“God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Letter to fiancée Maria von Wedemeyer
From prison, December 13, 1943
This has been a difficult December.
This week my heart has been burdened hearing the struggles of small business owners. Many are wondering if and how their livelihood will survive the current lockdowns. Frankly, I’ve been frustrated with the extent of these measures, especially seeing some civil authorities breach the orders they require of everyone else. Meanwhile, my heart has been gripped and sobered by reports coming out of LA hospitals. Our church supports a chaplain to the hospitals of LA County. Chaplain Chuck has called for prayer as he describes the daily plight being faced by ICU patients, doctors, nurses and support staff. I’ve heard other hospital workers make similar appeals. Many of us are also trying to wrap our hearts and minds around a Christmas season with much smaller family gatherings. The tension in all this is real.
This week I’ve been walking at night listening to a book called God is in the Manger. It’s a compilation of Christmas reflections written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They are drawn from letters and journal entries written during his time in a series of Nazi prison camps. They express his heart as he awaited trial, separated from family, for opposing Hitler. The amazing thing is, with all the trappings of Christmas celebration stripped away, he found the innermost glory of Christmas shining all the more.
Christmas did not evade him. It was not cancelled for him in the Tegel Prison Camp or even the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. By the grace of God, he had the sense of being drawn into the love of Christ all the more. Other prisoners later testified to his uncommon peace and joy.
“I think we are going to have an exceptionally good Christmas. The very fact that every outward circumstance precludes our making provision for it will show whether we can be content with what is truly essential. I used to be very fond of thinking up and buying presents, but now that we have nothing to give, the gift God gave us in the birth of Christ will seem all the more glorious.” Bonhoeffer, December 1, 1943.
Our circumstances are not the ones experienced by faithful Christians in Nazi Germany. But as things are painfully pared back, I pray the gift of God in Christ shines all the more. No Grinch can take away the heart of Christmas. Jesus lives. His Spirit is alive in us.
God was in the manger. God was on the cross. God was in the grave. God has risen from death. God is enthroned in heaven. God is in our hearts. God will see us through.
Salt Is Good 