How The Chalice Came to Be - Wholeheartedly, Yes!

I think it should be written in biblical verse...

And so it came to pass in the year 1941, an Austrian artist drew satirical pictures of an evil king Adolf Hitler of the Nazis and knew that he must flee for his life. The cartoonist fled from Paris France to Lisbon Portugal by way of South of France and Spain where he saw a group saving others who like him were attempting to escape the Nazis.

And Hans Deutch said...

"There is something that urges me to tell you... how much I admire your utter self denial [and] readiness to serve, to sacrifice all, your time, your health, your well being, to help, help, help.

I am not what you may actually call a believer. But if your kind of life is the profession of your faith — as it is, I feel sure — then religion, ceasing to be magic and mysticism, becomes confession to practical philosophy and — what is more —to active, really useful social work. And this religion — with or without a heading —is one to which even a 'godless' fellow like myself can say wholeheartedly, Yes!"

Reverend Charles Joy who was the leader of the Unitarian Service Committee asked Hans to draw a symbol of their faith. The Service Committee was new, founded in Boston to assist Unitarians and Jews who needed to escape Nazi persecution. Reverend Joy oversaw a secret network of couriers and agents. A symbol was needed for identification in their work.

And Hans drew a Chalice.

Reverend Charles Joy wrote...

"a chalice with a flame, the kind of chalice which the Greeks and Romans put on their altars. The holy oil burning in it is a symbol of helpfulness and sacrifice.... This was in the mind of the artist. The fact, however, that it remotely suggests a cross was not in his mind, but to me this also has its merit. We do not limit our work to Christians. Indeed, at the present moment, our work is nine-tenths for the Jews, yet we do stem from the Christian tradition, and the cross does symbolize Christianity and its central theme of sacrificial love."

I excerpted and paraphrased this from the uua pamphlet on line...

The UU Flaming Chalice Story