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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Janet Fife, retired vicar and one of the first women to be ordained.

Good morning.

When I read Anne Frank’s Diary I was the age she was when she wrote it. Though at the time I didn’t understand much of the context, it made a big impression on me - as it has on so many people. What accounts for the enormous impact of the Diary of Anne Frank?

There is the drama of the situation: people, including 3 children, hiding from the Nazis, with all the alarms and tedium that entailed. There is the pathos of knowing that the young author died in a concentration camp. The Nazis stamped the Jews with serial numbers and exterminated them en masse. Anne wrote of quarrels with her roommate; sexual awakening, falling in love. She was just like us.

It’s human nature to suspect or dislike people who seem different from us. Anne Frank shows us that our differences are not so great after all.

As a British child growing up in the USA, I was always a bit different from my classmates. That was sometimes uncomfortable, but valuable experience. I have always been aware that there is more than one way to look at things.

In our white Chicago suburb, there was one form of segregation: Catholics and Protestants didn’t mix. We went to separate schools and remained suspicious of each other. It wasn’t until I had Catholic friends that I realised how much we had in common.

Now more than ever we need to value those who are different. As Matthew Syed wrote in his book ‘Rebel Ideas’: ‘When we are confronted by complexity, and the environment is changing at a rapid pace, cognitive diversity is crucial for making wise decisions.’

Creator God, help us to value every person you have made, and be open to learning from each other.

Amen.

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