Supporting Ukraine is a moral imperative

This month, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) ready to act on his plan Continuing the significant flow of American aid to war-torn Ukraine. But that process could still take weeks, during which Ukrainians from all walks of life will face difficult and avoidable challenges. It is a moral obligation for our leaders to act without delay.

The Congressional aid package has been stalled in the House for months, but the impasse may now be breaking. What is important now is to ensure that the maximum amount of funds reaches Ukraine as soon as possible. Countless lives are at risk.

I am a minister, not a politician. But I am writing here to remind legislators who consider themselves people of faith that it is a gospel imperative to help those in need, not just with words, but “with deeds and truth.” This is to ask you to consider that.

With Easter Sunday just days away, we are now calling upon elected leaders who often do not heed the lessons of the Gospels and promote Christianity in public. We must ask ourselves what the teachings require.

In early February, I accompanied Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on a trip to Ukraine, where we witnessed the horrific human toll of Russian aggression, families whose lives had been uprooted by death and destruction. Approximately 4 million Ukrainians have been forced from their homes by the war and are refugees in their own country. Another 6.5 million people fled the country. What I saw convinced me of America’s moral responsibility to protect these men and women from illegal and immoral Russian military aggression. But apparently for too many members of Congress, the situation is not so clear-cut.

I serve here in New York City in a church that knows something about what it means to fight for liberation. Visitors to the historic Trinity Church, founded in 1697, walk among the bones of our nation’s revolutionary heroes, Alexander his Hamilton, and Revolutionary War spy Hercules his Mulligan. They’re both sleeping here. George Washington prayed in St. Paul’s Chapel after his inauguration in 1789. In 1959, black and white Episcopalians came together to form the Cultural and Racial United Episcopal Association, a pioneering civil rights organization.

Over the past year, Trinity Church has provided meals and other assistance to people who came to New York fleeing oppression in their home countries, including asylum seekers from countries such as Venezuela, Angola and Ukraine.

As Christians, we are called to love indiscriminately. Instead of loving ideas, platforms, arguments, and positions, we are called to love real people. We are called to witness the suffering of others, to join in that suffering, and to do what we can to help. That’s what I wanted to achieve when I visited Ukraine. In a meeting with a senior government official, I asked her what message she could bring back to the United States. A strong woman and an officer in the Ukrainian army, she said with emotion: Would you like to lead the way? ”

Will we? Johnson frequently speaks about how his Christian faith influences his sense of public service and leadership. It seems only natural that Mr. Johnson and other vocal Christian politicians would celebrate the opportunity to put their faith and the words of Christ into action in such a consequential way – especially since , where the bloody cost of inaction would be devastating.

Now is the time to make a decision. Strong American support for Ukraine remains the best way to ensure a just end to this conflict. We have a moral obligation to assume leadership roles and a moral responsibility to support the Ukrainian people in their desperate struggle against President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

As we enter this Easter season, we remember that this season was defined by the courage of Jesus to lay down his life for his friends and all of us. In Ukraine, far less is being asked of us, only to witness what is happening and to do what we can to prevent the illegal and abhorrent genocide.

We cannot stand by and do nothing. Our faith and common sense demand more than that. To truly live the values ​​of our faith and serve as responsible stewards of our freedoms, America must stand unequivocally with Ukraine.

The Rev. Philip A. Jackson is the pastor of Trinity Wall Street Church.