Dear PCUM family,

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, when the world commemorates the liberation 77 years ago of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and honors the lives and the memories of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, as well as the millions of others victimized by Nazism and the desire to hate, dominate, dehumanize, and kill in the name of power. It occurs to me today that our Christian faith, which grew out of Judaism, shares the conviction that, somehow, God is present and at work repairing the world (tikkun olam, in Hebrew) even in the midst of such incomprehensible tragedy and sadness. Here are four short quotes from Anne Frank's diary, words of a doomed teenage girl that beautifully express this universal human refusal to surrender to despair:

From The Diary of Anne Frank:

“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old school girl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing.”

“It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

“When you are on your bed at night just analyze all the happenings you have been going through the whole day and learn from your mistakes, you will be a better person then.”

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

In Christ's peace,

Pastor Greg