How Much Do I Need?

A letter from Burkhard Paetzold, serving in Germany

April 2018

17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. Exodus 16:17-18

Dear friends,

I greet you in this time of Lent in our divided societies and a divided world.

In a global framework, we see a big divide among those who contribute to climate change with excessive and wasteful lifestyles and those who suffer or will suffer. The standard lifestyle in industrialized countries has a large carbon footprint that tramples the world and harms those with “small feet” in particular.

The German Church has called for fasting for climate protection and climate justice. You can join your German brothers and sisters by learning about similar PC(USA) activities. Photo used with the permission of Fossil Free PC(USA), a grassroots movement in the PC(USA) calling for divestment and fasting from fossil fuels.

How can we become more aware of this? Fasting can help, if fasting means to pause, to decelerate, to slow down, to come to rest from our “frantic stalemate.”

Lent can help to open our eyes to the truth and can make starting to live in the truth possible.

Many German churches have called for 7 weeks of fasting for climate protection and climate justice.
They call for a week:

… of reflection, meditation, retreat, and repentance
… of changing our means of mobility
… of awareness in our cooking and eating habits
… of buying and consuming less
… of conserving energy
… of changing how we deal with our money
… of common reflection on necessary changes

Do we realize how much of our lifestyle violates the rights or the well-being of others and manifests injustice?

Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke up and acted in a nonviolent way to overcome injustice. He is a historic figure in the US, but I’m not sure how many of you know about his influence in other parts of the world.

Let me talk about my own memories and insights from when I was a kid in East Berlin some 50 years ago.

For my 13th birthday, my friend Kurt gave me two rare books published in East Germany, a biography about Martin Luther King Jr. and a translation of some of King’s writings. These books were published to show injustice and racism in the US, a place far away, but we all understood immediately that this voice spoke to us and to everyone who faces injustice and human rights violations. And it told us how to fight it — in a non-violent way.

We learned that to live a non-violent life doesn’t only mean to abstain from physical violence. It also means to abstain from and speak out against structural violence: against racism, global injustice and intolerance.

Martin Luther King Jr. in East Berlin, 1964. Courtesy of Evangelisches Landeskirchliches Archiv in Berlin.

For more photographs of King’s visit, please visit the Martin Luther King Memorial Berlin website. Though the text on the website is German, the photos speak for themselves.

In September 1964, King was invited to West Germany and West Berlin, but few knew that he had an invitation to preach in East Berlin behind the wall. On the morning of his visit to East Berlin, East German border police shot and heavily injured a refugee who was trying to scale the Berlin Wall from East to West. The man was finally rescued by a US sergeant. It is said that because of that incident, the US State Department kept King’s passport to prevent his visit to East Berlin. However, King went to Check Point Charly, and the East German border guard recognized the world famous civil rights movement leader. After checking with an officer, the guard let him pass — with only a credit card as identification.

When King was preaching in two overcrowded Protestant churches in East Berlin, a choir was singing, “Go down Moses,” and the congregation replied, “Let my people go.” King said in his speech that there are good children living on both sides of the wall, and no border erected by men can deny this fact.

I was sad when I heard in the news that “my hero” had come to my hometown but I had been unable to see him. (Though, as I was only 13 years old, I guess my parents wouldn’t have allowed me to go.)

People who participated and have vivid memories say there is a common theme with this visit and the peaceful revolution in East Germany in 1989. Both this particular visit and the powerful vision of Martin Luther King Jr. have had a deep impact on my own life, and more importantly, on the German peace movement in the East and West. Many of the important powerful demonstrations in ‘89 started in churches with a peace prayer and a well-received exhortation to prepare for a non-violent march.

Poster for the “I Am Legend” camp.

I’m sure there are legends in the lives of young people today. So, let me draw your attention to this year’s summer international youth camp in a mountain resort in the Czech Republic near the Polish border July 13-22. This year, the theme is “I Am Legend” — and the camp will focus on how stories of extraordinary people influence and form our lives.

This summer, I will be visiting the US. I’m invited to a training for regional liaisons of Presbyterian World Mission and plan to visit congregations before and/or afterwards. I will start my travel planning soon. So please let me know if you are interested in having me come your way.

I truly believe it is important to learn from each other, as we learned from a great son of your nation, and you may learn from the peaceful revolutions in Central Eastern Europe.

We need each other to reflect on peaceful change. I feel blessed and challenged to be part of Presbyterian World Mission working with partners in Europe who are committed to such change.

My desire is to share this blessing and challenge with you all. Thank you for your support. I invite you to continue supporting me in the ways that I try to be present with our partners throughout the region. Your voice, your daily living, your financial contributions, and your prayers are most welcome. Together, and by the Grace of God, we will continue to transform this world in which we live.

Burkhard