Grief Unmasked
Refusing to sanitize losses. Honest reflections on mourning, lament, and the raw weight of war-shaped sorrow.
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Morning existential reflections and confession…
[in English] #BeingHuman. Morning existential reflections and confession… My daughter Tetyana came from Washington, D.C., to visit our family in Ukraine, and brought our first grandson, Wesley to meet the local family members. This morning the two of them walked the Alley of Heroes in the center of our city, past so many hundreds of… Continue reading
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Vulnerability: leadership that does not hide its wounds, and restoration that does not pretend at healing
Wounded Leadership: Challenges and Paths of Restoration An address at the conference of the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, 22–23 May 2026, Pushcha-Vodytsia. Let me begin with a question rather than a thesis, one that I suspect has lived in each of us for a long time. When the risen Christ passed through locked doors to… Continue reading
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Вразливість: лідерство, яке не приховує ран, і відновлення, яке не вдає зцілення
Зранене лідерство: виклики та шляхи відновлення Виступ на конференції Української євангельської теологічної семінарії, 22–23 травня 2026 року, Пуща-Водиця. Дозвольте почати не з тези, а з запитання, яке, підозрюю, вже давно живе в кожному з нас. Коли воскреслий Христос пройшов крізь зачинені двері до учнів і сказав «мир вам», чому і навіщо Він показав їм Свої… Continue reading
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Smile on, Gwynplaines! The Man Who Laughs…
I have read Victor Hugo’s novel three times. The first was somewhere in my teenage years, and it felt like watching an adventure unfold. The second was while I was studying for my master’s degree in Leuven, and by then the book had stopped being an adventure and become philosophy, since I was going through… Continue reading
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On hatred, lament, and the right to grieve [part 9]
#BeingHuman. #BrutalHonesty. Offered as clarification rather than justification, to our friends and partners outside Ukraine, on hatred, lament, and the right to grieve during this war. We in Ukraine often hear the question of how Ukrainian Christians are dealing with hatred. It usually arrives wrapped in spiritual concern, sometimes in accusation, occasionally in genuine pastoral… Continue reading
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A Theology of Grief from Ukraine’s Holy Saturday
On Wednesday, March 12, 2025, I too part in the International Seminar and Discussion “Elaborating a Theology of Grief: Ecumenical Commitment,” organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at Ukrainian Catholic University with support from Kerk in Actie. I presented alongside Rev. Rodger Murchison, a Baptist minister and author from Princeton Theological Seminary, Yulia Vintoniv,… Continue reading
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Between lament and hope…
#BeingHuman. Between lament and hope. Meditations from the desert of anxiety, and on what happens when peacetime theology shatters. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10, NKJV).… Continue reading
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Нарікання чи довіра? «База» Виходу для України…
Україна бореться за свободу від “червоного терору”. Попри страждання і спокуси нарікати, Господь кличе нас до довіри. Його присутність всюди. Молімося, наближаймо перемогу та відродження. Тримаймося Бога – побачимо Його славу над вільною Україною. Пустеля тимчасова, Ханаан вічний. Continue reading
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Grieving is not…. in the shadows of war…
War lays waste to the landscape of a country and to the landscape of a human life at the same time, leaving ruin and suffering behind it, the broken windows and roofs of our souls and, often enough, the walls as well. Grieving belongs to our existence on this silent planet rather than to the… Continue reading
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We Postpone Our Grief
Kherson reflections on postponing our grief. We postpone our grief. The war will end for those who are outside Ukraine, and it will go on for the civilians who lived through it here, carrying what it did to them, whether that came from the bombing at the front near Kherson or Bakhmut, or from the… Continue reading
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