by

Bonhoeffer’s Warning for a Nation in Crisis

Dietrich Bonhoeffer watched a nation  turn away from the teachings of Jesus, setting aside their Christian values, while pretending faithfulness, even as  their Jewish neighbors were persecuted.  Indifferent to the wellbeing of others, or unwilling to speak out, Church goers looked on as people were arrested, detained and sent to  concentration camps. Bonhoeffer had heard the official statements blaming Jewish people,  for everything wrong in Germany.  He saw the movement from forced wearing of a yellow star, gradually become more aggressive, until being Jewish was a crime.

Writing a letter to a friend in 1934, Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed his frustration with the silence of the church, “We must finally stop appealing to theology to justify our reserved silence about what the state is doing – for that is nothing but fear. ‘Open your mouth for the one who is voiceless’ – for who in the church today still remembers that, that is the least of the Bible’s demands in times such as these?”

In 1934, Bonhoeffer would not have know the extent of evil happening at those camps, but he knew that the very act itself was wrong.  He  despaired  over his government’s terrorizing and targeting ethnic groups, then  looting  their homes and businesses.  He heard the scapegoating, not only of Jewish people, but of Gypsies and the handicapped, with all of the excuses to justify  Hitler’s actions.

Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust, we wondered what we would have done, had we been living in Germany at the time? Would we have remained silent? Or would we have cheered on the ethnic cleansing of Hitler’s Germany? Would we have been part of the underground movement, protecting and moving people to safety? Would we have protested from the very beginning, demanding justice? And would our protests then, have stopped the whole movement of hatred from succeeding?

James Russell Lowell’s words speak loudly to the moment both then and now. “Once to every soul and nation comes the moment to decide, in the strife of truth with falsehood for the good or evil side; some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight, and the choice goes by forever twix the darkness and that light”

Today we are seeing an administration running roughshod over rights, established law, and constitutional protections. What was supposed to be immigration enforcement, has become instead, persecution. We have seen entire ethnic groups scapegoated, demonized and targeted, while cruelty is justified as law, and innocent children suffer as a result.

Our justice system is overwhelmed with people protesting false detentions. Our courts are in chaos as good people resign rather, than carry out unjustified investigations. The nation is in turmoil.

James Russell Lowe’s, words continue to speak to me, “Once to every soul and nation, comes the moment to decide, in this strife of truth with falsehood for the good or evil side.

As God whispers in our need,

“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly.” Isaiah 58:6-8a

Discover more from A Pastor's Heart

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

15 thoughts on “Bonhoeffer’s Warning for a Nation in Crisis”

  3. Your post has pulled many memories forth as well. I have mine as my father was a liberator of Dachau and I remember his terrible PTSD in my earliest years. And I went to Union were the memories of Bonhoeffer’s decision to return were very much alive even in the 1970’s. But more than anything is the call for us, now try to understand how to respond to the horrible times we are in.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Oh, Maren, that must have been so difficult for your dad, and all your family as he dealt with his PTSD. These are horrible times. But, I think of how wise of our teachers and professors to prepare us for a time, that we never thought we’d need to be prepared for.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Wonderfully written, Shirley. I read a book a few years ago that hit close to home for me. “The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War” by Elizabeth Sifton, the daughter of Reinhold Niebuhr.

    She witnessed as a child conversations between her father, her uncle, Paul Tillich, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer when Bonhoeffer was at Union Seminary. Tillich tried to get Bonhoeffer to consider staying in the US where he could continue to make a difference. Bonhoeffer refused, saying his work was in Germany as a pastor and teacher.

    Such voices are needed in this country today. Thank you for being one of those voices!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It must have been quite a conversation to witness, with Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I once read that Bonhoeffer felt he needed to live and resist in Germany, or his voice would be meaningless after the war. When I was in 7th grade, my little rural school, showed a film about the Holocaust. It was taken right as the camps were liberated, showing stacks of skeletal bodies in piles, with others barely alive. That film has had a lasting impact. Thanks for your response.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Wow… that would leave an impression. One of my classmates in 10th grade US history brought photos her Dad had… he was part of the liberating forces at a Concentration camp in Germany… I’ve never forgotten those pictures.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

          • One of the Ruling Elders in my home church was a navigator on B-25s in WW2. He never talked about it when I was a kid. I was able to visit the American Cemetery near Cambridge during my first tour in England. Took pictures of the graves of some of his crew members who died during the war. We had some good conversations when I was over there. As a Chaplain he knew I’d get it… much more than as a kid. His Operations Officer was a fellow named Jimmy Stewart. Yep, the actor. When they had time off, he and Jimmy would catch shows at the West End theatres while the rest of the guys went dancing and drinking. During my second tour in England I was able to visit the base he flew out of and sent him pictures. The refueling wing that I was the senior ranking chaplain at had their roots in another Bomb Group, the Bloody 100th (nickname came out of the mission where 12 took off and only 1 made it back to base… the rest were shot down over Germany, ditched in the Channel, or crashed in England. They flew B-17s… Bob said that the 17s had it a lot worse than they did. Met some veterans of the 100th and the stories were very sobering. They were all kids…

            Liked by 1 person

Comments