t think that’s fashionable right now, ‘cos it seems that if you sees evil now you have to wring your hands and say, ‘oh deary me, we must debate this…’ You be happy to let things lie. Don’t chase faith, ‘cos you’ll never catch it… But, perhaps, you can live faithfully.”
Woo hoo! wonderful quotation. I am keeping this one and my love for Terry Pratchett. I heard him speak at a science fiction convention once (I do love going to cons) and talk about building a bookcase so he would always have 8 feet of empty shelf. I also deeply admire him for walking straight into his Alzheimers.
I miss waiting for his next book!
Amen. A beautiful prayer.
Thank you.
On Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 2:03 PM Gifts in Open Hands wrote:
> Maren posted: ” Ukraine landscape, public domain “There are ‘no minor > incursions and small nations.’”President Volodymyr ZelenskyGod, of the > sparrow falling,the existence of beauty in a field lily,the bread-potential > of leavensheltering branches which comefrom the mu” >
We rarely had long to wait!
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