Archbishop Rowan Williams describes a young Jewish woman named Etty Hillesum. Etty was in her twenties when the Germans occupied Holland. She wasn’t a conventionally religious person, but between the years of 1941 and 1943, as she watched her world descend into a nightmare, she became aware of God’s hand on her life. Imprisoned in the transit camp at Westerbork before being shipped to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Etty wrote these words in her diary:
There must be someone to live through it all and bear witness to the fact that God lived, even in these times.
And why should I not be that witness?
Williams goes on to describe Etty’s commitment this way: she decided to occupy a certain place in the world, a place where others could somehow connect with God through her. She took responsibility for making God credible in the world. She took responsibility for God’s believability.
What we’re hearing in these days is the very heart of God within us, deep calling to deep, the Spirit crying out on behalf of a world desperate for love. The only question that matters is this one: Will we listen? Someone has to live through it all and bear witness to the fact that God lived, even in these times.
Ask yourself: Why shouldn’t that witness be me?
Extract from Into the Mess by Debie Thomas