April 7 1994 was the beginning of the Rwandan Genocide. In 100 days Hutu militia slaughtered up to a million of their Tutsi neighbors and moderate Hutus, mostly with machetes and primitive weapons. Many of the massacres occurred in churches, where victims had fled for safety.
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April 7 is also the birthday of André Trocmé, pastor of the village of Le Chambon, which carried on a “conspiracy of goodness,” rescuing 2500 Jews under the noses of the Gestapo in occupied France. (25k Jews were deported from Paris alone in 1942.)
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A test of evangelization, whether in an epoch of extermination, or just an ordinary season of injustice: Is the gospel we hear preached on Sunday one that inspires us to stick our necks out on behalf of “strangers” or to sit back and play it safe?