March 3, 2025
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday,
” that America’s “rapidly changing” foreign policy “largely coincides with our vision.”
I mentioned in a sermon a few weeks ago that I received the message that we were supposed to hate the Russians in the 1960s and 1970s. I grew up in the vicinity of two large power plants , one in Canada and one in the US, and there was fear that if bombs were going to drop we might be the targets. My mom and dad came out of Russia/Ukraine in the 1920’s and had endured suffering as little children. My dad held on to that kind of hate for the Russians, I think, for his entire life. One of my kids has said that I am always in fear of the Soviets coming to get us. He might be right.
Now, I read that the Russians are in line with the US. What happened ? Now I might have to live in fear of the United States, and Russia. I try to not live with a ‘them and us’ mentality, but it is ingrained in me from 1968, and the Czech revolution. It was put down by the Soviets. Love is supposed to cast out all fear. I am learning, and working at it, but it does not come easy. Fear moves through trauma and through generations. I think I received some of it from my mom and dad.
The church is not helpful. The evangelical church in the US is lining up beside the present government. The largest church in Russia is the Orthodox, and they are praying for the President of Russia to defeat Ukraine. Paul the apostle talks about the ‘ principalities and powers ‘:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
This struggle can be part of our Lent journey . We can change our prayer life, by focusing on the world and its struggles. Be silent before God, and see what the Spirit says to you and us. What is our vision to wage peaceful action against the powers of this world ?
When The Spirit Walks in the Room from Bruce Cockburn ( 2023 )
It can appear at any hour
When it comes, it comes in power
You may not walk, you may not see
But you’ll become what you can be
You’re a thread upon the loom
When the spirit walks in the room
We’re but threads upon the loom
When the spirit walks in the room
AMEN.
Fred
black and white shadows
crush humanity’s freedom
am I complicit ? MPL 2025
Ponder Anew 