For Elie Wiesel

Beloved:

The summer before sixth grade I convinced the librarian that except for the sports section I had read every book in the children’s department of the Bedford Indiana Public Library.  She took me upstairs to the Young Adult area and said I could check out anything my mother approved.  My mother did not censor my reading.  Until that summer, reading had felt to me something like a magic trick I did over and over to entertain myself.  Words were puzzles.  I solved one book-ful and picked up another.  Within months I had read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, To Kill A Mockingbird, and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr – and the game was over, along with a part of my childhood I was sad to lose. 

  Judith Kerr’s book touched me most deeply, so I went looking for more, and I found Elie Wiesel before the end of high school.  I’ve read nearly everything he published.  His disappointment in God has tempered my preaching in ways I cannot describe.  His disappointment in and hope for humanity have made me, I pray, a slightly braver human being than I would be otherwise. 

I was truly glad for him when I read of his death on Saturday.  Always, in nearly everything he wrote, he spoke of the burden of surviving.  He carried it – the burden – with such solemn dignity, honesty, and clarity for nearly seventy years.  He did not shrink from the terrible task of bearing witness to evil.  I pray his spirit is finally at rest.  I pray to be faithful to his memory and to his teaching. 

Hopefully your long weekend was good.  I look forward to seeing you soon. 
​
~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette