Monday, July 21, 2008

Night

Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech uttered the following:

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.

After spending a year in concentration camps in WWII Germany, Wiesel witnessed firsthand the terrible evil that is possible in mankind, the utter depravity that man apart from God is. Upon entering Birkenau for the first time and seeing the crematorium, he was astonished that such evil could happen in this world during this time without an outcry from the ends of the earth. He has dedicated his life to being the voice of the tormented and the victim.

What does this have to do with Reveal? Too often, we see those who aren't Christ-followers as the enemy. We condemn their lifestyles, their choices, their actions, and, in a very real way, we condemn them. Instead, we should see those who are follow the ways of the world as the tormented and the victim and Satan, the prince of this world as the true enemy, as the tormentor and the oppressor. More than that, we cannot remain neutral in the fight. We must take sides and overcome the darkness of this world with the Light. If the goal of Reveal is to shine Light into darkness, what are we as individuals doing now to shine? Are we conscious of who the real enemy is? Are we aware of the brokenness around us? We must make sure that we aren't neutral, and, as a church, we must make the lives of those living in darkness the center of our universe.

-- Peace, Jamie

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