Praised are You, the Eternal One our God, Ruler of the Cosmos, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.
Our Delmarva Conference hosted ELCA Pastor Heidi Neumark in a book reading and discussion around her work, Hidden Inheritance, this past Saturday in New Castle. Her book reminds us of the consequence of the church's silence: During the war it is estimated that two million Jews were killed by the Einsatzgruppen troops in the Soviet Union, 3.5 million Jews were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka, and half a million Jews died in the ghettos of Eastern Europe of reprisal attacks, hunger, disease, and exhaustion. Six million in all. Millions more Romani, Slavs, Russian POWs, the physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals and others in minority groups perished. The weight of that reality bore on the fruitful table conversations, which included a delightful group of folks from the northern Delaware Hadassah group. Even nearly 80 years after the Shoah began, there was new learning and deeper understanding. It was a worthy Reformation 500 event, for which I thank our Delmarva colleagues for calling us together.
Some years ago, Rabbi Milgram, a neighbor when I served in the parish, told our clergy group once that Yom Hashoah was proposed to commemorate not just the Holocaust or Shoah, but also to acknowledge the repeated occurrences of genocide, such as Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia, in Africa, the Middle East - and to renew the commitment of the all people to combat racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia.
Rabbi Milgram went onto say: "We pray for those who died when madness ruled the world and evil prevailed on earth. If we forget, the way is prepared for yet more holocausts, yet more death and pride, prejudice and destruction. Therefore we must never forget."
In the genocides of Syria; in the bombing happening in Afghanistan; in the lack of aid and attention to places around the world where disease and disaster destroy because diplomacy is not lucrative; in stand-offs in the holy land masking political maneuvering; in the northern horn of Africa where brother fights brother, ostensibly for a brighter tomorrow; in Iraq and Afghanistan, where our brave servicemen and women have lost their lives, and drones – unmanned, "guided" weapons – are known to have killed more than 20,000 innocent even as we have gained our revenge on nearly 13,000 members of Al-Qaeda; the images of parents weeping over their children at the end of the holocaust, after 9/11, is a phenomenon that continues today – is an image that confronts us each day around the world and even here in our own cities.
Because holocausts still happen today, it is crucial for us to give action to our faith and do as Jesus has called us to do – caring for neighbor as Christ himself. Letting the light of God shine in us and through us, illuminating God’s love for all the world. St. Augustine summed it up well: "If something is wrong, even if everybody is doing it, it is still wrong; and, if something is right, even if no one is doing it, it's still right."
During the Holocaust, Nobel-Laureate Elie Wiesel was imprisoned in Auschwitz and then moved to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. A once-pious Jew, he had lost his faith in God through the atrocities he witnessed during the nearly three years he lived through the torture, famine and inhumanity in the camps, which included the death of his mother and younger sister – and witnessing the death of his own father.
The commandants of the camps often made examples of other prisoners, to keep the reign of terror alive among the people – and thus making it easier to maintain order. In his book, Night, Wiesel recalls a day when three were hanged for trying to stage a rebellion, including a 10-year old boy who had been a messenger. He says:
All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips ... The three victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. "Long live liberty," cried the two adults. But the child was silent.
"Where is God? Where is He?" someone behind me asked.
At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over ... The men died quickly, but the boy lingered, not heavy enough for the hanging to kill him instantly. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: "Where is God now?"
And I heard a voice within me answer him: "Where is He? He is here — God is hanging here on this gallows ... "
Wiesel’s God is not a dead God, but a suffering God. This "God on the Gallows" is not to blame for the Holocaust, for He too was its victim.
And isn’t this our God, our Messiah, too? A God who suffers in our inhumanity toward one another; a Christ whose reign is not revealed from a heavenly throne, but on the cross; this is the God of Abraham and Moses, our God who redeems us from our suffering and who expects that we do likewise for one another.
Yom Hashoah reminds us of dark time times when even survival was not possible – and is still not possible – for many. It also reminds us of the piercing light of God, shining through His Son Jesus, which will never be extinguished. It reminds us of a resilience of faith which is, as of yet, beyond our understanding. It calls the church to remember and to act for the sake of justice – not to be silently complicit with evil out of some misguided fear of our sisters and brothers who are marginalized or in need.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—my adversaries and foes—they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! "Come," my heart says, "seek his face!" Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation! If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence. - Psalm 27