Friday, January 5, 2024

It is the 5th of January 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

The words Yad Vashem come from the book of Isaiah, where the promise is made of an everlasting name that shall not be cut off from memory. It is the name of an organization that, since last century, has managed the world holocaust museum and has on various occasions recognized Jews and Gentiles who, with no ulterior motives, put themselves in great danger to help those fleeing incarceration and likely death at the hands of the nazis during World War 2.

It was on this, the 5th of January in 1971, that the organization designated the French pastor, Andre Trocme, for his service in saving over 2,000 Jews, many children, by hiding them and resisting the Vichhy government and the nazis.

Andre was born in 1901 to a French Father and a German mother. In the lead-up to World War 1, his mother was killed in a car accident, and he was further forced to grow up quickly as a young teen when the specter of his cousins being forced to fight each other on either side of the war.

When the Germans bombed his home village, he was forced to live abroad in Belgium. Coming home, he would study theology and embrace a kind of pacifism, one that did not keep him from his required military service in the early 1920s. 

He came to America to study at Union Seminary and met Magda Grilli, a Russian Italian. The two would marry and have four children. In the 30s, he would take a call to the parish of Chambon-sur-Lignon. Chambon is a collection of 12 rural villages in south-central France. Its secluded location made it a haven for Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion for refugees fleeing Franco’s Spain and then would serve a similar role in the nazi occupation.

His pacifism waned with the steady roll of nazis into France, and he considered joining a plot to assassinate Hitler. But instead, he found that the school he began for rural children could become a place to hide Jewish children.

He and his fellow pastor preached openly about the horrors of the nazis and publicly preached non-violent resistance. This would make him an easy target for the Vichy and nazi informants. But such was his esteem in the Chambon that not only was he never turned in, but the villagers began opening their own homes and farms as hiding places.

The village would fabricate ID cards and baptismal certificates. The French surrendered to the nazis on June 22nd, 1940 and the following Sunday, Trocme publicly preached resistance to the nazis, saying:

“Tremendous pressure will be put on us to submit passively to a totalitarian ideology. If they do not succeed in subjugating our souls, at least they will want to subjugate our bodies. The duty of Christians is to use the weapons of the Spirit to oppose the violence that they will try to put on our consciences. We appeal to all our brothers in Christ to refuse to cooperate with this violence...

Loving, forgiving, and doing good to our adversaries is our duty. Yet we must do this without giving up, and without being cowardly. We shall resist whenever our adversaries demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the gospel. We shall do so without fear, but also without pride and without hate.”

Along with the American Friends Service Committee, they would arrange a network resembling the underground railroad to get children to safety.

In 1942, state officials came to Chambon and were given a petition from the villagers protesting the arrest of Jews in France. The police came to the villages looking for hidden Jews, but all-in-all, only two were discovered and arrested.

Trocme was arrested in August of 1942 with his fellow pastor, Edoard Theis, and sent to a French camp but was freed without being given a reason four weeks later. He would stay underground for the rest of the war, assisting those fleeing the village. 

After the war, he became the European Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation and traveled speaking on non-violence. His own House of Reconciliation peace center opened in Versailles.  

His last position was as the pastor of the Reformed church in Geneva. He was recognized on this, the 5th of January, as Righteous Among the Nations before his death in June of the same year.

He published two books, 1953’s The Politics of Repentance and 1961’s Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution; the latter is a short read and, even if Pacifism isn’t your bag, a very good introduction to his thought and can be downloaded as an ebook for free through Plough ministries (that’s “ugh” and a .com).

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- a timely word from Jesus in Luke chapter 6:

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of January 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who just got an idea about a lucrative shirt and coat company. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man determined to get this week of shows done, even with a wicked head cold- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.