Laughing Water

I’ve been traveling a bit, which resulted in a kind of Lenten fast of words here on Laughing Water. Another reason for that, of course, has been Lent Madness. As you may recall, I’m one of eight “celebrity bloggers” who have been asked to write about and, eventually, advocate for various saints.

Three of the four heroes of Christian faith that were assigned to me advanced from the initial 32-saint bracket to “The Saintly Sixteen.” Two of those three, Jerome and Thomas Cranmer, have already made it into “The Elate Eight.”

My hope is that, with your help, Dietrich Bonhoeffer will soon join them. You can read his biography from the first round here. The second round focuses on “Quirks and Quotes,” like the fact that his enthusiasm for bullfighting not only amused but also confused his theological students.

However, three quotes from Bonhoeffer that I highlighted for Lent Madness are what I really want to share with you today. Perhaps they will inspire you to vote for him there. But my greatest hope, of course, is that these words will encourage you in your own Lenten journey as you walk toward the cross of Christ.

Here’s a quote from a letter by Bonhoeffer in 1939 to Reinhold Niebuhr:

I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.

Here’s a quote from his book Life Together:

It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work.

Here’s a quote from his book The Cost of Discipleship:

When he was challenged by Jesus to accept a life of voluntary poverty, the rich young man knew he was faced with the simple alternative of obedience or disobedience. When Levi was called from the receipt of custom or Peter from his nets, there was no doubt that Jesus meant business. Both of them were to leave everything and follow. Again, when Peter was called to walk on the rolling sea, he had to get up and risk his life. Only one thing was required in each case — to rely on Christ’s word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world. The forces which tried to interpose themselves between the word of Jesus and the response of obedience were as formidable then as they are to-day. Reason and conscience, responsibility and piety all stood in the way, and even the law and “scriptural authority” itself were obstacles which pretended to defend them from going to the extremes of antinomianism and “enthusiasms.” But the call of Jesus made short work of all these barriers . . .