Leonid Brezhnev

I have a habit of turning on the radio for the news first thing in the morning. On November 11, the first words I heard were that Leonid I. Brezhnev, President of the Soviet Union, had died of a heart attack. I was sobered by that news.

Certainly this man will not be remembered as an advocate of justice and peace; for 17 years he ruled one of the most repressive societies in the world. But to his credit, he did show us that he did not want a nuclear war with the United States.

The Russian people have suffered the invasions and the bitter losses of war to an extent far greater than have most Americans: every Russian family was touched by World War II, in which 20 million of their people were killed. Perhaps Brezhnev's actions toward the United States came out of fear as much as anything else.

He was the Russian leader with whom our country secured the policy of detente. And even as detente seemed to be crumbling in the Reagan era, Brezhnev continued to offer steps toward reducing the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union and the tensions between the two countries. He agreed to SALT II, a treaty the U.S. Senate never ratified, and made specific initiatives in other areas as well.

If we could not call Brezhnev a peacemaker, we could at least recognize him as a moderate, a man open to reason. Most American presidents who dealt with him had assessed him as such, and in fact affirmed him as a man who genuinely desired peace.

With the advent of Ronald Reagan, the Cold War has been reborn. Our government is again claiming that every problem we face is traceable to the Soviet Union, from which all evil in the world originates.

The Reagan administration refuses to confess the U.S. role in escalating global violence and shows no willingness to work seriously with our leading adversary, even in the cause of preventing nuclear war. On the contrary, the administration has announced plans to deploy nuclear missiles that could reach Moscow in just six minutes--a strategy as threatening to the Soviet Union as the Cuban missile crisis was to us. Our government is engaging in the largest military buildup in U.S. history, speaks of fighting and winning a nuclear war, and refers to strategies that would "decapitate" the Soviet Union.

Russian insecurity is further heightened by an intractable war in Afghanistan, unresolved problems in Poland and Eastern Europe, the longest hostile border in the world (with China), as well as severe economic problems and restive ethnic minorities within Soviet borders.

What will the new leadership of the USSR bring to its task? How will a feeling of being backed into a corner by its principal adversary, being ringed by crises, and losing control of its internal situation affect the new leadership? Will American belligerence give the upper hand to Soviet hardliners? The implications of these questions for all of our lives in the United States and around the world are abundantly clear.

When I arrived at the Sojourners office later that morning, I sent the word around that some of us would be gathering at noon to pray for the situation in the Soviet Union during the time of our regular office liturgy.

We met together in our simple chapel. The prayers were opened by a reading of Jesus' words about the posture we are to take toward our enemies. Not only does Jesus enjoin us to love them, but also to pray for them.

Lindsay McLaughlin, whose family lived for four years in the U.S. embassy in Moscow, where her father served first as a political officer and later as acting ambassador, has a deep love for Russian life and culture. She prayed for the Soviet people in their fear and uncertainty about the future.

Others offered prayers for the Soviet leaders, that reason and moderation would prevail over fear and pride. We confessed our own country's arrogance and self-righteousness in regard to the Soviet Union, asking for forgiveness for the virulent anticommunism that has caused our nation to hate a whole people and feel no conscience about plotting their annihilation. We prayed that our country's hostility would not drive the new leadership to further harden its position against us. And we prayed that the hostilities of the superpowers toward one another would come to an end.

We lifted up, as we have so many times before, the people of Poland and Afghanistan, hoping that a change in Soviet leadership might somehow relieve their oppression. And we prayed for the Christian dissidents and Jews in the Soviet Union. Our plea was that their suffering might be lifted and that they might find the freedom and justice they so desperately want.

Finally, we prayed for the church in Russia, our brothers and sisters with whom we share a common faith and Lord. We prayed that even under shifting government leadership, our bond as the body of Christ might provide stability and strength. We expressed the hope that someday the bonds of faith and love between Christians of East and West might serve to protect the world from nuclear war.

I had felt helpless after hearing of Brezhnev's death, aware that the decisions about to be made would dramatically affect the course of history. The only thing I could think of to do was pray.

We offered our prayers with those of Russian Christians and others around the world that God's will might be done. I felt better after we had prayed.

Jim Wallis was editor-in-chief of Sojourners when this article appeared.