Many of you know one my greatest contemporary heroes is martyred German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who stood up courageously and spoke prophetically to the Nazi powers and to Adolf Hitler. He would pay for his obedience to God with his life. At age 39, after leaving us countless sermons, more than 10,000 pages of theological writings, correspondence, and prayers–and, of course, an uncompromising model for confronting evil with the Truth of the Gospel–Dietrich was hanged at the Flossenburg concentration camp.  Here is a Good Friday-Easter meditation taken from his sermon on Romans 11:6, delivered in Barcelona, Spain, on the Third Sunday in Lent, March 11, 1928:

Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Good Friday and Easter–the days of God’s overpowering acts in history, acts in which God’s judgement and grace were revealed to all the world–are just around the corner. Judgement in those hours in which Jesus Christ, our Lord, hung on the cross; grace in that hour in which death was swallowed up in victory. It was not human beings who accomplished anything here; no, God alone did it. He came to human beings in infinite love. He judged what is human. And he granted peace beyond any merit.”

From my family to yours, may you have a blessed Good Friday and Holy Saturday–and a thoroughly joyous Resurrection Sunday!

Rob +