Werner Krusche, translated by James S. Currie
Parson’s Porch Books, 192 pages
Sermons, it is often said, are delivered to a particular group of people in particular social circumstances. You can’t preach the same sermon twice, but some sermons live beyond the moment. They offer penetrating insight not only into a particular time and place, but also into Jesus Christ — who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The sermons of Werner Krusche, a bishop of the Evangelical Church in communist East Germany, have this quality. While reflecting the specific concerns of Protestants behind the Iron Curtain, they set forth an ever-relevant theology of God’s infinite grace in Jesus Christ. None of the sermons could be preached today without revision, yet each has jewels of gospel wisdom that churches, also in the United States, need to hear.
James Currie’s editorial touch is light; he rightly lets the sermons speak for themselves. However, they are all the more poignant when considered in their social context. Most come from the mid-1980s, when the communist regimes of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies seemed firmly established. The United States recognized East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) as a legitimate state. While its standard of living lagged well behind the West, its citizens nevertheless enjoyed growing economic prosperity.
But social discontent was also growing. Small groups of activists gathered in the free space that the government still allowed the church, hoping to address issues of nuclear armament, social justice and environmental devastation. As the Solidarity movement grew in neighboring Poland, East German officials worried about the regime’s stability. Surveillance of East German citizens intensified. Any effort at open protest was crushed.
Among those who wanted a better, freer society, the dominant mood was deep resignation. Moreover, under conditions of political repression, personal problems – broken marriages, uncertain job prospects – became all the heavier. Many wanted to leave the country, although few succeeded.
Again and again, Krusche proclaims a word of hope. God is faithful, even when we cannot yet see God’s promises fulfilled. Freedom consists not in getting to the West but rather in knowing that God alone is Lord of the nations. Even when political circumstances constrain us, we can commit ourselves to God’s cause for humanity. No matter how dark the day, Jesus Christ walks next to us and gives us his Spirit of truth and love. Abraham, Jeremiah, Peter and Paul are more than curious historical figures; their remarkable confidence in God’s liberating ways opens new horizons for us.
As East Germans would quickly discover after the fall of the Wall in 1989, “free societies” also drive many people to resignation. Massive and seemingly intractable social problems – immigration, climate change, economic inequality – remain. Even where justice appears for a moment to win the day, new resentments and divisions arise. Governments and faceless corporations mine our internet use to learn – and to manipulate – our political loyalties, buying preferences and social values. And personal problems don’t go away, either. We, too, dream of escaping to another, better world.
Krusche’s biblical, Reformed preaching is compelling to us nearly 40 years later because it is relentlessly theological. It tells the truth about God in Jesus Christ. Currie is to be commended for translating and passing on this precious legacy. Preachers will find rich exegetical material and I expect that readers will conclude, “Yes, this is indeed what the gospel is all about.”
John P. Burgess is professor of systematic theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the author of “The East German Church and the End of Communism.”
