Joyce and I have commented several times during this Pandemic that we are so thankful we went on Sabbatical last year. If our Sabbatical had been planned for 2020 rather than 2019, all of our plans would have been canceled. I will always be grateful to my friend Randy Hall who graciously served as our Interim minister, allowing us to go.
There were so many great lessons that I learned during that three-month sojourn. There were so many highlights that I would be hard pressed to place one above the other. One of the unforgettable and inspiring moments took place on a beautiful Saturday morning in Berlin when we visited the Bonhoeffer house.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is recognized today as a 20th Century Martyr. In his epic book, The Cost of Discipleship he wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Little did he know that he would be called to do just that. Bonhoeffer was a true man of God who lived and died with dignity, courage, and grace.
I don’t know of a Bonhoeffer memorial, a Bonhoeffer museum, or a Bonhoeffer historical site. He never owned a home, but in 1935 his parents built a retirement house in west Berlin and Dietrich lived his last few years of his life there, writing and plotting the resistance against the Nazis.
I gave the taxi driver the address for the Bonhoeffer House. I had read there was an English tour every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. It was a long taxi ride. At one point I thought the taxi was either lost or I had given him the wrong address. We were in a quiet residential area. The taxi driver was driving very slowly and turned down a short dead-end street. He stopped in front of a house.
“This is it,” he said in broken English.
I looked at the attractive home that gave no indication it was any different from any of the other neighborhood houses. The meter was already up to 20 Euros. I was afraid I was going to have to pay another 20 Euros to go back to the hotel without finding the Bonhoeffer House. I got out of the taxi and then saw a small sign at the gate: “Bonhoefferhaus.” This was it.
I paid the driver and we walked to the front gate. But I discovered the gate was locked. I found a bell on the gate that I rang. A moment later a rather large German man opened the door and said to reach inside and open the gate. We did and he welcomed us to the Bonhoeffer House.
There is only one room in the house that has been restored historically. It is the upstairs room where Dietrich lived. The desk where he wrote, his piano, and his bookcases are all original. The man told us that before we would visit the room, we would have a conversation on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The “conversation” was a rather lengthy lecture in broken English, but it finally ended and we ascended the stairs and had the unforgettable experience of standing in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s room. He was in that room on April 5, 1943 when the SS agents came and arrested him on direct orders from Adolf Hitler.
I knew I was standing on holy ground. There was a sacred hush as we stood there. I was looking intently at the desk where he wrote. In was here, not long before that fateful April day that Bonhoeffer wrote these words:
There remains for us only the narrow way, often extremely difficult to find, of living every day as if it were our last, and yet living in faith and responsibility as though there were to be a great future. It is not easy to be brave and keep that spirit alive, but it is imperative.
This is how we should live each day during this Pandemic, in faith and responsibility. The days are long and yes, it is not easy to be brave and keep our spirit of faith and responsibility alive, but it is imperative. While we are not facing the same danger that Bonhoeffer did, the COVID virus has been just as deadly for over 2,000 North Carolinians. We believe that with God’s help we will have a great future on the other side of this Pandemic. Until then, it is imperative for us to live in responsibility---being safe by wearing a mask, keeping at least six feet distance from others, and washing our hands.
