Feb. 28—NEWBURYPORT — In a showing of solidarity with Ukraine, the First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist hosted a vigil Sunday, inviting community members to create a peace flag along the church fence using blue and yellow ribbons.
Approximately 60 people gathered outside the Pleasant Street church for a brief vigil for peace, just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“We hold this peace vigil today to collectively center ourselves and what this invasion means for millions of people, including those in Russia, who disagree with their government’s military actions and who risk their lives in public displays of nonviolent protests,” parishioner Jessica Brown said.
“Civilian safety must be protected with attention to activists and dissidents, journalists, religious minorities, the LGBTI community and others,” Brown added.
“As this human rights crisis unfolds, perhaps you are asking yourself, ‘What can I do?'” Brown said, explaining how the vigil could serve as a way to demonstrate peace and support for Ukraine.
The Rev. Rebecca Bryan, the church’s minister and a member of the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Alliance, invited the crowd to join her in a prayer “whatever that may mean for you, a spirit of meditation, a time where just for a moment, we set aside all misgivings, all worries, all fears, all concerns, all judgments and we hold the people of Ukraine in our hearts.”
A few young members of the church then helped light a peace candle for Ukraine.
“The more things change, unfortunately, the more they stay the same,” Dr. Ahmer Ibrahim, chair of the Newburyport Human Rights Commission and a member of the city’s DEI Alliance, told the crowd.
“Here we stand nearly 100 years after the formation of the Soviet Union and nearly 31 years after its dissolution, and the country of Ukraine is unfortunately again in peril,” he said.
Though war and struggles continue to divide people, the difference now is that, “We are actually all standing here together in support of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, along with millions of others worldwide,” Ibrahim said.
Though there is a feeling of helplessness in watching the news, “We hope that gatherings like this can at least demonstrate to the citizens of Ukraine and actually, to the world, that we care,” Ibrahim said.
The local doctor said he spent Thursday working with an anesthesiologist who happens to be from Ukraine.
“Spending time with her on the day that the news first broke about the invasion in her homeland really made it clear to me that simple acts of kindness like checking in on our Ukrainian friends and neighbors, asking how their families are faring back home, asking what we can do for them and their families really goes a long way to help those people,” Ibrahim said.
He encouraged the community to show kindness and support to Ukraine and be ready to help when calls for humanitarian aid come in since it is not yet clear what is needed.
