Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 80 Years On

 

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the execution by the Gestapo of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (spelled incorrectly above) only a month before the Nazi regime capitulated to the Allies. His death came after a year and a half of incarceration on suspicion that he was involved in a plot to kill Hitler.

Bonhoeffer emigrated to the United States for theological studies in 1930 and while he was less than impressed by the seminary  but he met a black student named Frank Fisher who introduced him to the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. He taught taught Sunday School there and formed a love for the African-American church. He heard Adam Clayton Powell preach the "Gospel of Social Justice" and became sensitive to the social injustices experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., as well as the ineptitude of churches when it came to bringing about integration. Dietrich eventually chose to return to Germany despite the rise of Nazism. 

                                                         Dietrich Bonhoeffer Icon -- Kelly Latimore

Boenhoeffer has become the darling of some Evangelical Christians in the United States, a group that tends to sneer at the term social justice. I wonder how much they know about his background?I read Bonhoeffer in my 20s but I wasn't aware of the Harlem connection. Nor was I aware that one of his poems was set to music. 

I appreciate that Kelly Latimore has bestowed saintly status on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the great Christian figures of the 20th century. 

[Hymn] By Gentle Powers (By Gracious Powers)

Music: Siegfried Fietz (b.1946; 1977; Berleburg)

Original lyric: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (潘霍華; 1994; 1906-1945)

English lyric: Ulrich Schaffer

Verse 1

Surrounded by such true and gentle powers

So wondrously consoled and without fear,

Thus will I spend with You these final hours,

And then together enter a new year.

Chorus

By gentle powers lovingly surrounded,

With patience we’ll endure, let come what may.

God is with us at night and in the morning

and certainly on every future day.

Verse 2

The worries of the old year still torment us.

We’re troubled still by long and wicked days.

O Lord, give our frightened souls the healing,

For which You’ve chastened us in many ways.

Verse 3

And though You offer us the cup so heavy.

So painful, it’s the most that we can stand.

Not faltering, with thanks we will accept it

And take it as a gift from Your good hand.

Verse 4

And should it be Your will once more to grant us.

To see the world and to enjoy the sun,

Then we will all the past events remember

And finally our life with You is one.

Verse 5

Let the candles blaze today warmly and brightly,

which You brought into our darkness;

let’s again follow together, if it can be.

We know that Your light shines in the night.

Verse 6

If now the stillness is deeply ready for us

let us then hear that resonant tone

of the world which extends unseen around us,

[and] of all Your children’s loud praise-song.

Roman Catholic Woodstock?

 Roman Catholic Woodstock? 

This description is fanciful, not to mention blessedly inaccurate, l but would you agree that any global event bringing together 800.000 to a million young people is a big deal? That's what happened for the Jubilee youth event in Rome where a final mass by Pope Leo was attended by the next generation of Roman Catholics. The attendees represented 146 countries so this was a major organizational feat for the Vatican in every way. Many of the youth camped during the event. 

This was more than a "happy clappy" religious gathering according to The Guardian: 

In [Leo's] homily, the former missionary and first US pope encouraged the gathered youth to “spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith to everyone you meet”.

The Vatican has sought to highlight the fact that pilgrims travelled to Rome from war-torn regions, and Leo said in his Angelus prayer: “We are closer than ever to young people who suffer the most serious evils which are caused by other human beings.”

“We are with the young people of Gaza. We are with the young people of Ukraine, with those of every land bloodied by war,” the pontiff said.

“My young brothers and sisters, you are the sign that a different world is possible, a world of fraternity and friendship where conflicts are not resolved with weapons but with dialogue.”

Some observers within the church noted that despite the impressive numbers young people are conspiciously absent from many congregations, a reality in lots of denominations including the United Church. Some feel at odds with church doctrine on LGBTQ2S+ rights and abortion and the role of women. And we live in a secular age where there is indifference to many institutions. 

Will this event be a catalyst for re-engagement with faith for Catholic youth? We can hope so, even if it wasn't Woodstock 2025. 

Young people wake up after spending the night at the Tor Vergata field in Rome as they participate in the Youths Jubilee, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. Andrew Medichini/AP

The Holy Place of Tides

James Rebanks is a British farmer who works land owned by his family for 600 years. He is also a celebrated author including two bestsellers about the farming life and his desire to restore his farm to a more sustainable scale and environmentally sensible model despite relentless pressure in other directions. 

I was intrigued to hear that he'd written a new book about his ten-week experience on a tiny Norwegian island working with an aging woman named Anna who tended to eider ducks and harvested their precious down. This seemed entirely out of character yet upon reading the book I realized that this is a sort of farming, although more of a symbiotic relationship akin to keeping bees. The creatures are wild yet flourish with the support of humans. Creating seasonal habitat for eider ducks to nest and leave their down behind is literally a dying craft as those who understand it age out. 

Rebanks had spent time briefly on the isolated Vega Achipelago years before in another work situation and while there met a "duck woman", the taciturn Anna. Years later when he was overwhelmed by the demands of the farm, family, and fame he realized that he needed a reset, a sabbatical, and his loving wife understood. He found his way back to Anna and her friend Ingrid who were the skilled duck women with whom he would toil for several months. Despite their initial skepticism about his usefullness they developed a remarkable relationship based on hard work, a growing trust, Rebanks' willingness to be a humble apprentice, and a love for the sea he didn't know was within him. 

James realized that his life had become almost manic, a sickness from which he needed to recover. He learned to see, hear, smell, touch and taste the world again on a journey back to the person he had once been. And as the time together drew to a close he sensed he had been "born again" to use his phrase and that forgiveness of others and self was vital to health and wholeness.On a tiny island the movement of the tides had invited him to breathe in and out. 

While this is in no direct way a religious book there was a spiritual essence to it that I found moving and I enjoyed the moments of humour along the way. 

App-stinence for the Sake of our Souls

 We will often head out for a cycle before we drive to Trenton for worship on a Sunday or we might get out for a paddle on a nearby river or lake. This morning we decided that we would get out of the Bay of Quinte and forego the heat of the worship space. May the Creator and Rev. Isaac give us absolution. 

When we paddle/cycle/walk we rarely look at our phones and we figure this is good for body, mind and spirit. We attend to the environment in which we find ourselves and "find the quiet centre" of our being. We almost always return rejuvenated, and not being distracted or dragged into doom-scrolling is an undisguised blessing. 

Not long ago I heard about App-stinence, a movement begun by a Harvard student with a 5D Method

Appstinence founder Gabriela Nguyen developed the 5D method to guide people in their appstinence journey: Decrease, Deactivate, Delete, Downgrade, and Depart. 

• Decrease: Reducing the number of apps on your phone and spending less time on them. 
• Deactivate: Temporarily deactivating social media accounts. 
• Delete: Permanently deleting social media apps. 
• Downgrade: Switching to a simpler phone (like a "dumbphone") to minimize app usage. 
• Depart: Reconnecting with real-world activities and relationships. 
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  

Many children's camps are disconnecting from the digital world, requiring campers to arrive device free. I was delighted to hear that this is the case at Quin-mo-lac, the United Church camp where two of our grandchildren recently spent a happy week. 

There are groups of parents of public school kids who are pledging not to provide their children with cell phones to a certain age in the hope that this will help stave off the relentless pressure to have one.

There are also Digital Detox camps for adults who want to break what can be an addiction. I get this. I once attended a week-long seminar at a remote spiritual retreat centre in New Mexico. On the way to breakfast one early morning I looked up and around the glorious landscape to see colleagues dotted on trails. For a second I thought they were having an "unto the hills" moment, only to realize they were searching for a cell signal.

During the season of Lent Christians are often invited to abstain from activities and foods as a spiritual discipline. Should we app-stain during Creation Time in September to deepen our connection with the Creator. I know, crazy talk...

                                                 Camp Quin-mo-lac Tee-shirt...with thanks to Emma

United Church Apology to 2S&LGBTQIA+

 There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; 

there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3: 28 NRSVue

Living Christ, We listen to the very beat of our hearts, an echo of your compassion for those who live on the margins: Because of who they love, how they love; how they express themselves; how they do it or don’t do it; how their bodies are or aren’t;  how they have been transformed by the courage of authenticity; 

May our hearts beat together with theirs. Like you, we too are divinely designed. May we live our human years on this earth in your Way, as we walk together in your path of love and justice, with God and with each other, where all are invited and welcomed, valued and celebrated!...

A Portion of a Prayer from the Apology Service

 Yesterday, as part of the triennial, cross-country meeting of the United Church General Council there was an official apology which has been a long time coming.  According to the news release: 

On Friday, August 8, The United Church of Canada will offer a somber and historic apology to 2S and LGBTQIA+ communities. This service acknowledges the deep and lasting harm caused by the church, both in the past and still today. It's a difficult but necessary step towards healing and reaffirming our commitment to radical inclusion.

The United Church was one of the first Christian denominations in Canada to move toward acknowledgement and acceptance of gay and lesbian persons, the terms used in the 1980s, and it was a tumultuous time. I can attest to this as a minister ordained in 1980. As I did my own soul-searching I dealt with the confusion, anger and departure of members of different congregations. I served a congregation in Halifax where the ministry staff of three all left the United Church and took a large number of members with them to start a new church. I have worked with several LGBTQ2S+ staff members and candidates for ministry, some of whom waited for decades after the decisions toward inclusion to be open about their sexual orientation because they realized there would be repercussions. The came to this conclusion because of more formal discussions by their congregations and the opinions expressed from day to day. 

The United Church is still Canada's largest Protestant denomination despite our steady shrinkage so that may be part of why we are so good at saying sorry. We've done it often, for various reasons, and I do feel this is important. I notice that the announcement leads with 2S, meaning Two Spirited, an Indigenous way of describing LGBTQ2SIA+ persons. I actually wish we could retire the ever-lengthening acronym because it has become daunting for a lot of people and Two-Spirited is powerful. 

Confessing our wrong-doing and sin is an essential aspect of the Christian life. I hope that yesterday was a meaningful experience for all those who attended and that the apology will make a difference in our UCC communities of faith, and ripple into the wider community. 

https://united-church.ca/sites/default/files/2025-08/apologyservice_bulletin-program_web.pdf

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, & Peace

 

Hiroshima Peace Park

God of Grace,

On this solemn anniversary, we remember the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and all who have suffered from conflict and violence across the world. We pray for healing for all wounds, visible and invisible, that persist from those tragic days and from every war.

Inspire leaders and all people around the world to commit to true peace, to reject the path of war and destruction, and to work tirelessly for justice, dialogue, and reconciliation. May the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki serve as a powerful reminder of the urgent need for a world free from nuclear weapons and all forms of violence.

Guide us to be instruments of Your peace, building bridges of understanding and fostering a global community rooted in love and respect for all humanity.

Amen.

This week marks the 80th anniversary of the massive destruction in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when newly developed atomic bombs were deployed for the first time by the Americans. No one really knows how many civilians died but the estimate is between 110,000 and 210,000, taking into account those who died immediately and those who perished in the first year from radiation poisoning. 

While this effectively ended WW2, so many non-combatants died. The film Oppenheimer explored the effect these weapons of mass destruction had on the man who was instrumental in creating them. We watched it again recently after seeing it in a movie theatre at the time of its release and I'm glad we did. 

The Hiroshima Peace Bell bears the Japanese inscription "世界絶対平和萬歳" ((hep: sekai zettai heiwa banzai), meaning "long live absolute world peace"). 

It's hard to believe that there are survivors of these blasts still alive today, some of them well into their nineties, with memories intact. They speak of seeing people stumbling through the streets like zombies, hair and clothing gone. How was it possible that some of them escaped immediate or slow, agonizing death? 

There were Jesuits living not far from the hypocentre of the blast who somehow survived. Some Catholics are convinced that they were spared because they were saying the rosary, which I find obscene. A supposedly Christian nation unleashed this firestorm so why would God spare this handful of followers? 

What did happen was that these Jesuits chose not to flee but instead set up a makeshift hospital to treat the wounded, drawing on the medical training of one of them, Father Pedro Arrupe although they were ill-equipped to respond to the catastrophic wounds. I found this in an article about the Jesuits and how quickly they condemned what had transpired: 

Johann Siemes, a German Jesuit and eyewitness alongside Arrupe, posed the inevitable moral question in Time (February 1946): “In a total war, can the use of such weapons ever be justified?” The answers were not unanimous.  As the world began to question itself, the Jesuits of America Magazine sought to respond in the August 18, 1945 editorial, painting apocalyptic scenarios of a humanity forced to live underground and issuing a prophetic warning about nuclear proliferation.

We can't minimize the nuclear threat that still exists in our world and how humans can justify the destruction of others. We see it all around us today and during this week we can be particularly mindful of praying for peace in our troubled world.  

https://vimeo.com/916775026

Glitch Transfiguration

 

                                           Glitch Transfiguration -- Kelly Latimore 

Eyewitnesses of Christ’s Glory 

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

                  2 Peter 1: 16-18 NRSVue

In the Common Lectionary the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus is celebrated on the last Sunday before Lent, so it moves around the liturgical calendar. It is wild and wonderful story found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and alluded to in the epistle called 2 Peter.  When we were in Israel two years ago we went to the Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor and travelled north to get a glimpse of Mount Hermon, the other possible site for this theophanic encounter involving Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, all mountain-top guys. Some of the disciples are there, mystifed by what is unfolding before them. 

In some traditions August 6 (yesterday) is the annual Feast of the Transfiguration so artist Kelly Latimore posted his providential accident of an image, both a mistake and the perfect depiction of the unexplainable mystery of the Transfiguration. Can you make out the figures? I love it! Here is his powerful description: 

Kelly Latimore Icons

@KLICONS

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36m

Happy Feast Day of the Transfiguration! “Glitch Transfiguration” Like Peter in Matthew 17, we are often tempted to try and create our own transfigurations. Create our booths. Although we often mean well using grand displays of music, liturgy, and art to bring “The divine down to earth.” the thing is, what we are trying to contain is always right in front of us. It is divine that Jesus doubled down being human-wounds and all. Peter fails to see that Jesus cannot be confined to one location. He can’t tie down and domesticate the wild spirit of God’s Kingdom. We are being called to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, into the unknown. The light we think we hold has already been reflecting and scattering in all directions... This gives me hope. This Glitched Version of the Transfiguration happened on accident while I was showing my nephew how I edit images and we loved it. Late last year I painted an original icon inspired by our happy accident called “Glitch Transfiguration (Remix)”

Church of the Transfiguration -- Mount Tabor, Israel