"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.All these are the beginning of birth pains." -Matthew 24:6-8
In September 2001, I was living in Nashville, TN, a senior at Belmont University and enjoying each moment of singing with the amazing Christ Church Choir. On September 11, the day that broke our nation's heart but not our spirit, we flocked to church to mourn, to comfort and to pray. The following Sunday our choir wept and cried from the choir loft as we offered up and out our prayer, "Lord, Have Mercy (Kyrie)" by Charles Billingsley. It was one of the most profound and moving moments of worship I have ever experienced and I wish I could find a recording of it. Ever since then, throughout the years when hard and heavy times come, this song like an anthem always comes back and plays in my mind. It becomes a worshipful prayer as I move through my day and have no adequate words of my own.
Today we woke to the news that Russia has invaded Ukraine, once again I'm heartbroken and speechless. I'm weary of the unprecedented. I've moved through this day answering the questions from my children, watching snippets of the news, seeing the videos filling social media, hearing the desperate utterances from loved ones waiting, and grieving the evilness and terror of this world. As the hours have passed and the shock wears off, this song once again bubbles up from my soul and becomes my prayer. Lord, have mercy.
I read an article earlier about US veterans who have been traveling there to train the Ukraine men and women to fight. One told the story of training kids as young as 13. Y'all. That one broke my heart to pieces, just as it broke the authors, as I thought of my own teenager safely here at home. Lord, have mercy. My pre-teen is currently studying the Cold War after just completing a unit study of World War 2. She has such a clear grasp of what happened in history and today as she processed what's happening in Europe she asked hard questions trying to piece together how the collective "we" could let any country invade to take over and harm another country and it's citizens again. Lord, have mercy.
Lord, be with the people in Ukraine and please intercede on their behalf. Be with the terrified mothers and fathers trying to protect their children. Be with the children and teenagers who are now experiencing a scary trauma their innocence should never know. Be with the fathers staying behind after sending their families away. Be with the Ukrainian military and volunteers resisting these tyrannical communists, their boots on the ground. Lord, have mercy. Be with those who grieve today such grievous loss of life. Lord, have mercy.
Here is a video of the song, sung by a different choir, but still powerful…
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