Prepare for Worship (weekend of October 1)

The brilliant theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was only 39 years old when he was executed by hanging. It was the morning of April 9th, 1945, when this public enemy of the Nazi regime was finally silenced once and for all. Or so it would seem to any who were there to witness such a gruesome, dark morning. Dietrich could not know it then but the world would remember his name forever and regard him with the honor due a Christian saint and martyr.

 

 

These were the last words Bonhoeffer spoke before the executioners had their petty little moment of triumph in the name of their great, immortal Führer. Only 21 days later, that tyrannical coward, Hitler, killed himself in his subterranean air-raid shelter and, as far as we can judge from this side of the Gates, began serving his own eternal sentence of damnation and death. He would be remembered as the devil incarnate.

 

It is important for us to remember that neither Detrich nor Adolf ascended to their respective thrones of influence in a sudden tectonic shift or defiant line drawn in the sand. 75 years’ separation from that time has romanticized these figures, and others like them, such as Martin Luther 400 years prior, as if they woke up one morning, shook their fists to the heavens, and with a fit of rebellious rage claimed their rightful place in the annals of history. For the saint, his greatness was precipitated by a love for the Church and sustained by a “long obedience in the same direction.”* For the infamous beast, it was a sincere love for his country and a desperate desire for its honor and vindication that drove him into the political sphere. Hitler genuinely believed that he was the great liberator of his people and that silencing all opposing voices by whatever means necessary was a noble endeavor for the greater good.

Listen, I do not want to make a political statement here (well, I want to but I won’t) because the purpose of this weekly newsletter is to help us all to come to worship on Sundays with the kind of mental, physical, and spiritual preparation that such an appointment with God deserves. As Tom reminded us last Sunday, we should never let our politics supersede or interfere with our love for Christ and His Church. And it is in that spirit of love that I make my point:

 

There is a kind of bravery that makes a man like a wild beast, full of passion but void of conscience (i.e. the Holy Spirit) and there is another sort that makes a man meek. The former endeavors to have a positive impact on the world by force; the latter recognizes that his strength comes from God, not himself, and therefore as his influence increases, his own name decreases. The celebrity pastor who harnesses the power of media, branding, and manipulative rhetoric to make a name for himself is just as base as the despot, for his god is his stomach and not a sincere hunger and thirst for righteousness. Bonhoeffer did not set out to be a household name. He walked humbly with the Lord and fed his flock–first the handful of students he mentored and later the congregations he served as pastor.

 

Let our greatest ambition be knowing Christ and sharing His gospel with those He puts in our path–in meekness and joy. The grass-like life of Christians withers, even flowers like Bonhoeffer fade, but the Word of the Lord will stand forever. So, in other words, let’s keep the main thing the main thing.

 

The Apostle Paul sums it up beautifully: