As we have watched with fear and sorrow as events have unfolded in Afghanistan, many have felt a renewed need to witness, to lament and to pray. Like me, some of you have joined online in the vigil service livestreamed from Townsville cathedral last Wednesday night and a further opportunity to gather and to pray is being offered by St John’s Cathedral at midday on Sunday 22nd of August. (Service will also be streamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel.)
While we may feel helpless, we can recommit ourselves to the love and solidarity we can show in our faith community; a love that honours the fragility of our lives and the structures that hold and protect our common life. As we see images of terror on the news, may we hold to the hope that we have been given – that the light does yet shine in the darkness and the darkness shall never overcome it.
You may find strength in the last words of this prayer written today by Dom Fay.
Help us to imagine a future of healing,
and then show us the ways in which we can help bring it into being –
a future in which weapons can be set aside,
agendas can be surrendered,
the hungry can be fed,
the oppressed can be free,
the gifts of this earth can be shared,
all those who are divided can be united,
and the world, at last, can be at peace.
Grace and peace,
Sue+