Week of April 15, 2009
Pastor Dan

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Exodus 20:16

At a crisis moment during the German church struggle during the 1930's, the Confessing Church was forced to shut down its preachers' seminaries in compliance with anti-Jewish laws affecting church ministry. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (pastor and martyr) was called upon to lead the underground seminary in Finkenwalde. After two years, that extraordinary effort to form a community of pastors-to-be was also shut down by the Gestapo. In the little book Life Together, Bonhoeffer records his own reflections upon the Finkenwalde "experiment" in Christian fellowship.

I was particularly intrigued by one spiritual rule that Dietrich Bonhoeffer established for the seminarians living at Finkenwalde. The so-called "Finkenwalde Rule" proved to be especially important for the community, but not always favorably received. The gist of the rule was that members of the fellowship obliged themselves not to talk about another brother who was absent from the conversation.

I invite you to join me in trying the "Finkenwalde Rule" this week. Let us see if we can refrain from talking about another person when that other person is physically absent. Or if that measure is completely impossible, let us ask ourselves in each conversation when another person's name comes up: "Would I say this about or to that person, if he or she were right here?" Or if that measure is even truly impossible, let us keep in mind the words of Luther regarding the commandment: "Do I do my best to interpret the words and actions of my neighbor in the best possible light?"

O God, you place great importance upon the use of words. Accepted by grace, you turn us toward our neighbors to use words to build up them and the community of faith. Guide us in our speech and forgive us when we bear false witness or skew the truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord who is Ultimate Truth. Amen

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Published Monday April 15, 2002
Week 20 of Liturgical Year A