From a message at Durham Friends Meeting, September 15, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I recently had\noccasion to read again about a very unusual episode in the history of\nFriends. It\u2019s a story told in Elizabeth\nGray Vining\u2019s biography of Rufus Jones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
November 9 &\n10, 1938: that was Kristalnacht, or the\nNight of the Broken Glass. All over\nGermany people broke into Jewish homes, stores and synagogues wreaking\ndestruction and terror, and carrying many Jews off towards Concentration camps. It seemed spontaneous but we now know it was\na well-planned attack that helped the Nazis take yet greater control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the wake of that horrible night, three Quakers resolved to make a visit to Germany.\u00a0 Rufus Jones, Robert Yarnall and George Walton hatched a plan to travel to Germany, to speak to the highest ranking official in Germany to whom they could gain access, and to ask to be allowed to intercede.\u00a0 The statement they eventually delivered in person to German officials stated they wanted \u201cto inquire in the most friendly manner whether there is anything we can do to promote life and human welfare and to relieve suffering.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They hoped to meet\nwith Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and someone we now remember as a\nchief architect of the Holocaust. They\ndidn\u2019t succeed in seeing Himmler, but they did meet with two very high-ranking\nmembers of the SS. They made their\npresentation, the two men they met with left the room and went to speak with\nsomeone in higher authority, perhaps Himmler himself. Jones and Yarnall and Walton sat in silent\nworship — holding the German authorities in the Light. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, they\ndid receive permission for some Quaker relief work to go forward in the days\nbefore the Second World War broke out, and for some additional Jews to be allowed\nto leave Germany to safety. But of\ncourse, they didn\u2019t stop the Holocaust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his journal,\nRufus Jones described to officials with whom they met as \u201cHard-faced,\niron-natured men.\u201d He didn\u2019t think they were \u2018good guys.\u2019 They didn\u2019t have any illusions about the\ncharacter of the men they would meet. \nStill, it\u2019s hard to say what Jones and Yarnall and Walton expected. But in her biography, Elizabeth Gray Vining said\nthat \u201cRufus Jones to the end of his days believed there had been a softening\nand a moment of vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good deal of\nhistory looks back on this episode as an instance of profound naivet\u00e9. A foolish gesture, one perhaps even bordering\non treason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But weren\u2019t they\nholding the SS officers in the Light? Weren\u2019t they trying to lift up the way of\nlove and peace, trying to lift it above the way of violence and death? Whatever they expected, wasn\u2019t it worth the\neffort? I guess I think so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading about this\ndesperate mission to the SS leave me wondering why we mostly \u201chold in the\nLight\u201d those we most care about, our friends and family. Certainly, we should hold our dear ones in\nthe Light. But shouldn\u2019t we also \u201chold\nin the Light\u201d those who trouble us most: those who seem most wrong-headed or\ndangerous? Do we believe they are beyond\nGod\u2019s reach, beyond God\u2019s love? I guess\nI don\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we settle into waiting worship, I invite each of us to call to mind people we think are as bad as people can be, and hold them in the light, believing that the Light, the love, can reach them too.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The full message can be found on Riverview Friend<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From a message at Durham Friends Meeting, September 15, 2019 I recently had occasion to read again about a very unusual episode in the history of Friends. It\u2019s a story told in Elizabeth Gray Vining\u2019s biography of Rufus Jones. November … Continue reading