Take up our cross

My first year of seminary I took a January class on the works of German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Other than the fact that we had to read seven of his books during the span of four weeks - yes, seven books, by a German theologian, in four weeks! - it was an amazing class.  Much of my own theological reflections, especially on the nature of the Church as the community of faith united in and by the Risen Christ, come from my readings of Bonhoeffer, especially The Cost of Discipleship.

Over the years I have continued to read things by and about Bonhoeffer.  Currently I am reading an insightful biography about him - Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, by Charles Marsh.  It's well written and enlightening, chronicling the life of this influential Christian thinker who wrestled with how one can be faithful to Christ while living in a country that demanded ultimate obedience from its citizens: Germany under the Nazis.

Among other things, Bonhoeffer was well-traveled.  In 1930 he came to the United States for a year of post-graduate studies and a teaching fellowship at Union Seminary in New York.  There he met, among others,  Frank Fisher, a Black fellow seminarian who introduced him to Abyssinian Baptist Church and the African American church experience. Bonhoeffer heard Adam Clayton Powell preach the Gospel of Social Justice there and he formed a life-long love for Black Gospel music.  This was a profoundly formative experience for a young Bonhoeffer.

In June 1939 he returned a second time to the United States, but realized almost immediately that it was a mistake.  He believed that he needed to be in Germany and to walk with his fellow citizens during the increasing insanity and barbarity of Hitler and the National Socialists.  However, during his few weeks here that summer, Bonhoeffer drew observations about the American Church.  Here is part of what Marsh wrote in his biography of Bonhoeffer:

"The American churches had surely produced thrifty churchmen, earnest theologians, and revivalist preachers, but they had failed as yet to reckon seriously with the'scandal of the Cross.' Some of (Bonhoeffer's) criticisms bore sharp resemblance to ones he had leveled against the German Christians. According to Bonhoeffer, the American Christian had never learned to trust God fully, or to know what it means to stand under the judgment of the Word, for he (sic) had never had to learn the lesson."  (Marsh, Charles (2014-04-29). Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (p. 283). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)

In our nation, Christians in general have not had to endure suffering and persecution for our faith.  In other parts of the world, discipleship is incredibly "costly," to use Bonhoeffer's expression.  Especially in areas where the so-called Islamic State and other terrorist groups have taken control, Christians are increasingly being targeted for arrest, torture, and death.  Other than being shocked by the idea of Christians bearing the cross of Jesus, sometimes even to death, how can we possibly know how to respond?

We are still at the beginning of our journey through Lent.  During this time each year we are given the opportunity to consider the cross, to ponder sacrifice and suffering, to walk with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem, to Gethsemane, to Golgotha. Other Christians have had to take that same road; some are walking that path as you read these words.  What does it mean for us to "take up our cross" and follow Jesus?