Another Learning Session
My dad’s statement keeps coming back to me. He has been gone 20 years now but what he said still sticks to my heart and mind.
Quote: “Never be afraid to learn something new.” Clifford Lincoln
I have treasured these seven words and made them my own. If I pass nothing else on I hope this one will become something my kids and grandkids have seen in me. BUT – it is never easy. This “learn something new” takes more effort as time goes on. This I believe is happening because the lessons are even more important than they were earlier. More people depend on me and what I am has a deeper affect on so many others.
Six pair of eyes of grandkids can bring that point home very quickly.
As I have been sharing by email with another friend of mine we have been discussing the learning curves that we are both on. At times we have found it frustrating as another level is uncovered – and we must deal with the issues at hand. The two of us have been growing together.
A New Learning Session…
I am sifting through some feelings today as I have read of a great man.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is not a name that someone in 2007 knows or thinks much about. My love for history and for autobiography/biography have drawn me to this man. The fact that a portion of my heritage is from Germany may have added to this interest as well.
I have been reading a book entitled Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A life in Pictures – edited by Renate Bethge and Christian Gremmels.
A web site dedicated to his memory states the following…
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1906-1945Theologian, Spiritual Writer, Author of Fiction and Poetry, Central figure in the Protestant church struggle against Nazism
Dietrich was born in Germany in 1906. He was trained as a theologian. He had seven siblings. He was 39 when he was hanged by the SS squad of the dieing Nazi regime in the second world war. His death happened in the concentration camp at Flossenburg, Germany. He had been held in prison Buchenwald and then transferred to the camp. After short trial in the laundry room of the camp he was hanged.
God's Promises Kept - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - from Letters and Papers from Prison 206
God does not give us everything we want, but God does fulfill all God's promises, i.e., God remains the Lord of the earth, God preserves the Church, constantly renewing our faith and not laying on us more than we can bear, gladdening us with Divine nearness and help, hearing our prayers, and leading us along the best and straightest paths to holiness. By God's faithfulness in doing this, God creates in us praise for God alone.
As I have been pouring over the photos and the articles written about Dietrich’s life I was moved when I came to this paragraph close to the end.
The text… from “Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A life in Pictures”
In the early hours of April 9 (1945), the executions were carried out. The SS doctor who was present noticed Bonhoeffer, without knowing who he was; ten years later, he wrote: “On the morning of that day, between 5 and 6 o’clock in the morning, the prisoners, including Admiral Canaris, General Oster and Judge Sack were lead from the cells, and the verdicts of the court were read aloud. Through the half open door in the barracks I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer kneeling, immersed in prayer to his God, before he took off his prison clothing. The devotion which was obvious in the prayer of this extraordinarily agreeable man, and his certainty that God heard him, made a very deep impression upon me. At the place of execution too, he uttered a brief prayer and then courageously and calmly mounted the ladder to the gallows. Death followed after a few seconds. In my activity as a doctor, which has lasted almost fifty years, I have never seen a man die with such devotion to God.”
Why did Bonhoeffer’s life end this way? What caused it all?
As Hitler was taking over control in the 1930s… the German church was in a time of great struggles within. Men that lead the church wanted power and control. It was complicated to say the least. Dietrich was drawn into the struggle in a very deep way – finally to lose his life at 39 years of age. A short summary can be read here… of the deep affect the “Aryan Paragraph” and Dietrich’s opposition to it (Click here)
For a great expose of his life http://www.ushmm.org/bonhoeffer/index.html
Today I am sifting through the matters of Prayer. I am preparing for the next weeks of preaching and how prayer touches our lives.
Another learning session to say the least.
~ Pastor Murray ~
Quote: “Never be afraid to learn something new.” Clifford Lincoln
I have treasured these seven words and made them my own. If I pass nothing else on I hope this one will become something my kids and grandkids have seen in me. BUT – it is never easy. This “learn something new” takes more effort as time goes on. This I believe is happening because the lessons are even more important than they were earlier. More people depend on me and what I am has a deeper affect on so many others.
Six pair of eyes of grandkids can bring that point home very quickly.
As I have been sharing by email with another friend of mine we have been discussing the learning curves that we are both on. At times we have found it frustrating as another level is uncovered – and we must deal with the issues at hand. The two of us have been growing together.
A New Learning Session…
I am sifting through some feelings today as I have read of a great man.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is not a name that someone in 2007 knows or thinks much about. My love for history and for autobiography/biography have drawn me to this man. The fact that a portion of my heritage is from Germany may have added to this interest as well.
I have been reading a book entitled Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A life in Pictures – edited by Renate Bethge and Christian Gremmels.
A web site dedicated to his memory states the following…
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906-1945Theologian, Spiritual Writer, Author of Fiction and Poetry, Central figure in the Protestant church struggle against Nazism
Dietrich was born in Germany in 1906. He was trained as a theologian. He had seven siblings. He was 39 when he was hanged by the SS squad of the dieing Nazi regime in the second world war. His death happened in the concentration camp at Flossenburg, Germany. He had been held in prison Buchenwald and then transferred to the camp. After short trial in the laundry room of the camp he was hanged.
God's Promises Kept - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - from Letters and Papers from Prison 206
God does not give us everything we want, but God does fulfill all God's promises, i.e., God remains the Lord of the earth, God preserves the Church, constantly renewing our faith and not laying on us more than we can bear, gladdening us with Divine nearness and help, hearing our prayers, and leading us along the best and straightest paths to holiness. By God's faithfulness in doing this, God creates in us praise for God alone.
As I have been pouring over the photos and the articles written about Dietrich’s life I was moved when I came to this paragraph close to the end.
The text… from “Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A life in Pictures”
In the early hours of April 9 (1945), the executions were carried out. The SS doctor who was present noticed Bonhoeffer, without knowing who he was; ten years later, he wrote: “On the morning of that day, between 5 and 6 o’clock in the morning, the prisoners, including Admiral Canaris, General Oster and Judge Sack were lead from the cells, and the verdicts of the court were read aloud. Through the half open door in the barracks I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer kneeling, immersed in prayer to his God, before he took off his prison clothing. The devotion which was obvious in the prayer of this extraordinarily agreeable man, and his certainty that God heard him, made a very deep impression upon me. At the place of execution too, he uttered a brief prayer and then courageously and calmly mounted the ladder to the gallows. Death followed after a few seconds. In my activity as a doctor, which has lasted almost fifty years, I have never seen a man die with such devotion to God.”
Why did Bonhoeffer’s life end this way? What caused it all?
As Hitler was taking over control in the 1930s… the German church was in a time of great struggles within. Men that lead the church wanted power and control. It was complicated to say the least. Dietrich was drawn into the struggle in a very deep way – finally to lose his life at 39 years of age. A short summary can be read here… of the deep affect the “Aryan Paragraph” and Dietrich’s opposition to it (Click here)
For a great expose of his life http://www.ushmm.org/bonhoeffer/index.html
Today I am sifting through the matters of Prayer. I am preparing for the next weeks of preaching and how prayer touches our lives.
Another learning session to say the least.
~ Pastor Murray ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Friday, January 05, 2007
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