The rich tapestry of grace in the centre of war-torn Europe

 It's impossible to convey the depth and width of destructive forces that even until recently have threatened our old homeland. 

Even harder to convince you, the reader of the little glimpses of great love and grace that still exist here.  




I haven't got time now to do our 3 weeks in Germany and Poland justice.  Just in last few days in Berlin we have seen how even the recent imprisonment of peoples in East Germany has forced Chris and I to see that war and indifference to human need can happen again. 
Only this morning at church we were reminded of the very serious restrictions on people in Belarus and how the conditions of the early Christain's ( Text for today is 1 Peter 1 :3-9) were similar for the children of a priest who lost his life recently for speaking out there.    Some pastors we talked to had to have their sermons vetted up until a few years ago. 
Clearly, as in the days of Hitler and the Stasi , many people even now don't see the pressure that those who speak up suffer. Complacency is still the conduit to tyranny. 
Pray for our communities because it can all still happen again . 
Sorry i have no energy to go any further tonight .