The Courage to speak up

Most of us know the poem 'First They Came' by German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller 

First They Came

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

For whom must we speak out now? Or whose voice are we allowing to be silenced? It's a question that we must ask ourselves in these difficult and dangerous times when our LGBTQ2SIIA++ siblings, Women, People of Colour, Black, Indigenous, Impoverished, Chronically sick, Disabled, Traumatized, Substance Using, and Mentally ill people are all under threat from those who believe that simply to be any of the above makes a person morally imperfect.

We are as followers of Jesus being called to stand alongside and speak up with and for those who are being oppressed and silenced. 

Derek Webb has been on a journey of allyship for the LGBTQ2SIIA++ community as a Christian and as a musician, and he reminds us in the music video below, quoting Stan Mitchell  "If you claim to be someone's ally but aren't getting hit by the stones being thrown at them, you aren't standing close enough."

Scripture