Exodus 34. 29-35                               2 Corinthians 3.12 – 4.2

Psalm 99                                              Luke 9. 28- 36

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “an act of great evil”, and that is no understatement. The unprovoked and unjustified use of extreme military force to overtake another country, especially a much weaker and less powerful one, is perhaps the worst thing a nation-state can do. We are all appalled by the events now taking place in that sad country, even though it was anticipated and we were warned, it still beggars belief. In such circumstances, there is a great temptation simply to despair. To throw up our arms and cry “What can I do?” while painfully feeling that the answer to that question is probably “Nothing”.

However, the answer is not “Nothing”- far from it - and there are important matters that all Christians need to remember.

Firstly, we believe in a God who hates evil and wrongdoing and who desires what is right and just in our world and in our society. Listen to the words of Psalm 5 verses 4 to 6:

“You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you. The boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.”

And in our Psalm for today, Psalm 99, we read:

“Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.”

Make no mistake – God is definitely not on the side of the aggressor. The way of warfare and violence to achieve ends is not God’s way. So to describe what is happening in Ukraine at the moment as evil is not inappropriate, and we can be sure that it is not what he wants.

Secondly, we recall that God’s people have suffered such tragedy and disaster before. The history of Israel is one of almost constant attack from foreign powers, very often involving invasion, conquest and exile with much bloodshed. And the Christian Church ever since its inception has faced persecution and suppression, right up to the present day. The wrath of powerful empires and dictators has come down hard on believers from time immemorial, and it is not unusual in scripture to hear their despairing cry.

However, for all that, we know that God is a God of love and of peace. We know that because he sent his only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to this earth to be born, to live and to die with us and for us. And in all his teachings and in the way that he died he showed us that the proper pattern of life and of our world is one of love and of peace. He went to the cross because of that, and we believe that he rose again, triumphing over evil and sin and all the bad things of this world.  

That leads us to the third matter. The word “triumphing” reminds us of the ultimate sovereignty of God. He is the creator and sustainer of all that is – he is God and all that that means. We were reminded of that in our Psalm today – “The Lord is king,” the Psalmist declares, “Let the peoples tremble.” He is the Lord, he is great and awesome. And again in our Old Testament reading from Exodus where – the story goes – Moses was so close to God that his face shone when he came down from the mountain to meet with his fellow Israelites. He had been in the presence of almighty God and it showed. And that was the main feature of our Gospel today – the extraordinary event known as the Transfiguration. Jesus the man takes his closest disciples to the top of a mountain and is transfigured – they see him in dazzling white, conferring with great figures from the past and hearing the voice of the almighty declaring Jesus to be his son.

We put all these together and what do we have? A God who is sovereign over all things, a God of love and a God who hates evil. What, then, are we to make of the events of the last few days, or indeed, of the history of humanity? I do not think that we can ever fully comprehend why God allows things to happen, but we do know that his ultimate purpose is to love and care for us - his world and all humanity and that he is with us at all times. He is beside us no matter what we face. We know that because of what Jesus said and did, and St. Paul makes that abundantly clear in his letter to the Corinthians which we heard as our New Testament reading. We know God’s nature and what he is about – God has revealed himself to us and shown that he is firmly with us in all that happens, be it good or bad, through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Evil and bad things happen – what do we do? St. Paul says very clearly that we do not lose heart. We have confidence in that God of love and peace who hates evil and who has ultimately triumphed over them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we know from history that despite the trials and tribulations of God’s followers from the earliest times until today that evil does not triumph in the end. The tyrants and dictators, the savage empires, do not last and do not have the ultimate victory. So with all that in mind, we act and we do all that we can, knowing that we do not need to have fear or worry or doubt.  We strive to achieve in our world, in our society and in our personal lives, God’s way of love and of peace. There are many ways in which we as individuals, and, most importantly as the Church, can do this, but we begin with prayer: we pray for ourselves, we pray for governments and leaders, we pray for institutions and organisations, we pray for those who work hard for peace and for the relief of suffering. We give all to God, asking for his guidance and wisdom, and we look to those basic principles of the very nature of God to see the best way forward. 

It may be that we here in Stanway on this Sunday morning feel rather helpless or powerless, but we are not. There are simple and practical things that we can do in this crisis, and most of all, we can all pray. And we can pray in faith and in confidence to the God of love, through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.