From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 872)
“May they be secure who love you!
Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
Psalm 122:6-7
Peace is something we long for. Over the past ten years, many things were offered to us as “peace,” but they were counterfeit. Peace is far more than the official absence of war. It’s far more than life without air raids and explosions. True peace allows you to rest, knowing that no threat will come your way. We, as Christians, can find true rest and peace (“shalom”) only in God’s presence, and that’s the kind of peace we long for in Ukraine.
But what does it mean for a country? Will Ukraine’s surrender bring us peace? Will we have peace if we agree to Russian terms of negotiations? While it may look like peacemaking on the surface, it, in fact, will be enabling the aggressor and promoting violence. I came across a great article today (I’ll link it in the comments). It explains why pacifism cannot be a solution to this war. I’ll include several key points from it.
While it is justifiable to direct pacifist appeals toward Russia as the aggressor, directing them at Ukraine or both sides inadvertently benefits Russia. This is where the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu ring true: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
The first false assumption is that the war is waged between two evils while good people suffer on both sides of the front line. […] But these optics do not show a case where one party is an aggressor and another is an innocent victim that has to fight for its life, identity, and freedom. This view cannot show a difference between a rapist and their victim (as in “please reconcile because conflict is bad”).
You can defend yourself and your family, or you can die silently. This is exactly the appeal that Ukrainians understand by “peacemaking initiatives”.
… a war could be never-ending, like in the case of enslaving people. Formally, the war is over, but people are still subject to all imaginable crimes. The war is not over when TV stops showing it.
It is easy to be a pacifist when your country is protected by a powerful army and nuclear weapons. Those who cling to the philosophy of non-violence and see peace as a moral imperative most probably have not experienced bombing, shelling, and the tortures of wartime for generations. Hopefully, these pacifists will not experience these in their lives, but what will they say when they actually will have to seek out bomb shelters and flee the region that is targeted next by Russia?
Ukrainians are for peace more than anyone. Western countries have not seen real war on their territories for decades, and the Ukrainian army is doing everything it can so that no one else ever will. But one cannot reach peace without stopping the aggressor and making sure the Russians will not invade again, next time better equipped and their armies better brainwashed.
As you can see, peace turns out to be more complex than it may seem. Yet sustainable peace and justice have been at the center of our prayers for more than ten years, and we trust the Lord in His mercy and grace will grant us these in His timing.
Voice of Ukraine 
One response to “7/15/2924 — Sustainable peace and justice have been at the center of our prayers for more than ten years, and we trust the Lord in His mercy and grace will grant us these in His timing.”
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
5 “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you.”
LikeLike