Prayers For Peace Easter Sermons Try To Make Spiritual Sense Of War

Members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Coeur d’Alene have pledged to pray an hour a day until the war in Kosovo is over.

Their prayers could last a long time. The conflict is escalating, showing no sign of ending anytime soon.

The church’s prayer vigil began Thursday, with copies of prayers addressing war and strife distributed to all.

St. Luke’s pastor, the Rev. Robert Hasseries, also has opened up his church 24 hours a day, to make sure his congregation always has a place to pray. Hasseries expects a fourth of the church’s 400 members to join the vigil.

“The theory behind this is, the church should do what it does best, and that’s say better prayers,” Hasseries said.

As Christians gather to celebrate Easter today, St. Luke’s is just one church in the Inland Northwest searching for an appropriate way to address the war. Pastors are struggling to find the right message to convey about the war.

Some churches are preparing to send food to the ethnic Albanians filling refugee camps. Most congregations are keeping the battered Balkan region in their prayers.

Most pastors are encouraging their congregations to pray, but few plan to preach about the war today. Has series said he plans to mention the conflict as an example of where Christ is most needed.

“It’ll be an illustration of where you find Jesus today. Where there’s no peace, he’s going to be there. Where do you see the risen Lord? If you don’t list Kosovo, you’re crazy,” Hasseries said. “We see this war as a stone that needs to be rolled away. Wars get in the way of seeing the presence of Christ.”

Several other pastors say they likely will mention the war in upcoming sermons, after Easter, but they struggle with how to address it.

“I do intend to talk about it as part of a sermon, but I don’t know what exactly I’m going to say,” said the Rev. John Haven of First Baptist Church in Coeur d’Alene. “In the Bible, it’s hard to find specific direction in something like this. Christians are people of peace, but also, Christians don’t want to stand around when someone is killed in genocide.”

The Rev. Kurt Wandrey of Lutheran Church of the Master in Coeur d’Alene said he might incorporate the war into a sermon as a way to show the need for Christ’s message.

“Christ’s resurrection gives us hope for a new life and a new way of dealing with our differences,” Wandrey said.

Some people are having trouble deciding how they feel about the war because they don’t support or trust the U.S. government, said the Rev. Michael Kohl of Living Word Presbyterian in Athol.

“I run into a lot of people who are more politically concerned, who are not really trusting our present leadership to be honest with us, about the extent of things,” Kohl said.

For some members of Kohl’s congregation, the war’s potential impact is more frightening. One member of the congregation and the son-in-law of another could be sent to Kosovo if American ground troops are needed there.

Some pastors are encouraging their congregations to pray for all nationalities involved and avoid preconceived notions of good guys and bad guys.

“This situation is not black and white. There are long, complex ethnic heritages at work. If Serbs weren’t doing the oppressing, they would almost certainly be oppressed,” said the Rev. Brian Prior, pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Spokane. “So if you try to talk in terms of victims and innocent people, it’s very hard to tell what side they’re on.”

The Rev. Bruce Miles, pastor of New Life Community Church in Rathdrum, will ask his congregation - which, at 2,500, is the largest in Kootenai County - to pray for those ousted from their homes. He will illustrate his point with newspaper accounts of the ethnic Albanians’ forced exodus from Kosovo.

“How would we feel if suddenly our town was burned to the ground? If they could go back, what are they going to come back to?” Miles asked. “We need to step up to the plate and offer a congregational prayer.”

Next week, Miles will ask his congregation to open their pocketbooks as well. The church will take a special offering, which Miles hopes will approach $10,000. That money will be sent to Yugoslavia via missionaries to buy food for those stranded in refugee camps, Miles said.

“I was talking to our national headquarters and they have missionaries over there and they’re able to bring in food quickly,” he said. “That way we’re assured the food actually gets into the refugee camps.”