Today (8 May) we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
On behalf of friends of the United Reformed Church in the Pfalz, Pfarrer Martin Henninger, Minister of the Lutherkirche in Frankenthal, has sent greetings to the whole of the denomination, saying:
“As Richard von Weizsäcker, the former President of Germany forty years ago said: ’The 8th of May was a day of liberation. It made us free from the inhuman system of the National Socialist terror system.’
“We are very much aware the British people among many others paid a high price for it not the least when a German rocket hit the Presbyterian Church House in March 1945 which is still remembered at Tavistock Place. But out of the ashes of this war came reconciliation, friendship and the Covenant of Pulpit and Table between our churches for which we are grateful. As the conference in 2019 has shown both churches remain committed to peace and reconciliation in a world which increasingly seems to be divided by national interests and even war as the conflict in the Ukraine is making obvious.
“So, as we commemorate the end of World War II causing millions of victims, let us continue to pray for repentance, forgiveness and peace with the words from the Litany of Reconciliation (Coventry):
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,
Father forgive.
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,
Father, forgive.
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth,
Father, forgive.
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,
Father, forgive.
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,
Father, forgive.
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children,
Father, forgive.
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,
Father, forgive.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
