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Good morning.

The increase e of attacks upon places of worship including  synagogues in recent years evokes memories of a trip I made to Wuppertal in Germany some years ago. There I visited the church where the Barmen Declaration was made in 1934. Amid the growth of Hitler’s National Socialism and the emergence of the ‘German Christian Movement’, leaders from a number of denominations met and produced a statement asserting that the Church belonged to Christ, solely and wholly, and therefore could and should never be subordinate to the state. The group became known as the ‘Confessing Church’ and suffered not least for their clear condemnation of anti-semitism.

How wonderful and prophetic then, that since 2002 the Barmen Church shares its small square of land with the Jewish Synagogue, who welcomed an invitation to locate there.
As he showed me round, the pastor of the church said ‘We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah. And whenever I refer to Jesus in my sermons, I remember that Jesus was a Jew.’

Sadly a large fence surrounds the Synagogue and security is much in evidence as the Jewish community gathers for its worship.
But there is no fence between the Church and the Synagogue. It was apparently discussed and rejected as an option. One fence surrounds both places of worship, so protecting the Synagogue. As my pastor guide put it, ‘We decided to be bound together in danger’.

Lord Jesus, who said ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ we pray for all those throughout the world today, of any faith and creed, who suffer discrimination or persecution. Protect them, and teach us all a better way we ask. Amen.