Here We Stand, V: Saying Yes and Saying No

July 15, 2013

Ephesians 4:11-16; selected verses from John

by the Revs. David Ensign and Peg True

German Christians in the 1930s faced an existential threat as great as any faced by followers of Jesus at any time or place since first-century Palestine. By and large, they failed the test quite miserably, though some did speak out early in the Nazi era to warn of its threats, especially its threat to the church.

That’s pretty much the story of the Theological Declaration of Barmen, the earliest of the three 20^th-century statements of faith in our Book of Confessions.

Declared by a group of clergy, laity and theologians calling themselves the Confessing Church, Barmen reflects the deep crisis of the German church in the early years of Hitler’s Reich. Crafted largely by Karl Barth, the Swiss Reformed theologian whose work looms large over 20^th-century Western Christian thought, the Barmen Declaration is framed as six statements of evangelical Christian commitment and six rejections of the false doctrines emerging from a German church that was making its bed with the Nazis.

It marks the most sustained and, indeed, dangerous effort of the church in Germany to speak the truth. Whether or not its framers were able to do so “in love” is not a judgment I would dare offer, though looking back through the lens of history I’d have to confess that I don’t think I could manage it.

In the face of the rise of the fuhrer, who claimed ultimate allegiance from Germans in all aspects of life, Barmen boldly affirmed the centrality of Jesus and his lordship in all aspects of life. The Barmen framers were chiefly concerned with that central question of Reformed thought: who is lord of your life?

Barmen has been criticized for failing to “do enough” or “say enough” in the face of the rise of Nazism. The declaration was silent on the plight of the early victims of the Third Reich, and it said nothing to name the clear and present fears of what was coming by 1934. Instead, it focused on the threat to the church and on the encroachment by the state into the realm of the church. On the other hand, the state clearly understood the deep criticisms of the Nazis imbedded in the words of Barmen and many of its supporters and signers wound up either in prison or in exile.

Barmen has its own fascinating history, and I commend to you the small effort of tracking it down. More than its history, however, Barmen has still much to teach us and inspire in us for the task of following Jesus in our own time. Toward that end this morning Peg and I, following both the pattern and the ideas of the Barmen Declaration, will share a few affirmations and rejections.

John 6:51:"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;" John 11:25: Jesus said to her, "I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

David: We affirm that, by the grace of God, we live in an economy of abundance. There is more than more than enough. Moreover, we affirm that the gracious economy of the kingdom of God is not bound by the limits of our lives nor our understanding of time.

Peg: We reject the false doctrine of individualism which includes hanging on to all we gain for ourselves.  Keeping material belongings at the center of our lives ignores our call to help those who have less.  We reject our abuse of the environment and what it will mean for future generations.

2.  John 8:12: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I AM the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Peg: We affirm what John Robinson said to the pilgrims as they left Holland for the new world, "God has yet more light to bring forth."  As we continue to strive to welcome and include all people in our church and denomination we know that God urges us forward.  In our personal lives we can discern God's leading us to live each day as a beloved child of God living in the light.  When our world seems dark we never walk alone.

David: We reject the false doctrine that would build walls around God’s grace as if darkness could defeat light. Moreover, we reject the cynicism that denies the light.

3.  John 10:9: "I AM the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."

David: We affirm that the door to God’s abundance is always open, and that the work of the church lies in affirming, proclaiming and practicing that openness and that abundance.

Peg:  We reject a church whose door is open only to those acceptable to the people inside, closing the door to some and refusing to acknowledge that all are welcome by God.

4.  John 10:11: "I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

Peg: We affirm that Jesus is a shepherd who fervently cares for His flock, who will lay down his life for his sheep.   He cares for us, who resist His leadership, and forget whose church this really is.  Jesus leads us to green pastures where we can become the people we are called to be.  We joyously share this unconditional love as we try to model our lives after His.

David: We reject the false doctrine that imagines faith without risk, life without struggle, community without diversity, and that thus reduces God to good-luck charm for the insiders, rescuer of the blessed, or mascot for our side.

5.  John 14:6: Jesus said to him, "I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

David: We affirm the way of Jesus – the manger of his life, death, and rising to new life – and we aspire to live lives such that we might be called people of the way.

Peg: We reject the false doctrine where the church places any other event, person or power at the center of its faith statement.  We must live our lives, in the church and in the world, with our faith in Jesus Christ at the center, not leaving it in church each week.  It is how we live that matters most, not what we say we believe.

Returning to Germany at the time the Declaration of Barmen was written, Martin Niemoeller was one of the first to speak out against the Nazi regime and continued to speak publicly until he was seized.  He spent seven years in a concentration camp.  After his release from Dachau in 1945 Niemoeller  preached to the church leaders.  You’ve heard his words in the anthem today but they are worth hearing again and again.  He said:

In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist.  Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.  Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.  Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.  Then they came for me. And by that time no one was left to speak up.

Because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life we must continue to speak up for those around us as we try to live faithful lives filled with God’s love for each one of us.

Amen