From: Roman Sheremeta — Today, April 13, russia struck the city center of Sumy with two ballistic missiles. At least 31 people were killed, including two children, and nearly one hundred were injured.
People were heading to church in the morning to celebrate Palm Sunday. But on the orders of the war criminal Putin, they were murdered. One missile hit a trolleybus. The second targeted the Cultural Center of Sumy University, where cultural and educational events were taking place.
As a US citizen, I am appalled and feel very guilty. Since the US administration cut off support for Ukraine, Ukrainian forces haven’t had enough air defense missiles to shoot down Russian rockets. As a result, russian attacks on Ukraine have skyrocketed. The death toll has surged in just three months.
Voice of Ukraine 
2 responses to “4/13/2025 — On Palm Sunday, while people were on their way to church, russians killed them.”
April 11, 2022
From Pastor Ivan: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity” Ps. 133:1. It is difficult to put in words the joy of meeting with brothers and sisters at a church service in the midst of a wartime. Ever since the beginning of the full scale war, our capital city has been subject to strict martial law regulations. The Kyiv region was one of the first to be attacked. Immediately the life and ministry of the church were completely redefined and reformed. Although many members of the church had to evacuate to a safe place, part of the church remained in Kyiv. We continue to distribute humanitarian aid, deliver food and medicine to those in need.
Some members of our congregation took up arms and went to the territorial defense battalions. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our collective worship services, because our meeting place, due to its proximity to the Government block, could become a target for rockets or bombs. For the past several Sundays, we were limited to online sermons and devotion at home. We looked forward to our daily evening prayer meetings, when we met online every evening for prayer and fellowship.
All of us felt very acute need of a live, face to face, collective worship service on the Lord’s day. The disturbing news from the front line, stress and anxiety only contributed to this longing. Finally, this past Sunday, April 10, we managed to get together for the worship service in the building of the ERSU Seminary.
Notwithstanding the wartime, our joy knew no bounds. We savoured every moment of this divine service. We sang our well-known Christian hymns, fervently prayed for the needs of the church and our long-suffering country, soaked up the readings of God’s Word and meditated on the words of the sermon. Despite the fact that we were few, God’s presence in this service was so special and more tangible than ever. The Lord spoke to the heart of each of us through His Word and evoked a response in the depths of every soul.
After the benediction, we, completely neglecting and forgetting the Covid restrictions, hugged, talked with each other and enjoyed the refreshments. We just didn’t want to leave. Everyone understood that live, face to face worship service just has no alternative in our earthly life. When we finally parted, encouraged and spiritually strengthened, we realised that we were already looking forward to our next worship service to our Lord in the assembly of brothers and sisters.
LikeLike
April 30, 1944
J.R.R. Tolkien to his son Christopher
“The utter stupid waste of war, not only material but moral and spiritual, is so staggering to those who have to endure it. And always was (despite the poets) and always will be (despite the propagandists)– not of course that it has not is and will be necessary to face it in an evil world. But so short is human memory and so evansescent are its generations that in only about 30 years there will be few or no people with that direct experience which alone goes really to the heart. The burnt hand teaches most about fire.
“I sometimes feel appalled at the thought of the sum total of human misery all over the world at the present moment: the millions parted, fretting, wasting in unprofitable days- quite apart from torture, pain, death, bereavement, injustice. If anguish were visible, almost the whole of this benighted planet would be enveloped in a dense dark vapour, shrouded from the amazed vision of the heavens! And the products of it all will be mainly evil- historically considered.
“But the historical version is, of course, not the only one. All things and deeds have a value in themselves…No man can estimate what is really happening at the present ‘sub species aeterniaris’. All that we do know, and that to a large extent by direct experience, is that evil labours with vast powere and perpetual success- in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to sprout in. So it is in general, and so it is in our own lives..
“But there is still some hope that things may be better for us, even on the termporal plane, in the mercy of God. And though we need all our natural human courage and guts (the vast sum of human courage and endurance is stupendous, isn’t it?) and all our religious faith to face the evil that may befall us (as it befalls others, if God wills), still we may pray and hope. I do.”
LikeLike