July 9thPsalm 115
God of grace and God of glory
Have you ever received a chain letter email that goes something like this: The email tells the story of a woman helping some disadvantaged street people. The email promises that if I forward it to five friends I can make a wish and it will come true in three months. If I forward it to ten people my wish will come true in a month!
The people this psalm describes in verses 3-8 are driven by a similar motivation. Offer the right offerings to your god and you will get whatever you want. This is the vending machine god: you put in your coin/prayer and out pops a candy-bar/your wish!
Our psalmist begs to differ. In verses 9-11 she states forcefully (three times) that the people of God should trust God for He alone ‘is their help and shield.’
In 1933, Adolf Hitler became the Fuhrer of Germany. Some in the church welcomed his message of German pride and supremacy. Theologian Paul Althaus would sing the Nazi anthem between classes. The German Christian church supported the idea of a ‘pure nation’ and eliminated the OT from its lectionaries. They glorified Adolf Hitler as a “German prophet” and preached that racial consciousness was a source of revelation alongside the Bible. Jurgen Moltmann once recalled how in Sunday School his teacher tried to prove that Jesus was not Jewish but a Phoenician!
The pro-Nazi “German Christian” movement became a force in the church – it became the idolatry of the day with disastrous consequences.
In the light of this idolatry some Christians met and boldly proclaimed another truth. Karl Barth and Hans Asmussen penned the Barmen Declaration, a direct repudiation of the Nazi attempt to take over the church. Here is some of what the Declaration says:
1 Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death.
We reject the false doctrine that the Church could and should recognize as a source of its proclamation, beyond and besides this one Word of God, yet other events, powers, historic figures and truths as God’s revelation.
2 We reject the false doctrine that there could be areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ but to other lords, areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.
3 We reject the false doctrine that the Church could have permission to hand over the form of its message and of its order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day.
4 We reject the false doctrine that, apart from this ministry, the Church could, and could have permission to, give itself or allow itself to be given special leaders [Führer] vested with ruling authority.
5 We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the State should and could become the sole and total order of human life and so fulfil the vocation of the Church as well.
6 We reject the false doctrine that with human vainglory the Church could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of self-chosen desires, purposes and plans.
I like the fact that Barth personally emailed a copy of the declaration to Adolph Hitler. There is no record of der Fuhrer’s response, but Barth was stripped of his teaching post in Germany deported to Switzerland (his homeland) soon thereafter. Others who signed the declaration were either imprisoned (Martin Niemoller) or executed (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).
Barmen was a bold and uncompromising affirmation that the one true God has spoken through Jesus Christ and that all other allegiances are a form of idolatry. Can the contemporary church be as bold and clear in its convictions?
In 1930, as storm-clouds of war began to rise in Germany, Harry Emerson Fosdick penned the hymn, ‘God of grace and God of glory.’
- God of grace and God of glory,
on thy people pour thy power;
crown the ancient church's story;
bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour,
for the facing of this hour.
2. Lo! the hosts of evil round us,
scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us,
free our hearts to love and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.
- Save us from weak resignation
to the evils we deplore;
let the search for thy salvation
be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
serving thee whom we adore,
serving thee whom we adore.
[Voices Together, 716]
Such is the church’s witness in the face of the world’s idolatries.