Prayer as Resistance

Related to this recent post of mine I thought I'd share a quote that profoundly affected some of my students when we were studying in Germany.

We were in Leipzig which was in East Germany before the fall of the Wall. In the days and months leading up to the tearing down of the wall there were massive student protests throughout Germany. In Leipzig every Monday hundreds (and eventually thousands) of protesters would walk downtown to pray for peace at St. Nicholas Church. To this day, St. Nicholas Church holds peace prayer services on Monday nights.

These protests were a part of what is called The Peaceful Revolution in the former East Germany. Much of the power of these protests was focused on Leipzig and what was going on at St. Nicholas Church.

While touring the church the students found a brief history of the peace protests. In this history there was a quote from one of the leaders of the GDR (the Communist regime governing East Germany). Before his death the communist leader said:

We had planned everything. We were prepared for everything. But not for candles and prayers.