Anne Frank Memorial Remarks

The Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran Minister, and part of the german resistance movement againstthe Nazi’s wrote these words:, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
So here we are, gathered together to raise a mighty collective voice; against the same forces of hate, oppression, intimidation and violence. 

And we gather today, especially, because we feel that deep need to be in community together. To show a visible, collective response in the face of rising hate and violence and intimidation; to remind one another that we are stronger together and we will not be silent.
We are here! We are everywhere. Connected today on holy ground. Ground made holy by this community of Idahoans; dedicated to the principles human rights for all people; no matter what. Dedicated to a vision of humanity recognizes the inherent worth and dignity of all people and seeks justice and compassion in all the spaces we inhabit.

Hate has no place here. Violence has not place here. Intimidation has no place here. Fascism has no place here.

In the Universalist theological roots of my tradition, we believe in Universal Salvation; that no one is condemned or damned; that all are worthy of that universal force of love. We have a saying we like to share that we are here to “Love the Hell out of the world.” Let us all committo that together, to loving the hell out of the world!

To do that means we confront hate wherever we see it, we commit to being upstanders, interrupting the spiral of oppression; we commit to dismantling systems of white supremacy and all other oppressions. 

We will rise up together against the poison of hate and oppression; harassment and violence. We rise up to mobilize the antidotes born out of our commitment to our shared humanity and collective thriving, antidotes of radical love, radical welcome, radical justice, radical compassion in our every action.

We will not be deterred.  Together we summon courage
To face this moment with our collective power,
our collective commitment to love and justice;
We commit to righting the wrongs of millennia,
connected to one another 
in that, inextricable network of mutuality,*
To building the beloved community, where all can thrive.
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We are here. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, South-Asain, differently abled, LGBTQ+, white Jewish Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, humanist, athirst, agnostic and Christian and everything in between. We are here. We are everywhere. And we choose love.

May it be so.