— Midweek Meditations:
thoughts, inspiration and encouragement
from ACF community members —
Recently I started reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible”. The more I read I realise why the Psalms were so important to Bonhoeffer and how much they supported him in his time in KZ Flosenbuerg till his execution 80 years ago.
To be honest, I have had in the past difficulties praying the Psalms with all the drama and intense emotions. In order to pray the Psalms one must have life experiences including the way happy times to the worse days of our lives. In my early Christian journey I enjoyed singing songs of praise and songs recognising God’s strength from the Psalms. Now as I am older and have experienced a broken heart, an uncooperative body, many mistakes and life threatening times, I now understand the Psalms that call out for help, forgiveness, mercy, justice, provision, and all the other things that causes disappointments and struggles in our lives.
Because Bonhoeffer knew the Psalms he was prepared to pray in a prison cell after he was arrested for being a conspirator for an attempt on Hitler’s life. Eighty years ago Bonhoeffer was executed shortly before the end of WWII.
The last text he wrote to his fiancé and family was a poem which probably became his most known writing. The title is “Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen” which is difficult to translate into english. The most common translations are “By gracious powers/loving forces wonderfully sheltered”. Now as I practice praying Psalms I realise how Bonhoeffer put all the Psalms together, the happy ones of praise and the psalms of difficult times to write this poem. This is how he knew even though he was imprisoned and knew he was facing death he knew that God was with him and was sheltering him.
In this time in history there are so many uncertainties let us become prayers of the Psalms. There is literally a Psalm for every occasion. If we practice now we will be prepared when we come into the inevitable difficult life patches.
For encouragement I am including links for the song written using the words Bonhoeffer wrote.
One version is in the original German and one is English. One of the most powerful German Hymn I know.
The ACF Midweek Meditations
are written by a diverse group of our church members with the intention to seek God’s fingerprints in our lives. They range from somber to humorous and are inspired by all facets of live and faith. Written by ordinary people from all walks of life, they reflect a wide range of Christian backgrounds and spiritualities.
Each week’s text portrays the individual viewpoint of its author. They might not always resonate with everyone, and are not meant to be understood as representing the Anglican Church Freiburg as a whole. Yet, as a church that is aiming to ‘Build a Community of Grace’ we seek to practice learning from and listening to one another.
We pray that these humble ponderings add a small spark of blessing to your week.
Freiburg Anglican Church 