Sunday, February 5, 2012: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
In the midst of ethical and doctrinal problems, says Paul, what is most important is to love all people.
Last summer we attended a family reunion in Alberta that commemorated my husband's family's 60 years in Canada. The weekend was filled with games, food and a worship service that included the first hymns that the German immigrant family had learned in English.
Descendants of the immigrants stood to tell their stories. In emotional and halting words, Uncle Emil described how the Nazis had forced him and hundreds of other 16-year-old Germans into the army. The boys were captured almost immediately by the Allies, who herded them into an open-air field where they stood packed in like cattle through three months of nightmarish winter.
Two-thirds of the teenagers died from exposure and starvation. When the war ended, soldiers opened the gates and released those who were still alive. Uncle Emil described how he stumbled out of the prison and into the nearest town. He knocked on the first door he came to. The family that opened the door took him in, fed and clothed him and adopted him as their son until, years later, he was able to locate his own family and immigrate to Canada.
