I posted parts of this a long time ago, but the original page disappeared. I'm now posting this new link.

It will take smarter men than I to understand what he is saying. Is he saying that the Church can bring peace? Was he a pacifist? An amillennialist? Is he saying that Christians, by their Christ-like conduct, can bring the Kingdom of Christ to this World?

I believe that only at His Coming will Christ bring peace for all the World...and He will do that by destroying the evil and all that are of the "darkness". Then the Kingdom of true Peace will rule and reign.

Here's how I understand it. Peace is divine in origin. Human beings can't create it. However, we can destroy it, as we all know from experience. The Christian is called to peace, even in the knowledge that he or she will fail, or even be destroyed, in the process. We all have a responsibility, he is saying, to live our lives as if we truly trusted God and to live for peace, without trying to calculate whether our efforts are rational or sensible.

Bonhoeffer also famously wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die."

Ok...I can understand that a little better. Since all die, wasn't he referring to "dying to self" as a Christian and our will and plans?

... In other words, Christians can't do anything. But that doesn't diminish the Christian's responsibilities to do it anyway. More or less the same argument that Martin Luther King made.

Oh, I didn't even see your second comment before I posted mine ...

Yes, I think that's right. He's a really interesting character. In this sermon, he sounds like a pacifist, but then again, he was ultimately executed by the Nazis for taking part in a plot to assassinate Hitler. This was after he had successfully escaped to the U.S. -- he decided he had an obligation to return and fight the Nazi movement at home.