I just about coped with headlines of war — but the church prayer meeting made my anxiety worse

What happens when our prayer meetings start to sound like the news cycle? For Derek Hughes, the answer came after a meeting following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which left him with an anxiety heavier than when he walked in. In moments like these, he asks whether we are bringing our fears to God or just spreading them around

I wasn’t worried when I walked in. 

Russia had invaded Ukraine. The headlines were doing what headlines do — worst case, end times, the world tipping toward something unthinkable. And I’d managed, somehow, to stay steady. Concerned. But steady. 

Then someone started to pray. 

The first prayer drew me in. Someone named the cities — Kyiv, Kharkiv — and prayed for the people in them. It felt honest. Grounded. Human. 

The second prayer went further. Civilian casualties. Hospitals hit. Children in basements. Still felt real, still felt like prayer. 

The third brought the scale of Russia’s military. The fourth, the possibility of nuclear escalation. By the fifth, someone was praying about World War Three. 

And then it tipped. 

I couldn’t tell you exactly when. There was no dramatic moment. Just the build up. Prayer after prayer, concern after concern. Until something that hadn’t been in me when I arrived was now sitting in my chest. I walked out of that prayer meeting more anxious than I walked in.