MAY 29 - Miscellaneous Presentations

During the time on sabbatical, I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of "miscellaneous" presentations that I thought I would take a moment to tell you about.

REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST. On April 30 I went to a community forum called Remembering the Holocaust - An Interfaith Community Dialogue – Why Remember? at Beth Israel Synagogue in Roanoke. We heard from a panel of three people, all of whom had personal stories connected to the Holocaust.

Betty Oberlender is a Jewish woman who grew up in Belgium and lost her entire family - parents and siblings - to the Holocaust. She was taken in and hidden by a woman who allowed her to live in her cellar. She later lived in an orphan's home, and came to the US to live with an aunt in 1947. It wasn't until later that she learned for sure that her family had died at Auschwitz. She has lived in Roanoke since 1991. Her late husband was also a Holocaust survivor and was actually in a concentration camp. One of her most striking comments: "If it could happen among highly educated Germans, it could happen anywhere."

Gary Oberlender is her son, a physician, and talked about what is like to grow up as a son of two Holocaust survivors. It was almost never talked about. He talked about growing up with no grandparents and only one uncle - he described it as growing up "anchor-less."

Pat Bijwaard is a retired Virginia schoolteacher. She is not Jewish (she is Catholic) but her husband was a native of Holland, where his father worked with the Underground. She worked to develop a curriculum on the Holocaust, tolerance and diversity that is still being used in the area, and also helped in the development of state standards for Holocaust education in Virginia.

Before attending the event, I knew it would be Holocaust related, but really was not aware how closely connected these presenters were to the actual events. It won't be long before we completely lose the voices of this generation.

EMOTIONS AND VALUES. On May 21 I went to an author's forum at an area library featuring a retired pastor and author Jack Good. He pastored for years in New York and Illinois, served as a pastoral counselor, and lived for a time in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

He spoke about his book Emotions and Values: Discovering the Source of Jesus' Strength and Influence. Essentially he suggests that our culture tends to de-value emotions. If someone makes a decision and discards their emotions in the process, we tend to think that is a good thing.

In studying the New Testament in the original Greek, he found that several times Jesus expressed emotions very intensely. He suggests that strong emotions are a key to understanding that which we greatly value, and are actually an expression of caring, though they can indeed become distorted.

In his counseling work, he noticed that often people either repress their emotions or "overly express" their emotions. He challenged us to pay attention to our emotions. If I am sad, what made me sad? What value was involved. If I am joyous, what value is being celebrated? If I am angry, what value is being attacked? "Be friendly with your emotions."

He happens to believe that Christianity has de-emphasized the humanity of Jesus. Could it be that Jesus is MORE human than we are - not less so?

In the discussion time, I did ask if he had integrated an understanding of the divine nature of Jesus at this point, but he acknowledged that it was really connected to the human side of Jesus.

THIS WEEKEND I will be participating in a 3-day spiritual retreat. So often the learning events I attend are primarily focused on practical learnings. This will be a change of pace for me. It has held at a Catholic retreat center near Richmond, Va., and will focus on the writings of St. Julian of Norwich, a 14th century English mystic, and her writings which have inspired many. I'll let you know more after I get back!