Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 76th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
So today I remember. In addition to what my sister Amy mentions below, I remember the role pastors associated with the Christian faith played, complicity or explicitly, in supporting this nationalistic agenda of ethnic superiority. I remember those who attended church every Sunday with Bible in hand and grew more in love with the idolatry they called “Germany,” rooted in the false belief of God-ordained German exceptionalism.
I remember not just victims, but those who participated in the atrocity by their silence, willful blindness, timidity, or advocacy. I remember in the hope that I will learn and see.
“Today we remember the 6 million Jews and 5 million others deemed unfit (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma, gay men etc.) who lost their lives at the hands of the Nazi’s and their allies. We must remember these people whose only crime was being of a different religion, race, and sexual orientation. We cannot let history repeat itself. Give a moment of silence for them today.” ~ Amy Lee
Fred came to serve greater Williamsburg and WCC as lead pastor in October of 2010 and is grateful to be a part of the family. He is a husband, father, certified trauma professional, S.T.A.R. (strategies for trauma awareness & resilience) practitioner, community organizer, TEDx alum, founder of 3e Restoration, Inc. and co-owner of Philoxenia Culture LLC. He received his B.S. in Ministry/Bible at Amridge University and his Master’s of Religious Education in Missional Leadership from Rochester University. Currently he is a candidate for a Doctorate of Ministry in Contextual Theology in at Northern Seminary in Chicago. Fred has also served as an adjunct professor for Rochester University and Regent University where taught courses in philosophy, ethics, leadership, pastoral care, intro to Christianity, and ethnography. He has also served as a guest lecturer on the subjects of racialized cultural systems, poverty, and missiology at various universities, such as William & Mary and Oklahoma Christian University. Fred has authored on book (Racialized Cultural Systems, Social Displacement and Christian Hospitality) and several curriculum offerings, including The FloorPlan: Living Toward Restoration & Resilience.
Fred enjoys hanging out with his family anytime, anywhere. He is deeply grateful for how God graciously works through the Church in all her various forms, despite our brokenness. He is passionate about seeing the last, least, and lonely of every neighborhood, city and nation experience God’s in-breaking kingdom, and come to know Jesus as King. Oh, and his favorite season is Advent and Christmas.
Fred is a founding member of the board of directors for Virginia Racial Healing Institute, a member of the leadership team for Williamsburg's local chapter of Coming to the Table, and a member of Greater Williamsburg Trauma-Informed Community Network's Racial Trauma Committee and Training Committee.
Through Orange Colored Glasses
My dearest mentor, friend, brother, pastor, activist and example. Read it. You won’t be sorry that you did.
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