It is my sincere hope and prayer that the grace of God and the hope of Christ and the warmth of love fills you this New Year. May God’s Spirit propel us into newness together! It’s the kind of paradox I preached during Christmastime, and it’s the same tune I’m humming along as we enter 2021. That in the midst of our worries and cares, and in our times of need for health and safety, that we would simultaneously know the companionship of God; that we would be given the comfort and joy of God-with-Us. It’s in all our songs and prayers and blessings this season: Love has come to be with us, and we are filled with good things.
Even when it’s hard to believe.
In December of 1943, the theologian and pastor and fighter of Nazi’s—Dietrich Bonhoeffer— wrote winter letters to his friends and family. He wrote them from his prison cell, the one in which he’d been detained since April. He had wondered if he might be released and maybe even by Christmas time get be home with his family. As he realized this wouldn’t be happening, he wrote to them in Advent and Christmas saying that he was doing ok, and that memories of their good Christmases would carry him along, and that Christmas meant more than their comfort and security together anyway. There are many powerful and beautiful moments in these letters. One is where Bonhoeffer quotes a hymn that he says has been inspiring him while in prison, a Lutheran hymn that sings:
“Calm your hearts, dear friends; whatever plagues you,
whatever fails you, I will restore it all.”
And Dietrich explains: “What does that mean, ‘I will restore it all’? Nothing is lost; in Christ all things are taken up, preserved, albeit in transfigured form, transparent, clear, liberated from the torment of self-serving demands … the restoration of all things.” (Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 8, 230)
Reading Bonhoeffer’s letter this season reminded me of all our Psalms during Advent, calling out for restoration (Psalm 80, Psalm 85, Psalm 126, Mary’s Psalm in Luke 1). And these are the very words Dietrich was hearing emanate from the child in the manger. That God-child of love saying: “I will restore it all.”
Even when it’s hard to believe.
In December of 1943, the theologian and pastor and fighter of Nazi’s—Dietrich Bonhoeffer— wrote winter letters to his friends and family. He wrote them from his prison cell, the one in which he’d been detained since April. He had wondered if he might be released and maybe even by Christmas time get be home with his family. As he realized this wouldn’t be happening, he wrote to them in Advent and Christmas saying that he was doing ok, and that memories of their good Christmases would carry him along, and that Christmas meant more than their comfort and security together anyway. There are many powerful and beautiful moments in these letters. One is where Bonhoeffer quotes a hymn that he says has been inspiring him while in prison, a Lutheran hymn that sings:
“Calm your hearts, dear friends; whatever plagues you,
whatever fails you, I will restore it all.”
And Dietrich explains: “What does that mean, ‘I will restore it all’? Nothing is lost; in Christ all things are taken up, preserved, albeit in transfigured form, transparent, clear, liberated from the torment of self-serving demands … the restoration of all things.” (Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 8, 230)
Reading Bonhoeffer’s letter this season reminded me of all our Psalms during Advent, calling out for restoration (Psalm 80, Psalm 85, Psalm 126, Mary’s Psalm in Luke 1). And these are the very words Dietrich was hearing emanate from the child in the manger. That God-child of love saying: “I will restore it all.”
Pastor Shaun