The Brookings United Church of Christ will hold a peace vigil for Ukraine this Friday and every Friday until Russia ends its aggression on Ukraine:
- What: Ukraine Peace Vigil
- When: Friday, March 11, 5–5:30 p.m., and every Friday thereafter
- Where: Hillcrest Park, along 6th Street, Brookings, SD
As Jim Casy kinda said, prayer never brought in no Sidewinders or Stingers or Javelins… but as real Kirkegaard, movie-C.S. Lewis, and another theologian in my life remind me, prayer doesn’t change God—or for that matter, the course of war, drought, tornadoes, or the stock market—but it changes the one who prays. And President Zelensky has drawn inspiration from images of foreigners praying for Ukraine.
The Legislature will be off Friday, so perhaps Brookings Senator V.J. Smith (R-7/Brookings) can join the UCC’s prayer vigil. Senator Smith joined his colleagues last week in unanimous passage of Senate Resolution 702, urging support for the people of Ukraine. His Brookings colleagues Representatives Tim Reed and Larry Tidemann voted for a similar measure yesterday, House Resolution 7005. The House, too, supports Ukraine, but not as much as the Senate: HR 7005 copies SR 702 verbatim but strikes “and military means, including lethal and non-lethal security assistance” from the support it urges the United States Government to give to Ukraine. That watered-down resolution passed without debate 68–1, with the only opposition coming, unexplained, from Rep. Tony Randolph (R-35/Rapid City), who had just spent eight minutes burning up House floor time on an exceptionally busy day with a windy speech in support of his crypto-fascist HCR 6013 purporting to “celebrate American heroes” but really just sneaking in one more jab at critical race theory.
Pray for fewer windy speeches from Representative Randolph, more spine from the House and Senate, and peace and freedom for Ukraine. Then, after thoughtful, quiet reflection, unclasp your hands and work to make those things happen.
Amen. I’m proud to say that the First Congregational United Church of Christ here in Sioux Falls hosted a prayer vigil last weekend for Ukraine as well.