[Asec] Chapel Prayer; Russians Arrest a Pastor and Ban Services in His Church near Mariupol

[Mark Elliott]

Asbury Theological Seminary Chapel,  Wilmore, KY,  March 22, 2022

Mark R. Elliott

It is hard to wrap our heads and hearts around 10 million Ukrainian
refugees. And today only the Lord knows how many soldiers and civilians
have been killed and wounded. In time, the casualties will be counted. In
the meantime, people suffer and try to survive.

 S___ and N____ and their newborn daughter B____ arrived safe and sound in
this world this past Wednesday (March 16) in the midst of Russian shelling
of civilian targets in Kyiv. B____’s mother is a 2020 graduate of Asbury
University, and her brother, D____, is a freshman across the street.

Now home from the hospital parents and newborn are spending their nights in
a bomb shelter with N____’s parents close at hand. Through it all, the
Facebook posts of N____’s mother read like a Pauline epistle.

“These days the war shapes our lives, it dictates what we do, where we
sleep, it dominates our minds and our emotions, clarifies our values and
our priorities. Yet as much as the war affects us it doesn’t define us! We
are defined by our love for God, for our land, for our family!”

“The sermon today, the 25th day of war, started with a verse from Psalm
37:10: “A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for
them, they will not be found.”

“Tomorrow most likely our granddaughter will come home from the hospital,
and we hope our bomb shelter will be a safe place for her. I pray that none
of you, my friends, will ever wonder about that for your kids and
grandkids. Our prayers tonight are with Psalm 46 [1-3]:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore
we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the
heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake
with their surging.”

She continues, “The war will end soon, this nightmare will pass! Life will
overcome death, the light will overcome the darkness!” Jeremiah 29:11: “For
I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 Let’s go to prayer:

Lord, today we earnestly pray for peace on earth, good will toward men.

We pray for the millions of Ukrainians enduring daily bombardment.

We pray for the millions of refugees who have fled their homes.

We pray for the many families in Ukraine and in Russia who have lost loved
ones in this senseless war.

Lord, our hearts ache over the enormous, undeserved suffering, and we cry
to You on behalf of the innocent. Stay the hand of aggression and war.

Lord, we are heartened by the legions of churches, Christian ministries,
and thousands of individuals, those who know you and those whom you know,
who are comforting and aiding the floodtide of refugees from Ukraine.

Quicken our hearts too, Lord, to give as we can and to pray as we ought
without ceasing for an end to the bloodshed.

Lord, the scenes of bombed-out apartments, schools, and hospitals cause us
to wonder how to pray in the face of such destruction. But we know that
when we do not know how to pray as we ought your Holy Spirit intercedes for
us with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:27).

Lord, we close as we began: As unlikely as it seems, today we earnestly
pray for peace on earth, good will toward men.

Gospodi pomilui; Gospodi pomilui; Lord have mercy; Lord have mercy. Amen.


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Excerpt from Mark Elliott,  "Religion as a Weapon in Russia's War against
Ukraine"

It is ominous to contemplate the level of disregard for freedom of
conscience that will obtain if Donbas-style persecution expands into
additional territories Russia may manage to wrest from Ukraine. A first
troubling sign of what may be in store came on March 21 with word that two
days’ prior Mariupol-area evangelical pastor Aleksandr Glushko was arrested
by Russian forces and was spirited off to separatist-held territory in the
“Donetsk People’s Republic” *Human Rights Without Frontiers*;
https://bit/ly/3JKf2Vv.

-- 
Dr. Mark R. Elliott, Editor Emeritus
East-West Church Report
Asbury University
One Macklem Dr.
Wilmore, KY 40390
859-858-2427
emark936 at gmail.com
www.eastwestreport.org
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