Isabel Best has edited and introduced another book that in my opinion needs to be read once, put on a shelf only briefly, and then picked up again over and over whenever a child of God is feeling perplexed. Yes, it is a book of sermons by Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached at various times from 1928 to 1939. But I could not help but feel he was preaching to me – there I was sitting in one of his confirmation classes or in his church and everything he referred to that was going on in the world was happening to me, here and now. It is a book that has fundamentally changed my thinking on much that I believed or thought before and I will, hopefully, never be the same again. If I am, it is inexcusable. The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Translated from the German by Douglas W. Stott, Anne Schmidt-Lange, Isabel Best, Scott A. Moore, and Claudia D. Bergman, and edited by Isabel Best, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012, hardcover, 214 pages, is that book.
I wondered how I would review
such a book as I finished it at 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. In the middle of the night, the thought came
to me that I could not do it justice no matter how clever I became. In fact, to think that this was even feasible
went against just one of the very things Bonhoeffer was teaching me. Instead, it occurred to me that my review
would best serve potential readers if it were composed of some of my favorite
quotations from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s messages found in this volume. For those that are not familiar with Bonhoeffer,
I start with this simple description of the man from the friendly website www.dbonhoeffer.org:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian, martyr, a spiritual
writer, a musician, a pastor, and an author of poetry and fiction. The
integrity of his Christian faith and life, and the international appeal of his
writings, have received broad recognition and admiration, all of which has led
to a consensus that he is one of the theologians of his time whose theological
reflections might lead future generations of Christians into creating a new
more spiritual and responsible millennium. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German
theologian famous for his stand against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. His
beliefs and convictions ultimately cost him his life in a Nazi concentration
camp. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most famous theologians and martyrs of
the 20th century.
Bonhoeffer’s
sermons in this volume focus on some very familiar and yet easy to
misunderstand passages. The topics in
this book include, but are not limited to: God Is with Us (Matthew 28:20);
Waiting at the Door (Revelation 3:20); The Promised Land; God Is Love (I John
4:16b); Lazarus and the Rich Man; Risen With Christ (Colossians 3:1-4);
Overcoming Fear; Who Do You Say That I Am?; What Love Wants; Must I Be
Perfect?; My Strength Is Made Perfect in Weakness; Lord, Help My Unbelief;
Forgiveness; and The Betrayer (this one is sure to surprise you).
Here
are just some of my favorite quotes from the book. Let me be honest; I offer you only enough of
each quote to entice you to read more of it in its context. May God so motivate you.
1. “The church does not leave
anyone alone. None of you who have come
here today in mourning, no one who is really looking for consolation and not
just a ceremonial memorial service should remain alone today . . . . Every
other person who is interested in something else besides Christian knowledge of
God and God’s will is in the wrong place here.
2. “The church is like the seer
of ancient times who, when all are gathered to commemorate a great deed of the
nation, is wholeheartedly present but suffers because he sees something that
the others do not see and must speak of what he sees, although no one wants to
hear it.”
3. “We must end this audacious,
sanctimonious spiritualization of the gospel.
Take it as it is, or hate it honestly!”
4. “Up until now we have spoken
of these two as if they actually had nothing to do with each other. That is obviously not the case. Lazarus lies in front of the rich man’s
doorstep, and it is the poverty of Lazarus that makes the rich man rich, just
as the wealth of the other man makes Lazarus poor.” [Brilliant
with great implications.]
5. “Today, immensely important
things will be decided by whether we Christians have strength enough to show
the world that we are not dreamers and are not those who walk with their heads
in the clouds, that we don’t just let things come and go as they are, that our
faith is really not the opium that lets us stay content in the midst of an
unjust world, but that we, especially because we set our minds on things that
are above, only protest all the more tenaciously and resolutely on this earth.”
6. “We should not be surprised
if for our church, too, times will come again when the blood of martyrs will be
required. But this blood, if we really
still have the courage and honor and faithfulness to shed it, will not be as
innocent and untarnished as that of the first witnesses. On our blood would lie great guilt of our own
. . . . ”
7. “Our life is hidden with
Christ in God. We ourselves are already
at home in the midst of our homelessness.”
8. “Many a pastor has failed
because he or she wanted to carry the congregation, but the congregation did
not carry the pastor. A congregation
that does not pray for the ministry of its pastor is no longer a
congregation. A pastor who does not pray
daily for the congregation is no longer a pastor.”
9. “There are even people who
think themselves particularly devout if they do not see the dark side of life,
if they close themselves off from the catastrophes of this world and just lead
their own tranquil, pious lives in peaceful optimism.”
10. “Imagine that someone whom we do not find likable has done something to
us that surprises us, and then (imagine) that someone whom we love very
much has done something that we simply cannot understand. In the first
case (the action of the person we do not find likable) we will
immediately have all sorts of explanations for the bad motives that led that
person to such an action; while, on the other hand, we will endlessly search
and ask, and indeed invent excuses (for the action of the person whom we
love very much), in an effort to understand why the person we loved acted
the way he or she did. We will certainly finish by knowing this second
person better than we know the first.”
11. “The human creature sinks
down to the ground and stretches out his or her hands, and is no longer his or
her self, but is in God. That is
perfection.”
12. “A church may have great
faith – the most orthodox beliefs, the firmest loyalty to its confession – but
if it is not even more a church of pure and all-embracing love, it is good for
nothing.”
13. “Faith that has no hope is
sick. It is like a hungry child who will
not eat or a tired person who will not go to sleep. As surely as a person believes, surely he or
she will also hope.”
14. “Faith and hope enter into
eternity transformed into the shape of love.”
15. “Christianity should take a
much more definite stand for the weak than for the potential moral right of the
strong.”
16. “What does it mean, to
believe in God, if not to make room for God’s will, what God wills for us, for
the world?”
17. “Lord, I believe – I believe
what you say, I believe that your word and your promise are true. I believe, when I am looking at you, when I
hear the words, when I see. But when I
am looking at myself, then, dear Lord, help my unbelief. When I am besieged, when everything in me
resists such a promise – reason, history, the world, my experience – help my
unbelief.”
18. “You do not have your faith
once and for all. The faith that you
will confess today with all your hearts needs to be regained tomorrow and the
day after tomorrow, indeed, every day anew.”
I highly
recommend you pick up a copy of this book.
The official website of “The International Bonhoeffer Society” is www.dietrichbonhoeffer.org .
[Are you
looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken
is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]
Thanks for dropping
by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all
sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on
the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your
friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting. And while you’re here, why not check out some
more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column. Ken.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
Ken - thank you for your quote based review, I will read this as well. I have been deeply moved by Bonhoeffer, so much so that I have suffered because Bonhoeffer's writings so influenced me as a pastor.
ReplyDeleteI want to agree with you whole heartedly "You cannot read Bonhoeffer without it changing your life" but I can't. I can't agree because I know many pastors and Bishops who can quote Bonhoeffer eloquently, recommend his writings and even teach Bonhoeffer who are not changed at all. Instead they not only speech with disdain about their congregations but fellow pastors. They turn their back on pastors who go through difficult times. I know pastors who have been removed from the Lutheran Church for such minor insignificant and administrative matters. There is no forgiveness. No love.
It breaks my heart.
Dear Anonymous: I hear you loud and clear. What you describe is human nature -- it happens with no matter what 'hero' one is fond of, not just with Bonhoeffer's work. But I hear you -- it should happen less with someone how has studied him. But then again, many have studied Bonhoeffer's hero, Jesus Christ, and fail to follow his commands as well.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have some valued experience. And some days you'd rather forget but still struggling with perhaps. I could be wrong. If you'd like to share privately you can connect with me through my contact information at my website www.accordconsulting.com . Blessings brother. Ken.