remembering dietrich bonhoeffer

(4 february 1906 - 9 april 1945)

"action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility."

"one act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons."

"the ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves for its children."

"a prison cell, in which one waits, hopes -- and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of advent."

"a god who lets us prove his existence would be an idol."

"the mark of solitude is silence, as speech is the mark of community. silence and speech have the same inner correspondence and difference as do solitude and community. one does not exist without the other. right speech comes out of silence, and right silence comes out of speech."

"to endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to jesus christ."

"gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy."

"time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering."


more info:
international dietrich bonhoeffer society
wikipedia
us holocaust memorial museum
the internet encyclopedia of philosophy
center of theological inquiry
speaking of faith: ethics and the will of god

i'll stay with the fathers and sisters

lucian tapiedi (1921 - 1942)

anglican teacher/evangelist in papua new guinea
after japanese invasion during wwII, fled into the jungle with fellow priests and missionaries for protection
axed to death by hivijapa, a native orokaiva
hivijapa later converted to christianity, and took on the name lucian
built a church in embi and dedicated to the memory of lucian tapiedi


more info:
westminster abbey 20th century martyrs
church of england: 60th anniversary of the end of wwII

pakistani evangelist

esther john (1929 - 2 February 1960)

born qamar zia to a muslim family in india
converted to christianity as a teenager
hospital worker
missionary/evangelist in pakistan
brutally murdered in her bed


more info:
westminster abbey 20th century martyrs

a royal nun

grand duchess elizabeth of russia (1864 - 18 July 1918)

royal blood
member of russian nobility during the revolution
husband assasinated
sold all of her luxurious possessions and became a nun
opened the Mary and Martha home to help orphans and the poor
fostered prayer and charity among women
murdered by the bolshevicks

canonized by Russian Orthodox Church in 2001 as new-martyr elizabeth


more info:
westminster abbey 20th century martyrs
orthodox christian information center
orthodox england
orthodox america

the archbishop who stood up to a tyrant

janani luwum (1922 - 17 february 1977)

archbishop in uganda
publicly opposed the dictator idi amin
arrested
murdered (reported as car crash by government)



more info:
westminster abbey 20th century martyrs
dictionary of african christian biography
readings of the episcopal church

i shall be baptized with my own blood

manche masemola (1913-1928)

a pedi of south africa
baptismal canidate
murdered by her parents

martyr of the anglican church of southern africa


more info:
westminster abbey 20th century martyrs
dictionary of african christian biography

real heros

maximilian kolbe (1894 - 13 august 1941)

franciscan priest
prisoner in auschwitz
gave other prisoners his food
heard confessions and celebrated mass secretly in prison
gave his life as a sacrifice for a fellow prisoner

beatified as confessor in 1970
canonized as martyr in 1981


more info:
westminster abbey 20th century martyrs
saint of auschwitz
jewish virtual library

happy birthday to me

so here i am at 27.

am i supposed to be having one of those quarter-life crises? it didn't even dawn on me to consider it today, but now as i think about, a crisis enters my life.

it has been just over 9 years since christ said "i love you, dave," in the middle of snow covered fields. nebraska tends to make you feel small when you drive out away from the city (not very hard to do considering there is very little city to be in). there is a vastness to the plains that makes everything look big except for you. the moon is special. that night was special. there was blue all around.

skip forward to the summer and i am at a midnight hardcore show at cornerstone in bushnell, ill. god says, "serve my church." oh crap!

i have become the principle horn player for the university of nebraska-omaha's chamber orchestra. god says, "go to new orleans; learn how to serve my church." my mom says, oh crap!

new orleans has amazing clouds. they are huge. new orleans has amazing people. rich mullins said that the best way he knew how to identify with jesus was to identify with the poor. midnights in the french quarter i listened to people. i watched a homeless man give my friend a tie, just because he wanted to do something nice for him. i watched as this same homeless man was stopped by campus security while he was walking to our bible study we held in the dorms.

on the ground staring at the night sky, god says, "not music, i've got something else for you."

what?

youth ministry?
teaching?
social justice?
pastor?
academia?
theology?
philosophy?
writing?

how many wrong decisions have i made? how many right?

to try to live in abba's embrace is what is needed.
grace.