Today, we remember the millions of victims of the holocaust. The horrors perpetrated by
the Nazi party against Jewish individuals stand as a stark reminder of what happens when
prejudice becomes public policy and when human beings become the victims of a cruel and
oppressive ideology. We remember and commemorate those who suffered and died under the
heinous policies of the Nazi party and every Jewish man, woman, and child who was separated
from their family, thrown onto overcrowded trains, and taken to concentration camps. We
remember those who died in those camps as well as those who survived, carrying with them the
scars of trauma. In the darkest times of history, the light of life burns dimly, but it burns
nonetheless. During the Holocaust, it burned in the form of those who heroically fought for their
own survival and those who fought for the survival of others, who risked their lives to hide and
protect Jewish people from the Gestapo.
As Christians, we recognize the role that Christian rhetoric and theologically motivated
antisemitism played in the rise of Adolf Hitler, and for it we repent. As Americans, we repent of
every prejudice and hatred that exists or has existed in our nation. We denounce white
supremacy, we denounce antisemitism, and we denounce the nationalistic tendency to believe
that we are better or more valuable than anyone from any other nation, recognizing that it was
these things that made the holocaust possible. It is difficult to comprehend the horrors of the
holocaust, and difficult to think about it, but think about it we must, that we may never unlearn
the lessons learned from that terrible time. May the hatred shown to our Jewish siblings in the
past encourage us to love them all the more in the present. May love always triumph over hate,
may understanding triumph over prejudice, and may unity triumph over disunity. Shalom,
shalom.
