Bonhoeffer's Shoes

Would any of us have had the courage

As we looked out over the pews

To speak out against tyranny

To boldly proclaim the Good News?

Could I bring myself to go all-in?

Could I really put my 'neck on the line?

Would I stand up to my captors;

Would I continuously shout at them, 'Nein!'?

Would I have turned away from peace

To bring about more peace in the end?

Would I have avoided the chance for freedom

Instead of risking it all for our Jewish friends?

To live in a time of such evil;

To see death and mayhem everywhere-

I wonder what it must have been like

To feel like an entire nation didn't care?

To be a pastor for a time...

To become a spy along the way;

Could I have held on just a little longer

To at least witness 'V-Day'?

Would I have bravely helped behind closed doors,

Could I have abandoned my original intentions?

Would I have spoken out against the scientists

And all of their cruelty behind their inventions?

Could I have proclaimed inside the church,

"Open your eyes and change your ways!

Don't you all see the evil we are allowing?

Can you not foresee the End of Days?"

Once in a while, heroes come along

And they show up from the strangest places.

If I had lived during World War Two

Could I have reflected the steel from their faces?

"Not to speak is to speak" -

Those were words that Bonhoeffer said.

"Not to act is to act" he also stated

Refusing to sit by, as Nazis killed the Jews dead.

He refused to play along;

He spoke out against their abomination.

He still proclaimed the Word of God

And he led others to salvation!

Having recently answered the call

To minister as a chaplain on this earth

I cannot help but wonder -

What could a life for the Lord be worth?

If it came right down to it,

And tyranny emptied all the pews

Would an ordinary soul like me

Have had the courage to be in Bonhoeffer's shoes?

By Jason E. Fort

“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