Seize the Day (With Dietrich Bonhoeffer) PDF
Preview Seize the Day (With Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
SEIZE THE DAY WITH Dietrich Bonhoeffer SEIZE THE DAY WITH Dietrich Bonhoeffer CHARLES R. RINGMA, PH.D. OUR GUARANTEE TO YOU We believe so strongly in the message of our books that we are making this quality guarantee to you. If for any reason you are disappointed with the content of this book, return the title page to us with your name and address and we will refund to you the list price of the book. To help us serve you better, please briefly describe why you were disappointed. Mail your refund request to: PiñonPress, P.O. Box 35002, Colorado Springs, CO 80935. © 2000 by Charles Ringma All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from Piñon Press, P.O. Box 35007, Colorado Springs, CO 80935. ISBN 1-57683-216-3 Cover Photo by The Stock Market/Elizabeth Opalenik Cover design by Dan Jamison Creative Team: Darla Hightower, Heather Nordyke Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the author and the publisher are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers. Ringma, Charles. Seize the day with Dietrich Bonhoeffer / Charles R. Ringma. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-57683-216-3 1. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 1906-1945—Meditations. 2. Devotional calendars. I. Title. BX4827.B57 R56 2000 242’.2—dc21 00-033616 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 / 04 03 02 01 00 Build: 2014-04-11 11:48:54 Contents Preface A Brief Introduction to Bonhoeffer January February March April May June July August September October November December Appendix Bibliography About the Author —DEDICATION— These meditations are selected in the hope that a new generation of Christians will be inspired to live the Christian life with a profound spirituality, a radical obedience, and a relevance that takes seriously the challenge of their era. In this, they cannot but be inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Preface THESE MEDITATIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF DIETRICH Bonhoeffer are disturbing rather than helpful and “worldly” rather than pious. Bonhoeffer combined biblical spirituality with political relevance, faith with obedience, peace with resistance, community with rugged individualism, and prayer with activism. While Bonhoeffer’s writings are scholarly, he is more a pastoral theologian than a systematic writer. His writings, therefore, are pregnant with relevance for all who grapple with life’s meaning and purpose. These meditations, in the form of one reading for each day of the year, capture many of the important insights scattered throughout Bonhoeffer’s writings. One excerpt is quoted at the beginning of each daily devotional. It is accompanied by my reflections, an appropriate Bible reading, and a prayer, meditation, or thought. I hope they encourage you to read more of Bonhoeffer and to live a life that combines spirituality with a concern for the world and the welfare of your neighbor. Bonhoeffer uses sexist language. He constantly speaks of “man” when he is clearly referring to all persons. For example, the statement “Christ … is the truth spoken in the concrete moment, the address which puts a man [sic] in the truth before God” obviously includes Christ’s address and challenge to women. We have decided not to rewrite Bonhoeffer’s use of language, and we ask the reader to make the necessary adjustments. In this and in other ways Bonhoeffer was a person of his time, but this should not detract from the value that he holds for our generation. My affectionate thanks to my wife, Rita, who has encouraged me to express my long-standing interest in Bonhoeffer by writing this devotional. I owe a great debt, too, to Evert Ringma and Antje Ringma-DeJong, and to Wouter Dijk and Harmina Dijk-Pesman. Also a big thank you to Desley Jeanneret and Annette Ganter who have skillfully and patiently completed the typing from handwritten notes. And finally, my appreciation to Professor Dr. Klaas Runia who, during a course on Christian ethics, first placed Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship in my hands. —CHARLES RINGMA A Brief Introduction to Bonhoeffer BONHOEFFER IS A CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE. HE CUTS a paradoxical pose and is difficult to put into a particular religious “box.” Though he is not always easy to understand, he was, without doubt, a person of firm commitment and practical resolve. That he sought to order his life on the words of Jesus of Nazareth is unquestionable. That his commitment led to his own death is a fact. Bonhoeffer was the product of an upper middle-class family with the usual emphasis on comfort and security, yet he was to plunge himself into the radical insecurity of a discipleship that took the words of Jesus seriously. This was to lead him from the hallowed halls of the University of Berlin, where he taught theology, to active opposition to the Nazi regime. This opposition led him to teach at an illegal seminary of the Confessing Church in Germany. It also eventually led to his becoming involved in counterespionage activities. For this he was hanged on April 9, 1945. Bonhoeffer had strong convictions. He could not be contained by others’ expectations, for he had heard the voice of his Master. Thus he departed from the family tradition to study theology. Trained in Berlin’s liberal scholarly tradition, he embraced the new theology of Karl Barth without becoming his follower. At a time of powerful German national resurgence, with its narrow ideas of Volk and racial superiority, Bonhoeffer actively promoted the opposite—a strong ecumenical perspective. When the Lutheran Church began to yield to the power of the Hitler rhetoric, Bonhoeffer, in 1933, attacked Hitler by rejecting the leadership principle. When the church emphasized structure, Bonhoeffer was living out the reality of community. While the church dreamed about separation, Bonhoeffer was involved in active engagement of the world. Bonhoeffer can best be understood by locating him in three distinct yet interrelated phases of his life. (For some more specific details of Bonhoeffer’s life, see the appendix: A Brief Chronology of Bonhoeffer’s Life.) The first phase was that of the Berlin theological scholar. This was the more
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