About a year ago in a used book store I saw a book of sermons by someone whose work I remembered from seminary. For 99 cents I acquired “Our Heavenly Father,” sermons by Helmut Thielicke.
They are brilliant, full of encouragement, and absolutely profound.
But what gave even more depth to his insights were the occasional footnote saying something like, “This sermon was interrupted by the bombing and had to continue in the shelter.” Or, “The Lutheran Church where the congregation met was no longer fit for meetings.”
Thielicke preached this series in late 1944 and early 1945. Allied bombing of Stuttgart was devastating to the city and its population.
Thielicke’s counsel and perspective have a place beside Augustine’s City of God for God’s Fatherly love and sovereignty when chaos and evil reign He squarely faces the evils of the Nazi regime and gives pastoral wisdom in the midst of the daily pain and fear of his congregants. He still speaks—in those times and these.
Tomorrow we meet with an elder leader to learn about Christians in the Middle East. I hope to hear about Thielicke from him.
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