Mail Archive of the old Santa Clara Valley Lutheran Parish

I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brethren. (Thessalonians 5:27)
Subject: Devotion by Jim Clark Moore
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:35:19 -0700
From: "Bea Chun" <pastorchun@cgslc.org>
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From: "Bea Chun" <pastorchun@cgslc.org>
To: <scvlp@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Devotion by Jim Clark Moore
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:35:19 -0700
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People often praise and admire what they see as "sacrifice" in my work with
youth.  This praise often gets the better of me and I begin to think that,
well,  I am important and that I am sacrificing. Then I read something like
this and I realize that I do not yet know what sacrifice is.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

.Sitting here in Dr. coffin's garden I have had the time to think and pray
about my situation and that of my nation and to have God's will for me
clarified. I have come to the conclusion that I have made a mistake in
coming to America. I must live through this difficult period of our national
history with the Christian people of Germany. I will have no right to
participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war
if I do not share the trials of this time with my people. My brethren in the
Confessing Synod wanted me to go. They may have been right in urging me to
do so; but I was wrong in going. Such a decision each man must make for
himself. Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either
willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may
survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our
civilization. I know with of these alternatives I must choose but I cannot
make that choice in security.

 

A letter to Reinhold Niebuhr from Lakeville, Connecticut, July 1939

 

 

PS As I read this, I am amazed at how radical the last two sentences of this
paragraph are and I wonder how they relate to us in these times.


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<p class=3DMsoBodyText><font size=3D4 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>People often praise and admire what they see as
&#8220;sacrifice&#8221; in my work with youth.&nbsp; This praise often gets=
 the
better of me and I begin to think that, well,&nbsp; I am important and that=
 I am
sacrificing. Then I read something like this and I realize that I do not ye=
t
know what sacrifice is.</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D4 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D=
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14.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal align=3Dcenter style=3D'text-align:center'><font size=
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face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>Dietrich Bonhoeff=
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<p class=3DMsoNormal align=3Dcenter style=3D'text-align:center'><font size=
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face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>=
</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoBodyText2><font size=3D4 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>&#8230;Sitting here in Dr. coffin&#8217;s garden=
 I
have had the time to think and pray about my situation and that of my natio=
n
and to have God&#8217;s will for me clarified. I have come to the conclusio=
n
that I have made a mistake in coming to <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on"><st=
1:place
 w:st=3D"on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I must live through =
this
difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of <st1:=
country-region
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>=
. I will
have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in <st=
1:country-region
w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>=
 after
the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people. My brethr=
en
in the Confessing Synod wanted me to go. They may have been right in urging=
 me
to do so; but I was wrong in going. Such a decision each man must make for
himself. Christians in <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on"><st1:place w:st=3D"o=
n">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>
will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their na=
tion
in order that Christian civilization may survive, or willing the victory of
their nation and thereby destroying our civilization. I know with of these
alternatives I must choose but I cannot make that choice in security&#8230;=
</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal align=3Dcenter style=3D'text-align:center'><font size=
=3D4
face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>=
</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal align=3Dcenter style=3D'text-align:center'><font size=
=3D4
face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>A letter to Reinh=
old
Niebuhr from <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:City w:st=3D"on">Lakeville</st1:Ci=
ty>, <st1:State
 w:st=3D"on">Connecticut</st1:State></st1:place>, July 1939<o:p></o:p></spa=
n></font></p>

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face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>=
</span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D4 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D=
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14.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal><font size=3D4 face=3D"Times New Roman"><span style=3D=
'font-size:
14.0pt'>PS As I read this, I am amazed at how radical the last two sentence=
s of
this paragraph are and I wonder how they relate to us in these times&#8230;=
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

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