When asked how he prayed, Bonhoeffer replied to Visser't hooft in Geneva, "I pray for my nation's defeat."
It was for Bonhoeffer a monumental decision ... he loved his homeland, he was worried that the Allies would repeat Versailles, he was already planning for what the church must be and do after the war and Germany's role in world Christianity.
Bonhoeffer was a servant of Christ, and that guided his patriotism.
And for me, I hope it's true, as well - that my faith in Christ is what guides my patriotism, and not the other way around, as it seems to be, as I see it, for some who claim to follow Christ.
These are difficult times, and our difficulties are mounting every moment, as a feckless leader bumbles and blusters his way from one crisis and failure to another.
Everyone who cheers for him furthers the chaos and damage, and every Christian who sides with him fails, I believe, to honor Christ.
It's a huge thing to say, but I believe I'm in good company with Israel's 8th Century prophets who were often accused of faithlessness to God and being traitors to their nation.
History has proven them right, and the same judgment for Bonhoeffer.
