Dear Friends,

This week I visited Auschwitz with a friend. Most of the time, we were silent, walking through the ruins, the exhibitions in the museum, the sites of murder and torture. There are not words to describe the horror that millions of Polish, Gypsies, Jews, anyone who disagreed with Hitler, experienced there, those years ago. And every step of the way towards their death, they were deceived....deceived so that they would not protest, would not riot, would remain passive, until the final moment that they were killed. "Arbeit Macht Frei"--"Work makes you free" are the words over the entry to the camp.... I can barely imagine the mind that ordered those words to be in that place...

I tried to put myself in that time period and wonder who I would have been....

Would I have been one of the deceivers, participating in the killing in the belief that my country and my race needed such blind and vicious loyalty in order to survive and thrive? Would I have tried to pretend that it just wasn't happening, do whatever I could to survive, and therefore deceive myself into passivity?

Or....would I have had the courage to try to protect those who were vulnerable, those being deceived, knowing that my own life could be at risk?

Thoughts about two people were on my mind during the day: Corrie Ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Both did what they felt God was calling them to do during this time. Corrie hid Jewish people in her home. Dietrich returned from the safety of the U.S. to his German homeland, to be a support to his community and then he became active in resistance activities. Corrie survived the concentration camp, Dietrich was killed. Their writings about their experiences of God meeting them in the midst of their misery and struggle have inspired masses of people. When I came home, I reread Dietrich's Letters and Papers From Prison. A couple of quotes challenged me, and I share them with you:

"We must plunge ourselves into the life of a godless world, without attempting to gloss over its ungodliness with a veneer of religion or trying to disfigure it....To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to cultivate some particular form of asceticism, but to be a person....it is not some religious act which makes a Christian what he is, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world."

And then, part of a poem, questioning, expressing queries of my own:

"Who am I?

Am I one person today and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,

And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army,

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou knowest O God, I am Thine!"

"Whoever I am, Thou knowest O God, I am Thine...." When I go out on the streets where women are deceived, abused and killed, where it all seems so raw and so impossible, where some would say we are fools, and I sometimes think it's true, Dietrich's words serve as a balm, an encouragement. And once again, I realize that what we're called to do is not rescue the world, perhaps not even to see any successes or victories in our own time. What we're called to do is know that we belong to God. And then to know that God will achieve whatever victory there is to win. In that there is ultimate freedom, and ultimate peace. And with that knowledge tonight I go out, once again, on the streets, praying that God's presence will surround us, that God's presence will speak into the evil deception, that God's presence will speak peace and hope into the lives of women in prostitution, as well as their pimps. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your participation in the journey.

ICCP and ICAP

In April, I had the privilege of helping to facilitate the "International Christian Conference on Prostitution" (ICCP) held at the Green Lake Conference Center (Wisconsin). More than 200 people from 36 countries attended. Many of them have founded or are leaders in ministries which serve those who are trapped in prostitution, offering them economic and spiritual alternatives. Others who came are feeling called into ministry with people in prostitution and had the opportunity to explore that call. Yet others, came to offer prayer and/or financial support. It was an amazing time of sharing, learning, praying, praising. It was truly "God's Conference". The highlight for me was the last evening, when nearly all the participants committed themselves to participate in the "International Christian Alliance on Prostitution" (ICAP). ICAP will serve as a network for Christian organizations working with adults in prostitution, offering support and resources, and has been a dream for many of us for many years.

For more information about ICCP and ICAP, get yourself a copy of the 5 minute video which was produced:

Living Hope for People in Prostitution video:

http://www.internationalministries.org/updates/LivingHopeVideo.htm

Rev. Lauran D. Bethell
Prague, Czech Republic