Day 5: 40-4-4 Lenten Prayer for Social Justice

DAY 5

40-4-4 Lenten Prayer for Social Justice

(40 days at 4:00 pm for 4 minutes)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

(1906-1945)

Dietrich Bohhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and author known for his resistance to Adolf Hitler and Nazi regime. In April 1933, Bonhoeffer raised opposition to the persecution of Jews and argued that the Church had a responsibility to act against this kind of policy. Bonhoeffer formed the Confessing Church which sought to stand in contrast to the Nazi-supported, German Christian movement.

As the Nazi control of the country intensified, in 1937, the Confessing Church seminary was closed down. Over the next two years, Bonhoeffer traveled throughout Eastern Germany, and wrote extensively on subjects of theological interest: “The Cost of Discipleship,” and “Life Together” and later “Letters and Papers from Prison.” Worried by a fear of being asked to take an oath to Hitler or be arrested, Bonhoeffer left Germany for the United States in June 1939. After less than two years, he returned to Germany because he felt guilty for seeking sanctuary and not having the courage to practice what he preached.

On his return to Germany, Bonhoeffer was denied the right to speak in public or publish any article. It was during the darkest hours of the Second World War that he began to question his pacifism, as he saw the need for violent opposition to a regime such as Hitler. Bonhoeffer struggled with how to respond to the evil nature of the Nazi regime. Bonhoeffer, served as a messenger for the small German resistance movement. Efforts were made to help some German Jews escape to neutral Switzerland. It was Bonhoeffer’s involvement in this activity that led to his arrest in April 1943. Even during the privations of the concentration camp, Bonhoeffer retained a deep spirituality which was evident to other prisoners. Bonhoeffer continued to minister to his fellow prisoners. Due to his opposition to the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer was arrested and executed at the Flossian concentration camp, during the last month of the war.

Bonhoeffer’s principled resistance to Hitler’s regime was a source of inspiration for other figures such as Martin Luther King and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Bonhoeffer also shared many ideals with Mahatma Gandhi.

Click to listen to Siegfried Fietz sing "Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen" on youtube.com.

Click to listen and meditate on Bonhoeffer's life as Siegfried Fietz sings "Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen" on youtube.com

BONHOEFFER'S POEM

"By loving forces silently surrounded"

“By loving forces silently surrounded,

I feel quite soothed, secure, and filled with grace.

So I would like to live these days together,

and go with you into another year.

Still matters of the past are pressing our hearts

and evil days are weighing down on us.

Oh Lord, to our souls, so scared and sore,

give rescue, as it’s that you made us for.

And when you pass to us the bitter chalice

of suffering, filled to the brim and more,

we take it, full of thanks and trembling not,

from this, your caring and beloved hand.

But if you want to please us, over and again,

with our shining sun and wondrous world,

let us muse on what is past, and then we shall,

with our lives, in all belong to you.

Warm and bright be our candles’ flame today,

since into gloom you brought a gleaming light,

and lead again us, if you will, together!

We know it: you are beaming in the night.

When silence now will snow around us everywhere,

so let us hear the all-embracing sound

of greater things than we can see and wider,

your world, and all your children’s soaring hail.

By loving forces wonderfully sheltered,

we are awaiting fearlessly what comes.

God is with us at dusk and in the morning

and most assuredly on every day.”

(translated by Hilmar H. Werner, 2010)

Meditation of Bonhoeffer’s Sayings

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together)

Click to watch a documentary on "Bonhoeffer" on youtube.com (for adults only)

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