On 9 April the Church of England calendar of saints remembers Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Archbishop Rowan Williams gave a sermon on Pastor Bonhoeffer at the Berliner Mattäuskirche in 2006
to become a human being and a Christian, to use Bonhoeffer’s words in the same letter, is not to separate ourselves and work to become holy in a space that is defined and protected by religious convention; nor is it to seek for perfection by ordinary social or political activism. It is to be present with Christ in the world. It is to be there in God’s name and God’s presence in both confusion and order alike, standing with Christ, standing in that place in the world where God has chosen to be.
and a short account of what we can learn from Bonhoeffer’s ecumenical work.
Bonhoeffer’s legacy to the European ideal is not some theory of supranational administration and cultural homogeneity. It is rather the application to national and international affairs of the Christian principle of mutual accountability. A healthy international network is one in which we take responsibility for each other, and recognise the crisis, the suffering or the collapse of one national or local community as an issue for all.
God give us grace to follow him.
