This morning we marked Holocaust Memorial day at Holy Trinity Church , Tarleton.
The Head and Deputy Head Pupils from Rufford CE School read from the scriptures and re-enacted the Poem “First They came” by Pastor Niemoller .
While Pupils from Tarleton Mere Brow CE School were prevented from joining us due to Covid restrictions Year 6 pupils from Tarleton Holy Trinity CE School sang “‘We will remember them'”.
The Headteachers of the two schools lit a candle of remembrance.
Ordinand, Danny Abraham reflected on the scripture readings from the OT and the Gospel, and what they charge us to do:
” Ensuring the world never has another Holocaust begins with a change of heart and mind. That change begins with us, and it begins with love”.
He said:
The feeling of fear is one that very few of us can truly claim never to experience. It is a common human emotion, and we can probably all look back on a time when we felt the emotion of fear. But fear can sadly drive us to actions we later regret. We may perhaps say something we later come to regret, or maybe even hurt someone we love through an action we take because we are fearful and scared.
Fear has also driven people to do unspeakable things in human history. Today, we are reflecting on the Holocaust and all subsequent genocides, all of which have been propelled in some way or another by fear.
As we reflect on our Scripture readings this morning, we see in the story from Exodus that the King of Egypt was full of fear. He was scared of the Israelites, and was worried that because there were so many of them, they would overrun Egypt and be stronger than them if war ever broke out. And so he forced the Israelites into back-breaking work, work designed to break their spirit and force them to lose all hope. But the king went a step further, and ordered the death of all Hebrew baby boys, in order to make sure that the Israelites as a race would be eliminated. It’s an extremely sad story, but one that thankfully has a happy ending for the Israelites, as God helps them to escape from Egypt and those awful conditions.
Our Gospel reading reminds us that as followers of Jesus, we are called to serve those people whose lives are hard and painful, those who are poor and oppressed and those who suffer the most. When we see people in need, we are called to help in a practical way, even if it is a small way, to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our world. Because when we both notice their pain and suffering, and then do something to show them the love of God, Jesus tells us that we are in fact helping him. Jesus identifies and is united with all who are suffering and in pain, and we are therefore to treat all people as we would treat Jesus, loving them as He loves us, and so shining the light of Jesus into a world that is hurting. Ensuring the world never has another Holocaust begins with a change of heart and mind. That change begins with us, and it begins with love.
