Peace is elusive, and it’s not just because we’re acutely aware of the violent and warring places in the world; Sadly, this is always happening in different places at different times. Perhaps peace is always elusive, because we all are required to wrestle with this frustrating reality, regardless of when or where we live. Our relationship with peace seems to always be in need of reflection, work, patience and courage.
It helps me to remember those who’ve walked this difficult road. This week, thinking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In his brief 39 years (1906-1945), Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a prolific teacher, writer and preacher who deeply engaged his political and social context of Nazi Germany. At the time, Hitler wanted the Christian church to bend to the state’s will, agree with his ideology and regime, in order to uphold it and maintain compliance/reduce opposition. The Nazis convinced many churches to expel clergy with Jewish decent and remove the Jewish scriptures from the bible.
Bonhoeffer stood apart and refused. His commitment to peace and integrity caused a new church to be born. The Confessing Church grew into a small resistance movement. Only 20% of ministers joined. Bonhoeffer was one of them.
There is a current interest in Bonhoeffer that has to do with what’s going on in our own time and society: troubling signs of polarization, violence and extremism that we have never navigated. We long for wisdom that will keep us grounded in the midst of churning times.
“How does peace come about? Through a system of political treaties? Through the investment of international capital in different countries? Through big banks, through money? Or through universal peaceful rearmament in order to guarantee peace? Through none of these, for the single reason that in all of them peace is confused with safety.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English (DBWE) 13:308, published by Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s words challenge us to realize that there is a huge difference between peace and security. Bonhoeffer explains:
There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared. It is the great venture. It can never be made safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to mistrust, and this mistrust in turn brings forth war. (DBWE 13, 308-309)
Bonhoeffer provides a case study in what holding these two things together might mean. He wrote in his letters and papers so many encouraging thoughts to his friends, family: to be patient, and to have trust and faith that goodness will prevail. But while he wrote these very letters, he was involved in operations that smuggled Jews through the mountains to Switzerland.
While he exemplified immense calm and trust that his faith would point him in the right direction, he was at work as a double agent to bring down/assassinate Adolf Hitler (an ethical and theological dilemma that has been discussed in the decades since, by the way).
At 36 in 1943, he was arrested and imprisoned in Berlin for his part in the smuggling. While in prison, his part in the plot against Hitler was discovered. From prison, he was sent to a concentration/death camp, executed by hanging on Apr 9, 1945, at Flossenburg Concentration Camp, just 2 weeks before the Americans liberated the concentration camp, and 3 weeks before Berlin itself was liberated.
What does it mean to dare peace? What does it mean to sacrifice safety for peace? What does it mean to pursue our own privileged inner peace while others can’t find rest?
These have been, and will always be, the dilemma and challenge of being people of peace, striving for peace, calling for peace, and seeking peace. Seek solace that our plight is nothing new, and that we find ourselves on a path with a whole history and host of others who have sought illusive peace within and in the world.
May we take heart and dare peace wherever and whenever we can.
