Graver sacrifices

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I was reading my biography on Bonhoeffer last night and one story has lodged itself in my brain. I keep wanting to share it, but don't know who wants to listen ... so here's to you.

Bonhoeffer was a brilliant theologian who was imprisoned by the Ghestapo at 37. Someone smuggling Jewish people across the border was stopped and questioned and Dietrich's name came out. He was part of a conspiracy to assasinate Hitler through an internal military coup. His brother-in-law was part of the conspiracy as a legal advisor and actually there was an earlier attempt to take the Furrer to court and have him declared insane by a board of psychologists (heading the board was Dietrich's father). So this was going on all around him. And the other thing was that Dietrich had strong connections and the conspiracy needed the allies to know that the coup was in the works and communicate them (which he was able to do through Rev. Dr. Bell in England). Plus ... the insanity of watching Europe falling like flies all around him and praying for the defeat of his own fatherland ...

He was a pacifist. If all of this hadn't blown up in such a whirlwind he was scheduled to visit Gandhi to study his non-violent resistent methods. But he was watching his own people destroying the world around him. Very early in the moves that Germany was making and its persecution of the Jews Bonhoeffer gave a speak to the confessing churchwhere he described three ways for the church to interact with the government: 1. The church can act as a moral consciounce and call them to account for their actions. 2. The church can aid the victims. 3. "The third possibility is not just to bandage the victims under the wheel, but to jam a spoke in the wheel itself." SO ... there is more and more to share ... but this is the specific story:

Bonhoeffer and his close friend Eberhard were in a pub watching the news when France toppled to Nazi military. The entire place jumped up and began singing. Eberhard remained sitting and was struck with Bonheoffer who quickly joined in with the others. Bonhoeffer leaned down and said: "Are you mad! Let us not waste our sacrifice on such ridiculous moments ... We have to sacrifice ourselves for something far graver."

Comments

Meghan said…
Wow.

Just...wow.
March 24, 2009 at 5:46 PM
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