AT THE END OF A TERM

 

III. AT THE END OF A TERM

        “Were it not for this intrusive word, then life might be mastered.”

                Rudolf Bultmann Sermon, Marburg, June 27, 1937

Waiting for generosity in the out-breath

one asks, How long has be been like this?

The one who says he’s so grateful. Walk

away from that one, Soldier Boy.

One can say, imagining this situation,

end of school term, professor

talking, exploring with students,

what they got right, what they didn’t get to,

this term—but not only these few—all,

everybody, the entire faculty present,

what it means to come up short. Also this:

what’s coming. Some of it, even here,

said between the lines, dangerous.

Cristo peligroso. When family members

become casualties of war, of war’s lies,

one becomes existentially different.

Existence is different.

After death, too, it’s different.

This June 27, 1937 Marburg letter,

listening from this far,

where fear has found us

returning to your Christ-Hope

center, surrendering pride, discovering

insecurity of what seemed secure.

We have outdone you

in the belief of ourselves!

Those justified by faith, deportees

and all others othered.

Deportation is trauma.

What made us proud now

makes the oppressor bold.

Christ has truly laid His grip

upon us, falling back, only

on His resurrection.

We could not have done this

on our own. How

can it not be?

This intrusive word.

These tentative steps.

Jim Bodeen

20-25 January 2025