Roan Roamings

Roan Mountain Rhododendrons

I have recently been reading "Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy," a chilling yet enlightening biography of one of the 20th centuries most influential Christian figures, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book, authored by Eric Metaxas, paints an alarming picture of how Adolf Hitler and his Nazism took hold in a largely Christian nation and spread like a cancer in Europe in the decades of the thirties and forties. Bonhoeffer played a critical role in alerting the world outside Germany of the impending doom before the point of no return was reached.

   

During the summer of 1934 there was a statement of opposition drawn up by a group of theologians and pastors of which Bonhoeffer was an influential member. That document became known as The Barmen Declaration.

During the lead up to the signing of this stark revelation, Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter to his grandmother about an experience he had on a field trip while in England. It is an experience in stark contrast to the dark nature of what was happening in his homeland. " I was greatly surprised to find wild rhododendrons in the woods, a whole lot of them, hundreds of bushes growing close together." This book passage immediately brought memories to this writer, memories which had been dormant for decades. They were the memories of a twelve year old boy.

In the summer of 1964 while at Camp Rockmont for Boys in Black Mountain, NC,  I was part of a small group invited to hike an 18 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail.  We started in North Carolina and over the course of the next few days we found ourselves in Tennessee on one of the most beautiful places on this earth! As a boy who lived and grew up in south Florida the flora I was witnessing here atop Roan Mountain was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was stunning and I was awestruck. This piece of heaven on earth was my first encounter with rhododendron.  The pervasive color of purple I recall certainly delineates for me the presence of God I encountered in this special place. It was a both literal and spiritual mountaintop experience for a young boy who did not even know the meaning of those concepts.

The 12 year old boy still lives in this man and along with storied accounts of the Saints and Angels like Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds me that our Creator lives with us both in the spectacularly beautiful as well as the morosely dark places on this earth.

Amen Brother Bonhoeffer

Bradford Bosworth

January 2017