Bonhoeffer, LoveZim and me

Earlier this year, Eric Metaxas published a remarkable book "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy".
(Dear Santa, I wouldn't mind a copy....!)
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's story is remarkable, and beyond the scope of this post.  His commitment to God and to his country led to a quite remarkable series of choices and to his involvement in events that would change the passage of world history.

To quote from Metaxas' website:

As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer—a pastor and author, known as much for such spiritual classics as The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, as for his 1945 execution in a concentration camp for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

(Aside:  Valkyrie is an excellent movie dramatising the events of that fateful assassination attempt.)
(Dear Santa, I wouldn't mind a DVD of this either!)

LoveZim is "a network of churches and organisations, established with a vision to invite the diaspora and the global church to support Zimbabwe in prayer and practical action."

Next Sunday, 26 September, there is a worldwide call to "The International Prayer Day for Zimbabwe".

A full description of LoveZim's vision and activities is also beyond the scope of this post.  The commitment to our country and the move of God in it are wonderful, and challenging.

Now, let me be clear to say that my intention is not in any way to try and equate Adolf Hitler with Robert Mugabe.  Nor would I presume to say that the Holocaust in anyway parallels the fact that so many Zimbabweans are in dire straits when it comes to health and food security.
I'm not saying that!

But what if...?

When Bonhoeffer arrived in New York in June 1939, he knew he was in the wrong place.

He wrote to Reinhold Niebuhr: "I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people... Christians in Germany will have to face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose but I cannot make that choice from security."  He returned to Germany on the last scheduled steamer to cross the Atlantic.  (en.wikipedia.org)

Am I content to "just pray", or is God calling me to "share the trials of this time with my people"?

When will God call me to take treasonous activities to act against the Powers that He has placed in authority over me?
And when does "Thou shalt not kill" conflict with my ability to serve God?
I don't pretend to understand the immensity of the decision Bonhoeffer took.  But the attempt to assassinate Hitler was planned and executed, and this mighty man of God was part of it.

Now again, I am not saying that such action would be appropriate, necessary or justifiable in Zimbabwe in the 21st century.

But what if...?
Am I content to "just pray", or is God calling me to actions that mean I must be ready to be stripped naked and hung with thin wire?

Oh, I hope not.
Prayer is good.  There is no "just pray" when we realise that our prayers are direct petitions to Almighty God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.
But forgive me if I start my prayers for Zimbabwe by asking that He accept my prayer and spare me the path He called Bonhoeffer to.

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  — DIETRICH BONHOEFFER