Good day to you all and greetings from my home in Brussels.

We have a vast diocese, covering the whole of the European continent and it includes Kyiv in Ukraine and Moscow in Russia.

On Thursday, we all woke to some deeply distressing events. The sites and sounds of war. War is horrible, it injures, kills and destroys in an often indiscriminate and uncontrollable way, and now we face war in Europe.

Our little church in Kyiv is at the centre of this crisis, some have fled the city by car, others are still there. These are our people, our brothers and sisters, and of course we are very concerned for their well-being and safety. 

In the face of military action and aggression, we feel powerless, what can we do? One thing that we can all do is pray. We can pray in solidarity with those most affected. We can pray that God will even now over rule in the hearts and minds of those with power and authority. We can pray that the victims will be few and the innocent will be protected. We can pray that peace will come through justice and not through the infliction of the will of a stronger party on a weaker. And I can assure you that our community in Kyiv is deeply appreciative of your prayers. 

The Psalmist writes "The Lord shall give strength to his people. The Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace" 

So, in some words written by the Dean of Southwark Cathedral, we pray: 

God of strength and peace
Send your blessing on the people of Ukraine.
Sustain them in their struggles, 
hold them in their fear, 
protect them from all danger 
and be for them to hope they desire. 
For Jesus Christ sake. 
Amen.