Another Year has Dawned

I'm writing this post from Bern in the German-speaking heart of Switzerland, where I'm staying with Aaron & Becky (and their extended families) for a few days before heading to Zurich for their wedding on Friday. The house we're putting up at belongs to a friend of the bride's father and is big enough to accommodate both sides + guests (around 20 people). It also sits atop a hill and has a magnificent view of the snowcapped mountains and surrounding countryside. On top of that, there's a piano and a guitar. What a blessing to be able to hang out with everyone (and spend time on my own reading Bonhoeffer) here!

"Bonhoeffer was as open as any man could be to all the things which make life beautiful. He rejoiced in the love of his parents, his sisters and brothers, his fiancée, his many friends. He loved the mountains, the flowers, the animals - the greatest and the simplest things in life. His geniality and inborn chivalry, his love of music, art and literature, the firmness of his character, his personal charm and his readiness to listen, made him friends everywhere. But what marked him most was his unselfishness and preparedness to help others up to the point of self-sacrifice. Whenever others hesitated to undertake a task that required special courage, Bonhoeffer was ready to take the risk." (From the memoir by G. Leibholz in The Cost of Discipleship)

I usually bring a book or two to read on trips and I asked God which book I should bring on this particular trip. Interestingly, a friend (Elaine) recently passed me The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and recommended that I read it. So maybe there's some stuff in the book which God wants me to think about...

New Year 1945

With every power for good to stay and guide me
Comforted and inspired beyond all fear
I'll live these days with You in thought beside me
And pass, with You into the coming year

The old year still torments our hearts, unhastening
The long days of our sorrow still endure
Father, grant to the soul Thou hast been chastening
That Thou hast promised - the healing and the cure

Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
Even to the dregs of pain, at Thy command
We will not falter, thankfully receiving
All that is given by Thy loving hand

But, should it be Thy will once more to release us
To life's enjoyment and it's good sunshine
That we've learned from sorrow shall increase us
And all our life be dedicated as Thine

Today, let candles shed their radiant greeting
Lo, on our darkness are they not Thy light
Leading us haply to our longed-for meeting?
Thou canst illumine even our darkest night

When now the silence deepens for our harkening
Grant we may hear Thy children's voices raise
From all the unseen world around us darkening
Their universal paean, in Thy praise

While all the powers of good aid and attend us
Boldly we'll face the future, be what it may
At even, and at morn, God will befriend us
And oh, most surely on each New Year's Day!

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

In February, when the Gestapo prison in Berlin was destroyed by an air raid, Bonhoeffer was taken to the concentration camp of Buchenwald and from there to other places until he was executed by special order of Himmler at the concentration camp at Flossenburg on April 9th, 1945, just a few days before it was liberated by the Allies.