A quote that is haunting me today #umc

Sophie Scholl was a Lutheran revolutionary in Germany during World War II. She was executed as a traitor to the Third Reich at age 21. Her words are haunting me a bit today. I have never been one to keep the peace for the sake of keeping the peace, but I want to acknowledge that those of us who are working for the unity of the church are walking a fine line. Unity, after all, is not the same thing as going along to go along.

"The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves-or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn."