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Turning Back
- Augsburg Fortress Publishers
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95 Turning Back London, repentance day, november 19, 1933 z Some European churches observe a Day of Repentance and Prayer in the autumn, near the end of the church year. The day was a national holiday in Germany in Bonhoeffer’s time (it isn’t any longer) and was of such importance that it was observed even by the German-speaking congregations in London Bonhoeffer was serving in 1933. He may have preached this sermon at a special evening service. On the first page of his manuscript, Bonhoeffer noted the hymns to be sung during the service. The last one, “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying,” looks forward to Advent, the season of light. Light is a theme throughout this sermon, beginning with a proverb from the Grimms’ fairy tale “The Bright Sun Brings It to Light,” in which a crime is revealed many years after the death of the victim. Every secret will be revealed to God, Bonhoeffer says. But Jesus Christ is the light that uncovers what is hidden in our lives, and in him we have the promise of God’s grace. He echoes this understanding in a letter he wrote from prison on August 23, 1944, to his friend Eberhard Bethge: “My past life is brim-full of God’s goodness, and my sins are covered by the forgiving love of Christ crucified.” 96 • tHe CoLLeCted serMons oF dietriCH BonHoeFFer z 2 Corinthians 5:10: For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. z Nothing can remain a secret, nothing stays hidden. As a German proverb says, “No story is so cleverly made but the sun will bring it to light one day.” That means this sun of ours, which is always bringing out into the light things that have taken place in the darkness—quite suddenly, to the great surprise and horror of everyone concerned. We clap our hands to our foreheads and say, how could such a thing be possible, and are terribly disappointed and strike terribly moralistic attitudes, while in the quiet of our hearts we ourselves are afraid of what the sun may find out. Sometimes it only takes a moment for a person’s entire life and fate and secret to be laid bare. All it takes is for some strong hand unwittingly to pick up some old stone and to see underneath it a swarm of filthy vermin and creatures of the dark that had hidden themselves here from the sunlight, and are now exposed in all their frightening ugliness and trying to scurry away. Such stones can lie around unnoticed for years until some clumsy foot knocks them aside. And such stones, under which no one expects to find anything, are quickly and easily seized upon as hiding places by these dark creatures of our hearts. But the dark things are still afraid; they tremble at every approaching step for fear of being exposed. Afraid of what actually? Other people—who most probably are in the same boat, all condemned together, but nonetheless pointing their long fingers at one another until their own secrets come to light. Yet the course of this world often seems unjust, to the extent that not everything comes to light—only something here and something there, which allows everyone else to be so terribly morally outraged, as long as they have a shred of hope that it won’t happen to them—certainly not because they have nothing to hide. So the proverb is not entirely right after all. And because it is not, all humanity can be divided into those whose secrets have come to light and those whose secrets have not. The latter are counted as moral and decent, while the former are considered immoral and despicable. [44.222.116.199] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:19 GMT) turninG BACK • 97 However, it is possible to live more or less discreetly. To be more discreet in this sense means to know how to stay in the shadows, to keep those things hidden in thoughts and feelings that someone else makes visible through actions. And the state of affairs in this world is that the sun can bring deeds to light, but not thoughts. But how terribly mistaken we would be if we were satisfied simply to have realized this and therefore just went on living quietly, discreetly—but rotten...