Even Here

I’ve been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s prison letters recently. I know I can’t quite claim solidarity with his imprisonment, during the throes of the Second World War. Yet Advent in yet another lockdown here in Toronto seems to bring these writings more palpably to life than I’d previously experienced.

As Bonhoeffer considered a nativity painting from prison, he suggested that it had something to offer his current moment. We read this in his letter from Advent 1943, the day after bombings on Berlin, in the vicinity of his parents. He wrote: ‘The Altdorfer nativity scene, in which one sees the holy family with the manger amid the rubble of a collapsed house […] is particularly timely. Even here one can and ought to celebrate Christmas, [the artist] perhaps wanted to say; in any case, this is what he says to us.’ In this letter, we see Bonhoeffer vividly casting his precarious moment, alongside a 16th century artwork, which commemorates that singular, vulnerable birth centuries before.

Albrecht Altdorfer, The Birth of Christ, c. 1513, panel painting © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie

I think it wouldn’t be amiss to reflect on this fragile birth, as the light we need in the darkness we face, in a world where many of our illusions of control have been shaken, some of our comforts taken away. A few friends have noted that this pandemic could serve to increase our empathy with those among us who have regularly experienced isolation, who have health challenges, or live in places where they aren't free to gather as Christians. My experience has certainly not measured up to the hardships that many face. The repercussions of this pandemic have not been evenly distributed, either globally or socio-economically. But this Advent I’m reminded of Jesus’ incarnation as a precious gesture of solidarity with each of us, entering the world in the midst of rubble, to bear its ruin in order to draw us to Himself. And as my mother, helpfully reminded me, the Light of the world can't be locked down.

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Image Credits:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_Altdorfer_-_Nativity.jpg

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 8, Letters and Papers from Prison. Edited by John W. de Gruchy. Translated by Isabel Best, Lisa E. Dahill, Reinhard Krauss, Nancy Lukens. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 2010, p.206.