Bright Valley of Love - A Book Review
My wife and I took turns reading chapters of this book to each other and, at the time, we were eagerly awaiting the birth of our first child. There were multiple occasions when the reading had to pause, because tears were welling up in our eyes and our voices were failing to get the words out. We would have to stop, and look at each other, and smile, and maybe even laugh a little. It wasn’t mere sadness making us tear up. It was love—love for each other, love for our baby in the womb, love for the people in this story. It was love for the beauty of the Gospel and joy in God’s gift of life.
Bright Valley of Love by Edna Hong is the true story of a handicapped boy named Gunther living in Nazi Germany. His own family told him he was worthless and wanted to get rid of him. But those who knew the love of God in Christ were able to give Gunther a different life—a life of worth and joy among Christ’s people. This story is then not only about Gunther, but also about the pastors, deaconesses, and deacons who ran the community of Bethel, as they cared for the weak, the lowly, and the despised in the eyes of the world. This story is sweet without being saccharine. It is simply true without relying on truisms. It would make a wonderful read-aloud for the whole family. And it would even encourage the singing of hymns as several stanzas are quoted throughout the story.
The final crisis of the story comes as Gunther and the other residents of Bethel discover what many in the wider society think of them. Some pastors discovered that Nazi doctors have been systematically killing epileptics and other handicapped patients. So, Gunther witnesses his friend and Bethel’s director, Pastor Fritz, fighting to defend their community from the Nazi regime.
The story is moving on its own. Yet some readers might also be interested to know where it fits in the broader history of the Lutheran Church in Nazi Germany. Gunther’s “Pastor Fritz” is the Rev. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, who served as Bethel’s director while also opposing National Socialism, alongside Hermann Sasse and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In fact, it was at Bethel that Sasse and Bonhoeffer produced the Bethel Confession in 1933, objecting to the government’s interference in the churches and protesting against the Nazi’s anti-Christian ideology.
Bright Valley of Love does not mention the Bethel Confession. But this story illustrates the Bethel way of life. This bright valley with all its loving people provides a picture of the Church as community, a true communion of Christ the Head with His Body.
Originally published in 1976, this book is still worthy of our attention today. I am grateful that Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, has republished it and brought it to the hearts and minds of new readers. If we are nervous about government overreach or the devaluing of human life (whether that’s due to age, sickness, disability, or race), then Bethel shows us how the Church may be a light in the darkness. This story provides a vision of the Church that is not just for Sundays nor short-term political victories. This is a pro-life book, illustrating a pro-life message that is so much bigger than simply opposing abortion.
In Bethel, we see not only a community that is pro-life, i.e. standing for life, but we see what life is truly for: communion and praise. All people are made for communion with God and with one another. Within this communion, by the power of God through the Gospel in Jesus Christ, we are able to live lives of praise, even in the face of death. This communion and praise transforms our tears of sadness into tears of love—a love for the beauty of the Gospel and for joy in God’s gift of life.