09 April 09

This is the anniversary of the 1945 execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who participated in an (unsuccessful) assassination plot against Adolf Hitler. In his heart he was a pacifist, and he knew that he was consciously going against both his own principles and his understanding of sin. But he felt that the failure of "the church" to stand against Hitler was a far greater communal sin, and so he was willing to sacrifice himself and "plead with God for mercy." His most famous book is The Cost of Discipleship.

I don't know what kind of tie would be suitable to honor Bonhoeffer. This one seems to sparkle with silver and blue.