We have just run an All Age Family Camp for our Ukrainian friends who are in the Royal Hotel in Bray, Co Wicklow. Then yesterday we concluded with a Prayer Service, for which the Ukrainians crafted a prayer for Ukraine. But there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, as we all recognized it as a prayer from their hearts.
We had a full on week with a great variety of activities. Young and old alike did dance moves and played all sorts of games. The art rooms proved very popular, although we noticed a lot of pictures of military tanks. The play areas were busy with babies and toddlers. There were crafts and knitting, and card making and drumming. The kitchen was a permanent hive of activty. Ukrainian ladies enjoyed cooking their own dishes for lunch, and seeing the Irish enjoying them. Zapikanka was my favourite, a dessert a bit like a baked cheesecake with raisins.
We had glorious weather, and three barbecues over seven days. As the adults sat around after lunch, chatting in the sunshine, we enjoyed watching the small boys kick a football around with abandon. On Saturday, some volunteers organised a karaoke, and a great deal of laughter. Each morning our team prayed for a change of perspective for our Ukrainian friends. On a practical level, we hoped that they would enjoy being outside the four walls of their hotel. But we also prayed that they would be able to relax and discover some joy even in their awful circumstances. Indeed we did listen to some heart breaking stories, but tears were intermingled with laughter.
I hosted a poetry room where both Ukrainians and Irish wrote their own simple poems. We used some Bible Psalms as templates, following the guidelines developed by a poet friend of mine. What a privilege to sit with our Ukrainian friends as they dared to place their emotions onto paper. Those who came one afternoon told me that they wanted to hand over what they had writtten into God’s care. They asked one of the Pastors if they could do this symbolically by giving their papers to him. He and I were quite undone.
With Archbishop Michael Jackson
As Crinken Church of Ireland were hosting the Camp in their new facilities, Archbishop Michael Jackson joined us one day. He visited our poetry room. I’ve been despatching orders for my book Oksana and Ihor Went on a Journey to accommodation centres and hubs for Ukrainians. But I was delighted when the Archbishop told me that he is going to order some boxes of the book. He plans to give a copy to every Ukrainian in the schools under his patronage.
The team asked me to coordinate the crafting of a prayer for Ukraine for the concluding Prayer Service. I persuaded the week’s ‘poets’ to help me. But it proved a challenge, as it begged a difficult question. Why did God let the invasion happen, with all its attendant death and destruction? It took a while, but from many different contributions, we crafted a prayer for Ukraine. Then we translated it into English. At the Prayer Service, we listened to the words in Ukrainian, while following the English translation on the screens. Many of us determined to pray them every day. If you would like to use this prayer yourself, you can download a printable version below.
We are thankful to You, O God, that you saved our lives and brought us to a safe land.
We ask You to protect the lives of our soldiers – our husbands, fathers, and sons – so that they may come back home alive and well.
Save the lives of all our loved ones, and of all Ukrainians who remain in our land and in our occupied territories.
Please grant healing to all who have been wounded, and give comfort to the families of those who have been killed.
Give wisdom to President Zelensky and all in our government, that they make wise decisions so as to bring peace to our land as soon as possible.
We ask You to stop the source of this evil which has brought war to our nation.
We pray too for those in other war zones, that love may prevail in their hearts, and that You will bring peace on earth.
We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God. Amen.
Click here to download a copy of this prayer, printable as A5 or A4.