. . . from Kayla McClurg, one of my favorite writers:
“The world says, try to avoid anything that brings pain or, God forbid, might even make us weep, but Jesus says if we never weep, how will we learn what it is to be comforted? If we never mourn, how will we recognize the blessing of joy? It’s not when we are already filled up with the gluttony of right answers, satiated by promises of good times to come, but when we are hungry and thirsting for justice and unsure that we will ever be filled that we can honestly search for mercy, beg for a pure heart, and count on receiving them. It is not the peace so much as the longing for peace, the long agony of finding ourselves empty, that draws us closer to the One who has all we need” (in Season and Scripture: Epiphany Year A, Matthew).
. . . and from a voice from the past, Martin Niemoller ( 1892 – 1984), a German Lutheran pastor. Niemoller (in keeping with most Protestant leaders) first welcomed Hitler’s rule as relief from the Weimar Republic. Later he objected to the nazification of the German Protestant Church and spoke out about the Church’s failure to speak against Hitler. Because of this activism, he was detained in concentration camps from 1937 – 1945, narrowly escaping execution.
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me”
Living as Apprentices 
Such a good reminder.
*”One sure window into a person’s soul is his reading list.”*
*Mary B.W. Tabor*
On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 11:19 AM, Living as Apprentices wrote:
> livingasapprentices posted: “. . . from Kayla McClurg, one of my favorite > writers: “The world says, try to avoid anything that brings pain or, God > forbid, might even make us weep, but Jesus says if we never weep, how will > we learn what it is to be comforted? If we never mourn, how w” >
Thank you Karen for sharing these thoughts. They really strike a cord in me, and give voice to the distress in these last few days. We MUST continue to speak for those that are left voiceless.
I just learned that Hitler became chancellor of Germany on this day in 1933. It’s a sign of my age, I guess, but I mourn the fact that people under 60 don’t remember WWII and many don’t know much about the his reign of terror or the facts of the Holocaust. If we don’t remember history, it’s easy to get sucked into the new “alt right” movement in our country and many countries in Europe.
And this is why I am walking and calling now —