A disturbing warning
By Jeff Fountain - Posted at Evangelical Focus:
Uncertainty is no excuse for paralysis. The biblical alternative to complacency is watchfulness; the alternative to fear is faithfulness.Many British Christians had their comfort zones disturbed recently when Pete Greig, founder of the 24-7 Prayer movement, sounded the alarm: ‘Prepare for war’.
Speaking at the Wildfires Festival in August he described being impressed in his thoughts one day by those three ominous words.
None of us like hearing that sort of warning. We’d rather not think about a scenario where our comfortable world gets turned upside down, where the future becomes unpredictable and where lives, perhaps those of loved ones, even ourselves, are threatened.
We’d rather dismiss such talk as the rantings of disreputable weirdos – not someone with the global standing of a Pete Greig.
Eight years ago I found myself suppressing such thoughts while standing in Maidan, Independence Square, in the heart of Kyiv.
"Far from being engaged in a distant conflict out of sight over the horizon, Ukrainians have realised that they are on the frontline of a battle that will shape Europe’s future. That’s where the popular uprisings of the Orange Revolution (2004-5) and the Revolution of Dignity (2014-5) had set Ukraine on the path of democratic freedom and full independence from Moscow."As I took in the scene around me – of flags and monuments in memory of those fallen in the struggle for freedom – the disturbing realisation floated into my consciousness that Putin would not sit by and allow a free, democratic republic to flourish on his southern border.
But I did not want to allow the thought of missiles perhaps one day smashing into the very buildings surrounding me at that moment. And yet that is now what is happening in this very moment.
Ukrainians of course have been living with air-raid sirens, destroyed homes, displaced families, funerals and the daily uncertainty of whether loved ones will return alive for nearly five years now.
Actually for over twelve years, since the Crimean invasion. Their churches have become shelters, relief centres, kitchens, hospitals of the soul and communities of hope.
Far from being engaged in a distant conflict out of sight over the horizon, Ukrainians have long realised that they are on the frontline of a battle that will shape Europe’s future.
The shape of the whole international order, in fact. They have been trying to wake us up for some time.
