--As God's Chosen People/ We Must Reach Out to Everyone ~~

--"There is a time for everything...a time to be silent and a time to speak."
---[Ecclesiastes 3:1,7] --

~~FOR THIRTY long years, the African American woman worked faithfully for a large global ministry. Yet when she sought to talk with co-workers about racial injustice, she was met with silence. Finally however, in the spring of 2020--as open discussions about racism expanded around the world--her ministry friends "started having some open dialogue." With mixed feelings and pain, she was grateful discussions began.

Silence can be a virtue in some situations. As King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: .... a time to be silent and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-7).

Silence in the face of bigotry and injustice, however, only enables harm and hurt. Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoeller (jailed in Nazi Germany for speaking out) confessed that in a poem he penned after the war. "First they came for the Communists," he wrote, "but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. He added, "Then they came for" the Jews, the Catholics, and others," but I didn't speak up." Finally, "they came for me--and by that time there was no one left to speak up."

It takes courage--and love---to speak up against injustice. Seeking God's help, however, we recognize the time to speak is now.

--Abba Father G-D, release my tongue and heart from the enemy's grip. Equip me to see and feel the harm of injustice so
that I may speak up for those hurt by this sin. In Christ's Name. amen ~
--ODB/PR~