Liturgical and Homiletic material for Christians

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY 2017

Theme: How Can Life Go on?

Introduction

The aftermath of the Holocaust and of subsequent genocides continues to raise challenging questions for individuals, communities and nations. How do people react in the immediate aftermath of unimaginable suffering? How can life be rebuilt after such trauma? Is justice possible after genocide? What role do we in the UK have towards individuals, communities and nations who have survived genocide?

Holocaust Memorial Day is not only about commemorating past genocides and honouring those who died, but about standing with those who survive. As author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said: ‘For the survivor death is not the problem. Death was an everyday occurrence. We learned to live with death. The problem is to adjust to life, to living. You must teach us about living.’

The resources created jointly by the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) are intended to offer a range of materials which explore the theme for 2017. They can be integrated into ‘regular’ worship or combined to create a special commemorative service.

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CCJ was founded in 1942 by Chief Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz and Archbishop William Temple. CCJ works through education, dialogue and social action, challenging antisemitism today and working for positive engagement between Jews and Christians and people of all faiths.

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is a fellowship of more than 40 churches across the four nations of Britain and Ireland. A successor body to the British Council of Churches, it aims to foster greater unity between the churches in various aspects of Christian life and witness.

Further resources for Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 can be found by visiting the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s website: www.hmd.org.uk. An educational booklet by Peter Chave The Holocaust: Its relevance for Every Christian is available from www.ccj.org.uk.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2017

Since 2001, the Government has invited British society to observe 27 January each year as Holocaust Memorial Day. 27 January is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops.

Holocaust Memorial Day is intended to provide an opportunity for reflection on issues raised by all atrocities, especially those events officially designated as genocides. The mass murder of millions of people of different ethnic, cultural, religious and political groups in more than one genocide provided the darkest side of twentieth century human history. While the remit of the day is wide-reaching, its focus remains the Holocaust. Although many others perished as a result of Nazi actions, Holocaust Memorial Day provides an opportunity to especially reflect on the fate of European Jewry, for whom Hitler and others held a particular hatred.

Christians have also been among the perpetrators of genocide, as well as among the bystanders, and indeed the victims. Holocaust Memorial Day can give us cause to remember the reality that evil is still powerful in our world. It can strengthen our resolve to protect every community from discrimination, intimidation and violence.

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SUGGESTED LITURGICAL MATERIAL

Opening prayers

God our creator, in the beginning:

Your light shined in the darkness.

God our companion, we acknowledge your presence in this your house.

We listen for your word.

God our redeemer, our lives are open to you.

Your love brings us life.

God of Heaven and Earth and all of humanity, we are ready.

We are ready for our lives to be transformed.

These responses are based on the Jewish blessing on hearing bad news:

Blessed are you, Lord

God of all creation.

Through your goodness we have this time

To gather to learn the truth of ourselves.

We cannot always feel joy for this life

We know too much of lives that have been broken.

Give us courage when we hear tragedy, despair and death

To bless you, the one true Judge.

God of all human experience, when one life is lost, it is as if the whole world is destroyed. Help us to be alert to the injustices of history and of our present. Where life is abused, unwelcomed, excluded or destroyed equip us to challenge and bring change.

God of all human hope, when one life is saved, the entire world is saved. Help us to fight for life beyond injustice, genocide and even death itself. Though we ask how we can go on after our hearts have been broken, may we find strength and joy in the future unknown.

We ask these prayers in the name of the one who challenges and calls us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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Prayers of Confession

God our Father, you called the world to live in peace and community with each other. But we lack the courage to challenge injustice.

Lord have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

God our companion, you journey with us through heartbreak and joy. But we forget your presence and despair takes us.

Christ have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

God the Spirit of life, you brought the world to being. But our actions make life fragile and breaking.

Lord have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

God the three in one, you reveal yourself in our lives and you show us how far we are from realising God’s desire for the world. If we confess our sins you are faithful and just and you will forgive us. So we offer our confession to you and pray for forgiveness and healing, in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Prayer activity

Candles may be lit, as an act of remembrance or as part of the prayers of intercession. Churches may wish to light five candles: for the victims of the Holocaust and for victims of genocide in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur.

Rabbi Mark Solomon lights candles at Chichester Cathedral

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Prayers of Intercession

God of all people everywhere, we bring to your our prayers for the world and for the people of the world.

Lord in your mercy,

May we find life.

Lord through every time and in every place, we are confronted by the staggering depth of history’s legacy. Memories haunt us of lives broken and hopes destroyed. We pray that you will comfort those who are held back by their experiences, strengthen those who fear the future, guide the search for life when all else seems lost.

Lord in your mercy,

May we find life.

Lord of the familiar and of the far away, we pray for people across our world who suffer today through poverty, hunger, disease, war, and genocide. We pray for peace and reconciliation so that even in the most hopeless of situations, life can triumph.

Lord in your mercy,

May we find life.

Lord of choice and action, we pray for the decision-makers of our world. Guide those who have authority to make change happen. We pray that the common good will empower individuals and transform divided communities.

Lord in your mercy,

May we find life.

Lord of memory and hope, we thank you for the testimonies of those who experienced history, who witnessed suffering and who champion the causes of freedom and justice today. We pray that their lives may be an inspiration to us so that we may never forget history and work to challenge injustice wherever it may be found.

Lord in your mercy,

May we find life.

Finally, Lord of every human experience, sometimes words are too little to describe the confusion of loss, the pain of suffering or the despair of the unknown. So let us sit in silence now to offer the prayers of our hearts.

Silence

Lord in your mercy,

May we find life.

We pray together the words that have sustained God’s people through centuries:

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Our Father, who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name;thy kingdom come;thy will be done;on earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us.And lead us not into temptation;but deliver us from evil.For thine is the kingdom,the power and the glory,for ever and ever.Amen.

Benediction

We go from this place and into the world to remember history, to challenge injustice today, and in the power and promise of God to live forever more.

Thanks be to God,

Amen.

Photo: Bill Hunt

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COMMENTARIES

The commentaries below are provided for the lectionary readings as set out in the Church of England Common Worship Lectionary and the Revised Common Lectionary for Sunday 29 January (Fourth Sunday of Epiphany). All Biblical quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.

1 Kings 17.8-16

Earlier in Chapter 17 of 1 Kings, Elijah prophesies that the people of Israel will suffer a drought: ‘there shall be neither dew nor rain.’ By v 10, Elijah has been struck by a similar fate. Sent by God to Zarephath, Elijah does not have enough to drink. His thirst and hunger leads him to a widow.

The scriptures frequently depict prophets and people of God as poor and in need of help from other people, particularly women. But the woman that God finds for Elijah is poor herself: she is a widow and has a son to feed as well. They are so poor that they have only enough for one more meal before hunger and thirst will bring them to death. And yet, because of her generosity towards Elijah, God provides the widow and her son with food and water in boundless supply.

It is also worth noting that God sends Elijah to Zarephath, a town in the Sidon region, home to Queen Jezebel, who is characterised as a persecutor of worshippers of the God of Israel. So even in an area which posed significant danger to Elijah, he finds food, water, and a welcome.

The story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is a story of life triumphing over deep hardship and uncertainty. Both Elijah and the widow and her son face the keenest of human yearnings: the desire for food and water to make life tomorrow a possibility. Elijah placed his trust in a situation which did not appear to hold much hope. The widow stepped beyond her own situation and welcomed a stranger. Both found more than they expected.

When confronted with the worst atrocities that humanity has inflicted on each other, both victim and those of us who hear the victim’s story can wonder how life can possibly go on after such suffering. Elijah’s story suggests that although there aren’t any easy answers, future life is possible and the roots of that can be found in the welcome of the stranger and the sharing of resources.

1 Corinthians 1.18-31

Paul begins this part of his letter to the Corinthians with a quote from Isaiah which highlights how the world is still struggling to see and comprehend God. Human beings often fail in their attempts to understand the challenges of the world or where God can be found in all of life’s complications.

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vv 22ff are a challenging part of the New Testament, when read in light of the Holocaust and our deeper awareness of the Christian roots of antisemitism. Here Paul characterises Jews as unable to recognise Jesus as the Messiah. These stereotypes led to persecution of Jews by Christians through millennia, particularly during the medieval period. It is vital to recognise the danger that these verses have even today in inspiring warped misunderstanding of Judaism and Jewish people.

The importance of this passage, however, is clearer from v 26 onwards. Paul reminds readers that the people of God may find themselves weakened, made vulnerable by the challenges of the world. But in vv 29-31 Paul borrowed from Jeremiah 9: 29-31, and in doing so reaffirmed the Jewish teaching that self-reliance takes us far from God. It is only when we acknowledge our humility that God can work through us.

Therefore, because Paul teaches us that there is strength and possibility even when we are weak and made low, then there is hope for life even beyond the worst experiences imaginable. Great suffering often brings out great courage and resilience in humanity. The stories of those who have survived genocide and built lives after it are testament to this. Their stories embody the possibilities for life beyond suffering.

John 2.1-11

It is telling that Jesus chose to reveal his great works for the first time in a domestic setting in a friend’s home in a humble village in Galilee. John indicates that God is at work in the most ordinary of circumstances. If God can be found here, then God can be found anywhere.

Hospitality was an important principle in the culture of the times in which Jesus ministered, so it would have been embarrassing and awkward for the family hosting the wedding that they had become unable to provide enough wine for the guests. By transforming the water into wine, Jesus removed this shame; he acted in sympathy with a humble family for whom much was at stake. God can be found walking alongside the person in need, whoever they are and whatever the need.

Mary was the one who noticed that the wine had run dry and she turned to Jesus for help. She had faith that her son would resolve the situation but still she did not know what he could do to help. So it is in life: although the wedding at Cana did not cause anyone suffering, it still conveys that often in the most problematic of situations it is almost impossible to see how it could get any better. But John shows that God can surprise us, that even when life is at its lowest there is still hope that in the future the past’s legacy will be transformed into new wine.

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Micah 6:1-8

Micah the prophet imagines that God has taken the people to trial. Whilst God brought the people out of Egypt and into Israel, these saving acts have not been answered in like kind by the people.

In v 6 comes the voice of someone who wants to rectify the situation and who asks how they can do that. The prophet’s answer reflects his principal theme of justice. Mercy, or kindness, is shown to be the partner to justice. Commentators have translated ‘to walk humbly’ as ‘to walk carefully, prudently’. Whilst this might include humility, it goes further in suggesting that justice and mercy depend on people being considered and careful about how they build a just and loving future.

Micah envisions a community that has survived a difficult situation and brought justice and mercy into being. Significantly, Micah recognises how difficult this can be and how, after great injustice, true reconciliation does not occur straight away, hence his call for carefulness. The status quo is often all that we can see and to imagine a better future is hard, especially so when we try and relate the possibilities to our own lives and contributions. Achieving justice after genocide can seem an impossible task. But Micah encourages people to make a start, by walking towards justice and mercy. Walking doesn’t take someone to their destination immediately: it requires individual steps. Sometimes the first step towards the destination is the most courageous thing of all.

Um Zeifa, Burning village, Darfur. Photo by Brian Steidl

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Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus’ so-called ‘Sermon on the Mount’ begins with the Beatitudes. What is striking about the Beatitudes is the way in which they reflected centuries of Jewish teaching and ethics.1 Similar blessings appear across the Hebrew Scriptures as well. For example, Job 5: 17, Psalm 84: 4-5, and Daniel 12: 12.

‘Poor in spirit’ can be interpreted as humility and is a theme found in Isaiah (Isaiah 61: 1; 66: 2). ‘Those who mourn’ refers to the suffering righteous (Isaiah 61: 1-3; 66: 10). ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth’ is almost a direct quotation of Psalm 37: 11. Those who are ‘meek’ are those who are humble amongst those who are themselves humble (Proverbs 16: 19). ‘Merciful’ is a characteristic of God himself (Psalm 145: 9).

The Beatitudes are therefore an important reminder of how much Jesus’ teachings were a reflection of centuries of Jewish teaching and belief. This should act as a powerful counter to ideas that Christianity has superseded Judaism, something that is still taught in churches today.

The Beatitudes are also helpful in that they convey blessing on people in humbled or vulnerable positions. Those who mourn or who are hungry, poor or meek could be dismissed as weak. But Jesus emphasises ancient teachings that bless people in their state of vulnerability. This represents the truth that in periods of weakness, change or uncertainty God continues to bless us. There is hope for future life because even at the lowest moments of humanity, God continues to bless his people and bring salvation. According to the Beatitudes, the future does not have to reflect the failures and injustices of the past.

Jewish refugees on a train

1 Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (Eds.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament, OUP (New York: 2011), pp. 9-10.

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