Maria Prymachenko lived from 1909-1987. She was a self-taught painter of Ukrainian folk art. In 1966 she was given the highest cultural honor of Ukraine, the Taras Shevchenko National Prize. Picasso was said to have been captivated by her work. This piece is a tender masterpiece of color, balance and cultural identity.

Her pieces are included in many museums in her country. Many were displayed at the Museum of Local History in Ivankiv, a town 50 miles northwest of Kyiv. The museum was started in 1981. It was shelled and burned recently. Many of her pieces were lost with it. There are conflicting reports about any being saved.

I share the work of this Ukrainian woman now as we watch the women of Ukraine in news reports and are startled by their strength and courage.  We see these women taking up arms for the first time.  We see them using their cell phones as tools to track the enemy and defend their country.  We watch some escape with their children, take their precious ones to safety, and then return to fight. How do they face so much loss and injustice and keep going?

We sit a world away now viewing this beautiful art piece by a woman and of a woman holding her children. We sit a world away watching the terrible losses the women of Ukraine now face – friends and family, homes, communities, beauty, art. May we be startled again and again by them. May we say Lenten prayers for their lives, families, country as war tears at everything they know and love. May our prayers of gratitude for them be joined line by line with our prayers for their strength, comfort, and peace in God.

In gratitude, faith, hope and deep sadness,

Sandy Prouty
Minister of Children and Families
Montview Church