Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Yesterday was the feast day of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a Luthern who ran an underground seminary in Germany during the reign of Hilter. He was eventually arrested and killed. He stood up for his faith in a time when you could be killed for it.

Bonhoeffer is probably my favorite modern day saint. He is my role model to put up with all the crap of life. Not that I am persecuted for my faith, but I find him an inspiration for something else. Being gay is not easy. I constantly have to deal with verbal abuse and the occasional physical abuse. Last night after my chime rehearsal I walked from St. Paul's to Dunkin' Donuts, to the Ground Round, and finally back to church. While I was walking from Dunkin' to the Ground Round, a group of guys were sitting next to a truck parked in a parking lot. One of them yelled out to me and called me an "f***ing fag." They kept yelling until I was out of site. I didn't say anything to them or acknowledge them, because I didn't want to start anything more serious.

Stuff like that happens to me, and many of my friends, more often then it should. But, when it does I'm reminded of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Here was a man who did not let discrimination stand in his way of leading the life God was calling him to lead. He is an example to me that I should not let intolerance stand in the way of who God made me to be. If he could be true to himself facing persecution, arrest, and eventually death, I can certain be true to myself facing some very limited persecution.

May Dietrich Bonhoeffer be an example to use all. May his life be for us a reminder to be the person that God calls us to be through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Gracious God, the Beyond in the midst of our life, you gave grace to your servant Dietrich Bonhoeffer to know and to teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and to bear the cost of following him; Grant that we, strengthened by his teaching and example, may receive your word and embrace its call with an undivided heart; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.