This Week's Pastoral Letter for our folk in Montrose.
In Germany in the late 1930’s a young pastor called Dietrich Bonhoeffer became involved in training other young pastors. But this was to be a very different theological seminary, and a very different kind of pastoral training. With the rise of Nazism, the German Church came more and more under the control of the National Socialist Government. The swastika flag was to be hung in churches, an oath of loyalty to the Fuhrer to be sworn, church youth groups were subsumed into the Hitler youth activities and even what was preached was increasingly censored and directed towards pro-Hitler propaganda.
There was an increasing threat to Jewish citizens, and a growing menace towards synagogues, Jewish businesses and families. Those who resisted all of this organised themselves and formed the Confessing Church. They were forbidden to train pastors for their churches, but Bonhoeffer was put in charge of a secret theological seminary in Finkenwalde. It was there that Bonhoeffer wrote one of the most powerful Christian books of the 20th Century. Translated into English it was called The Cost of Discipleship. It has never been out of print since.
The thing about Bonhoeffer and his book is, his writing still speaks with deep power today. Teaching young pastors in secret, risking his freedom, and ultimately his life, Bonhoeffer understood the importance of formation. Every day he taught the disciplines of Christian living that enable Christian faithfulness: prayers of intercession, deep reading of Scripture, worship together, love as humble service, standing up for justice, and speaking truth to power. Against the Nazi ideology of power, force and divisive prejudice, Bonhoeffer trained pastors in service to Christ, love as generous self-giving and community building centred on Christ.
In a world like our own, those same social forces swirl around us; love of power, hanging loose to the truth, free for all greed to acquire and possess, social divisions of ‘them’ and ‘us’. For Christians seeking to faithfully follow after Jesus, Bonhoeffer’s words still speak. They are worth pondering:
“Where will the call to discipleship lead those who follow it?...Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows where the path will lead. But we know that it will be a path full of mercy beyond measure. Discipleship is joy.”
Yes, you read that right. Discipleship is joy. What it must have been like to hear such words spoken? For young men in training for ministry, in a secret seminary, knowing that soon they would be pastors of congregations many of which would meet in secret, and under threat of imprisonment, and later for many of them, death. Discipleship is joy.
Over this past year the big theme amongst Christians has been hope. Our need to be a hopeful people, to be communities of faith and love that bring a message of hope to a troubled, anxious world. And that has been right. But there is something deeply subversive about those words of Bonhoeffer, “Discipleship is joy.” Following Jesus might be hard, costly, and at least inconvenient. It will certainly mean that we are out of step with much that is the expected norm in a society fixated on material security and possessions, and where life satisfaction is linked to connectivity, social media presence, even entertainment as escape from the harder truths of life.
But the follower of Jesus, the Christian believer, is a citizen of another world. Our deepest joy is not personal freedom, accumulating money and things, the status and rewards of our job. It is to follow the path of mercy beyond measure. It is to love God who first loved us. Joy is the deep fulfilment of knowing that how we are living our lives is pleasing to God, and in grateful obedience to our Saviour.
The joy of discipleship, of taking up our cross and following Jesus, mirrors what Jesus himself did: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12.2)
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