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by Sally Klein O'Connor (Author)
A Rumor of Roses bears witness to an honest struggle to personally forgive, love my enemies, see through some deeply entrenched and culturally justified prejudices to become an ambassador of God's extravagant love to people in places still shamed and shadowed by echoes of great evil. Growing up Jewish, unconditional love and forgiveness were not tenets my family lived by or passed onto me. Cynicism and judgment were the predominant lenses through which I was taught to view people and circumstances. And nowhere was this more evident than in the feelings the Jewish community held onto in regard to Germany. As so many of my race, culture, and generation, I grew up with a deep-seated dislike for Germany based on what happened in the Holocaust during the Second World War. But in 2006 I experienced a "holy confrontation" and the bitterness handed down by my parents' generation-seeded and rooted in my heart-was exposed. In that moment I understood the way I was brought up to think about Germany was not in accord with God's heart. Much deeper than forgiving-as impossible as that may seem to many who lost family and friends-it went right to the heart of love God desires His people to express in this world. Beginning with personal issues of forgiveness with my father and others, God revealed His mercy and grace in vulnerable corners of my history, and taught my heart how to look beyond the deep hurt and offense I instinctively held onto. In the process I changed and continued to grow in this revelation. It set the foundation for a special project, A Tour of Roses, which I began with my husband, Michael, in 2009, under the umbrella of Improbable People Ministries. Beneath the banner of healing and reconciliation we began to freely give out hundreds, and then thousands of long stem red roses to people in the streets of Dachau, Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Berlin, Munich, Warsaw, Jedwabne, Krakow, Mauthausen-to name a few. Later, we also brought A Tour of Roses to Belfast, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, and to the Sunset Strip in L.A. one Halloween night. Each rose was accompanied by a keepsake card, which spoke simply to the heart of the matter: Red for the blood of the people who died.Red for the Savior's blood which was shed for all.Red for His perfect love, which removes all fear, making it possible to love one another.I believe A Rumor of Roses is timely because of the current trends in the world-and in the church-of getting caught up in social/political issues, and ignoring the actual individual human beings involved. For instance, even though I am Jewish and there are certain politics and loyalties that people automatically assume are connected to my identity, we brought A Tour of Roses twice to Bethlehem. While there, we visited one of the more difficult Palestinian refugee camps, worshiping and handing out roses there. So much of what we heard back from those who received roses from us was their absolute surprise that we would travel all that way to just love on them. All of us on that team were amazed to see how God touched hearts through such a simple act of love and kindness. I am not a scholar or theologian, just a fellow worshiper with her own set of wounds through which God is revealing His redemptive nature. A Rumor of Roses is not a treatise on reconciliation, but observations along the way on a continuing journey further up and further into the heights and depths of those mercies that are new every morning which spring from the extravagant love of God
