At such a time as this it is easy for the tyrannical despiser of men to exploit the baseness of the human heart, nurturing it and calling it by other names. Fear he calls responsibility. Desire he calls keenness. Irresolution becomes solidarity. Brutality becomes masterfulness, Human weaknesses are played upon with unchaste seductiveness, so that meanness and baseness are reproduced and multiplied ever anew. The vilest contempt for mankind goes about its sinister business with the holiest of protestations of devotion to the human cause.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditation: We find ourselves at a time of big political change. Some of us feel weak and afraid at a time where a strong leader has left who stood up for peace in the US and in the world. The kind of strength that is now being portrayed seems to undermine basic agreed upon values of our democracy like “freedom of speech” or “fact checking”. The strength of our democracy and of our peaceful coexistence as people who are different is undermined when certain perspectives are being attacked and facts no longer mean anything, but only certain “interpretations” are portrait as “the truth”.

We, the people…We, the people need all the strength we can find. We, the people need our grounding beyond ourselves at a time where certain assumed and often taken for granted values of our democracy are being dismantled.We, the people need God’s assurance that a power greater than ourselves, greater than any politician, wants to be the source of our strength, and that this power wants to bless this world and its people with peace.

Prayer: God, hear our prayer for strength and for peace! Amen

Psalm 29:11 The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.

Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditation: When Christians misunderstand the New Testament as “a marching order to convert everybody they meet to Christ”, this behavior often feels to those pursued as manipulative, boundary violating and obsessive. Those who are trying to convert others often believe that they have to “save those from hell”. At times those converting Christians seem to have a real fear that unless they “lead” a certain amount of people “to Christ”, they themselves might “go to hell”. However, this fear based religious behavior does not resemble the way Jesus approached others. Nothing that we learn about Jesus includes behavior based on fear, manipulation or obsession. Jesus usually just lives his trust in a loving and compassionate God and others begin turning to him. Why do we Christians choose a fear based religion if we can follow the example of Jesus? Let us wait patiently for others to be attracted to the way of living and loving that Jesus invited us to.

Prayer: Gracious God, we are deeply grateful that the life of Jesus was built not on fear, but on love. We are grateful that he believed in Paradise as a place united with You, and that he did not threaten anybody with going to “hell”. Thank You that just turning toward You opens up for us Your Grace, Your forgiveness and acceptance. Let us realize that we cannot manipulate, threaten, pursue or force others to believe in You. Thank You that we can follow Your lead as You patiently wait until we humans trust You and turn toward You without any fear and without any coercion. Amen

“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:40-43 (NASB)

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. James O’Barr

Meditation: “There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so.  One must simply hold out and endure it.  At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled, one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve – even in pain – the authentic relationship. Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prayer: Gracious God, as some of us walk in grief and have to adjust to a world without the beloved person physically present, we pray for them as they remember their life before the painful loss. Be present in those feelings of emptiness. Be present in the pain of missing. Be the one who transforms our torment of memory into silent joy. Amen

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Nothing that we despise in other men (women) is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, and more in light of what they suffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditation: When I experience and don’t like certain traits and behaviors in others, it is easy to start judging them. Spiritually, the first step might be to pause and become aware by asking myself: “That I am reacting so strongly to this or that behavior in the other, what does this have to do with me?” Sometimes I am unaware, but I might wrestle with something in myself that parallels exactly what I dislike in the other, and that I wish I did not have. Humility means that I admit why I react harshly and critically namely based on unfinished business within myself. The second spiritual step is to look at the other person for what they have been through or what they have suffered so that they have become or act a certain way. When I ask open and compassionate questions, I will learn more about the person whose behavior or traits I despise. I might find surprising stories of human suffering, which will likely increase my compassion for the other. And interestingly this experience of listening often increases my self-compassion as well, as I am sometimes blind to how my own suffering has made me impatient and harsh with myself and with others. As a beloved and chosen one by God, I am invited to grow spiritually by clothing myself with new traits and new behaviors like compassion, kindness, gentleness and patience. Those “new clothes” will first heal me, and I will then also become able to extend healing behavior and words to others.

Prayer: God, take away my impatience, my harshness, my judgmental tone and voice. Take my assumptions away about why others are or act a certain way. Help me ask more open ended and gentle questions. Help me to become more compassionate, more patient, more open to the flawed humanity in others and in myself. Your love sees our suffering and our broken hearts behind the ways we are and act. Your Spirit of compassion is gentle, humble and kind. Clothe us with Your Spirit as we shiver from the nakedness of our harsh judgements. Your example and Your love warms our very being. Amen

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditation: Parenting is a journey of constant interruptions. Your kids wake you up at night. They call from school with a fever to be picked up. They hurt themselves, right when you try to get some work done. They cry when the guests are about to arrive. Our children run into the house with excitement having to tell us the latest news of the day, interrupting our quiet moment. We only vaguely remember how it was when we finally became young adults who enjoyed the fact that we were at last in control of our schedule and that we found independence. However, when we then became parents and formed close relationships with our children, we quickly realized that their needs could interrupt our schedule at any time. The new way of living as a parent meant being interrupted and attending to the other. This experience teaches us more about God. We discover how parenting matches God’s ways with us well. We remember Jesus modeling and teaching many times about God allowing to be interrupted and God interrupting.

Prayer: Parent God, thank you for allowing us to come to you with our needs, stories and excitements without hesitation or apology. We can come to you at day or night, with fever or pain, with joy or excitement. And you listen. You allow to be interrupted. You attend to us. And then at times You also interrupt our schedule, our plans. Open us up to listen closely to You as we learn to allow being interrupted by You. Attune us to Your interrupting voice. We marvel how Your relationship with us is meant to be an intimate one, just like parenting is. Amen

“But finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.”  Luke 5: 19

Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear … Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditation: Is Christianity selling out? Is Christianity today worshipping power? People who call themselves “pastors” or “chaplains” try to take advantage of certain positions and influence. They are prideful and exploit the poor. Extracting money out of people’s pockets in the name of God is the sellout of the church. Colluding with leaders who promote violence and arbitrarily oppress certain minorities is the sellout of the church. Where is God’s Church’s revolutionary protest against the “White House church” that is being erected? A church that is no church. Pastors and chaplains who are no spiritual leaders but false prophets. Has the Church in the US been reduced to social institutions without revolutionary power? Are our churches well run businesses that are reduced to taking care of “our people’s” social and emotional needs? Do we no longer have access to the revolutionary message of Jesus?

Prayer: God, wake us, Your Church up. What do You need us to say? What do You need us to do? Let us not allow false prophets to take over the thinking and belief of the masses. Let those who follow Jesus rediscover the depth of his revolutionary message and proclaim it in this particular time. God, send Your Spirit so that we do not allow history to repeat itself. God have mercy! Amen

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2. Timothy 4:3-4

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. Abraham Lincoln

Meditation: Just as democracy in German more than eighty years ago, the democratic system in the US today experiences the perversion of basic ethical values as for example “decency”, “order” or “assumed values of right and wrong”. As we are watching the manipulation of facts and the perversion of ethical values we ask ourselves: What is my responsibility as a Christian at this time in history? What ethical values are immune from perversion? Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about responsibility in his book “Ethics”. At a time where most assumed values were perverted by Hitler’s authoritarian nationalist regime, he writes: “Reason,” “fanaticism,” “conscience,” “duty,” “freedom,” and “private virtuousness” all fail as tools for locating a true ethic…Christian ethics are not formed by a set of abstract principles but by the concrete test of each situation—“Are my actions helping others to be truly human before God?” “Is Christ being formed in them in the world?” How can Bonhoeffer’s words lead us to a deeper and new ethic and a deeper sense of responsibility and into action as Christians?

Prayer: God of history, as we experience the systematic perversion of basic ethical values we feel lost and threatened. Basic human values and basic facts are being changed, manipulated and abused. Many public values that were true a few months ago, no longer seem to hold. We want and need to ground ourselves deeper than ever before. Fill us individually and as Your church worldwide with your Spirit. Help us learn from history. Help us Christians to be the prophetic voices that shout in the wilderness! Come Spirit of truth! Amen

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:13

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass

Meditation: These days many people wake up in the middle of the night feeling anxious. Others wonder if they should travel out of the country and if they will be allowed back in. Our hearts beat faster. Life seems overwhelming and more stressful than usual. America has become unsafe. Not just for immigrants and certain minorities. A threat to some of us is a threat to all of us. The rhetoric of violence and threats creeps into our unconscious through repetitive use by those in power, who want us to be afraid. Creating chaos is a great way to distract people and keep them preoccupied with their emotional reactions to what is happening instead of allowing them to think and respond. The ones in power share this conspiracy to keep the masses distracted, reactive and ignorant so they can do what they want. The goal is absolute power and status while becoming the richest persons in the world.

Prayer: God, when our legal system becomes perverted, when rhetoric is meant to scare, when democratic values are being overturned with force, we feel helpless, anxious and overwhelmed. You are the One that stands for justice, for equal rights for all and for peace. We pray for your church  and all faith communities around the world. Let us find ways to unite. Let the politicians around the world find ways to unite to provide resistance to what is happening. Help our souls to ground ourselves in you. Amen

Psalm 4:9 In peace I will lie down and fall asleep, for you alone, Lord, make me secure.

You can talk yourself into a good emotional state. I stop for a second, take a deep breath, and think about something that’s beautiful. A beautiful thought for me is cutting the umbilical cord for my child. I can guarantee you that your emotional state will change. Montel Williams

Meditation: Life can be very stressful. Often we are “being lived” by all the demands that pull on us. We forget to slow down. We are reminded today that talking ourselves into a good emotional state starts with a deep breath. As Christians we see this breath as our connection with God as the source of our very being. And as we slow down, as we breathe and pray, we remember all we are grateful for: the life of our children and children’s children, our loved ones and friends, our animals and the many moments of grace that come our way every day. Yes, thinking about beautiful things can ground us. And breathing deeply and praying can be a wonderful way of slowing down. Often in our hectic lives, however, we might not be able to find much time to sit down to meditate or to pray. And yet, we can always practice a so called “breath prayer”. A breath prayer has a long Christian tradition. It attaches the breath to a few words breathing in, and then a few words breathing out, like: “God, You have made me”. “You give me life”. “I am Yours.” “Peace is mine”. And as we practice this short “breath prayer”, if only for a few breaths at a time, we become reconnected with God as our grounding and as the source of our good emotional state.

Prayer: Life giving God, we thank You for the breath that sustains us. We breathe and we remember You, Giver of Life. We are not alone in the hectic of our daily lives. You give us beautiful moments to enjoy and hold onto. You gift us with so many small and big moments of love. Let us remember You. Let us breathe, let us pray, let us be thankful. Amen

The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Ruler of all gives me life. Job 33:4

I might sound audacious, but the Mahatma has been a great inspiration. He had the conviction to live with his beliefs in the face of total disbelief. R. Madhavan

Meditation: We are living in times when our leaders embody a spirit of total disrespect, disinformation and disdain for moral and ethical values. As I am watching what is happening in the US and around the world, I experience authoritarian leaders arise who are disbelievers in basic human rights and basic spiritual values. In times like these, it is helpful to ground ourselves in relationship with role models we admire and believe in. Men and women who uphold respect, who tell the truth as they believe it, and who uphold life giving and life preserving values. Mahatma Ghandi and Jesus were two such role models. Their integrity inspires us until today. The way they lived their life changed the world. Their nonviolent approach to conflict liberated millions externally and internally. Their faithfulness to be willing to die for their beliefs and for those they came to liberate is inspiring. Let us withdraw our energy from those who have come to destroy but invest our energy in relationships and ways of living that build up, liberate and redeem.

Prayer: God of hope and of promise, we remember those who came before us and who were great inspirations to us. Help us live our life in accordance with our beliefs. Let us sow small seeds of respect everyday and only speak the truth. Let us uphold moral and ethical values that protect life and uphold love, especially for the “least of those”. We pray for the peaceful overpowering of those authoritarian leaders who rule with violence, and based on lies and on deception. Thank you for being faithful to us. Help us be faithful to you. Amen

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 (NRSV)