AN INTERFAITH PRAYER VIGIL FOR UKRAINE

This Sunday at 5 pm St. Gregory's offers an interfaith Prayer Vigil service with Choral Vespers for the people of Ukraine. I invite you to join us in-person or online for this special worship and time of holy witness. I further encourage you to invite your friends and neighbors and share this event on your social networks.

I sometimes hear people dismissing prayer for difficult situations as a timid dodge for not taking a more direct, prophetic action. And, yes, the statement that "I will pray for you" or "I will pray for that situation" can sometimes feel a little hollow, a kind of polite response with a veneer of holiness. For the people of God, the truth is that prayer should always inform action and action should always be guided by prayer. But I believe true prayer, prayer that arises from our souls where God's Spirit dwells, releases divine energy and power.

George Herbert, the 16th-century Anglican priest and poet, called prayer "the engine of the almighty" and "God's breath returning to its source." In prayer, God's spirit breathes into our heartfelt desires and something important happens, something life-giving flows into creation. Sometimes we discern the impact of our prayers, at other times, we do not, particularly when what we pray for does not turn out the way we wanted. Yet in faith, we trust that the powerful engine of God's Spirit flows through our faithful prayers. As the author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, "the fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see." (Hebrews 11:1, The Message).

Join us for our Interfaith Prayer Vigil with Choral Vespers as we offer up powerful prayers for justice, protection, and peace for the people of Ukraine. Make a Difference.

In Christ,

Andrew+

The Rev. Andrew J. Sherman

Rector