Tuesday, June 23

Czech Republic

A concert in Prague’s St. Salvator Church continued despite a demonstration by neo-Nazis.

This meditation was written by PC(USA) mission worker Joyce Mauler Michael.

Micah’s call to justice, kindness, and humility is the antithesis of the spirit displayed by an international contingent of neo-Nazis who vowed to disrupt Prague’s Jewish Quarter on November 10, 2007. Yet the power of humble justice was clearly demonstrated by the many Christians and Jews who assembled to recall the night in 1938 when the Nazis engaged in an all-out assault on Jewish communities. After prayers and speeches by clergy, politicians, and concentration camp survivors, the sound of a shofar blessed the crowd that had assembled despite the presence of bands of young men in black and the riot gear-clad police.

A similar rejection of forces of hatred was evident at an Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB) on the edge of the Jewish Quarter. There another sizable group of faithful Christians braved an impending threat to attend a benefit concert on behalf of an ECCB diaconal center for disabled people. The choir’s harmonies were rich, but flares could be seen through the windows, and everyone waited in suspense as a steady wail of sirens interrupted the performance. Yet peace permeated the room when the concert resumed, and later, the spirit of the believers who filled the church prevailed on quiet streets peopled by concertgoers and lines of police blocking entrance to the Jewish Quarter. It was as if the neo-Nazis had vanished in the face of the church’s humble witness to the ways of justice.

Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) People in Mission
Rev. Dr. Joyce Michael, ecumenical relations assistant, Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren

Partners/Ministries
Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren: Rev. Joel Ruml, synodal senior, Mahulena Cejkova, M.D., synodal curator, Mrs. Regina Pe˘sková, senior secretary, Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus, ecumenical officer, Rev. Jan Dus, chairperson of the American Working Group Ecumenical Council of Churches in Czech Republic: Zuzana Dvor˘aková, general secretary Foundation Diakonie: Eva Grollova, deputy director
Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University: ThDr. Martin Prudky’, dean

PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
OweedaKinnaird, FDN
Charlotte Kinnard, GAMC
Jesse Kinzer, FDN

Prayer
Gracious God, show us the power of quiet courage that will not be intimidated by threats of violence so that we may purposefully cultivate the ways of harmony and love throughout our lives. Amen.

Daily Lectionary
Ps. 123, 146 Ps. 30, 86
1 Sam. 6:1–16
Acts 5:27–42; Luke 21:37–22:13