On the first Sunday in Lent, February 26, 1933, Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached a sermon in Berlin entitled "Gideon: God is My Lord." The text comes from the story of Gideon found in Judges 6-8. This was the first sermon Bonhoeffer preached after Hitler had come to power. In that moment (and all the way to his martyrdom) Bonhoeffer was clear (even as cathedrals hung swastika flags) that for Christians there is only one Lord. Here is a key passage:
In the church we have only one altar - the altar of the Most High, the One and Only, the Almighty, the Lord, to whom alone be honor and praise, the Creator before whom all creatures bow down, before whom even the most powerful are dust. We don't have any side altars at which to worship human beings. The worship of God and not of humankind is what takes place at the altar of our church...in the church we also have only one pulpit, from which faith in God is preached and not any other faith, not even with the best intentions...only here does faith become, for everyone, not just a children's game but rather something highly dangerous, even terrifying...the call comes to our Protestant church...you are to set the people free from the chains of fear and cowardice and evil that bind them.
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