October 25–26, 2025 | Beaverton, Oregon

Reformation Renewal Weekend

 

EcoFaith was the primary organizer of a Reformation Renewal Weekend that your generosity made possible. As a way of thanking you, I have assembled all of the recordings, materials and a summary of how each session impacted me. The weekend explored what the life and legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer have to offer us today. As you likely know, Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian whose faith led him to resist the Nazi regime and ultimately give his life for that witness. His life continues to challenge and inspire all who seek to live faithfully in turbulent times. Times like these. 

Led by Rev. Dr. Mark Brocker (professor of Christian ethics and editor of Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945, volume 16 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works), the weekend invited us to reflect on courage, humility, and the power of faithful community in our own contexts as follows: 

* Workshop – “With Courage and Humility: Bonhoeffer’s Ethical Approach for Us Today”

👉 Watch the workshop on YouTube (Handouts are available at this link)

This workshop helped me imagine how Bonhoeffer’s ethics of responsibility—being “courageous enough to engage in responsible action” and “humble enough to let our gracious God be the judge”—could guide my own community’s discernment as we face the complex challenges of our time.

 

* Lecture – “Life Together as Resistance”

👉 Watch the lecture on YouTube

In this lecture, Dr. Brocker described how Bonhoeffer’s seminary community embodied resistance by living faithfully in ways that resisted forces that demean, degrade, or destroy life. It gave me a framework for understanding how our personal choices and shared life of faith can also become acts of resistance grounded in grace. If you only have time to listen to one of these recordings, I would suggest you start here. 

 

* Sermon – “A Miracle of Divine Mercy”

👉 Watch the sermon on YouTube

This sermon reminded me of Bonhoeffer’s deep conviction that God’s love embraces not the ideal world but the real world in all its brokenness and injustice. This is a helpful reminder when I experience “the world as it is” as being so far from “the world as it should be.”

 

* Adult Forum – “What Does It Mean to Tell the Truth?”

👉 Watch the forum on YouTube (Handouts are available at this link)

In this forum, Dr. Brocker unpacked Bonhoeffer’s reflections on truth-telling, written while he was being interrogated by the Nazis. He described truth as something deeply contextual but which arises from love of God’s reality. Can we be courageous enough to dare to speak words of truth as best we see it and humble enough to admit the limits of our own understanding?

 

If you would additionally like to receive a set of six 20 minute lectures that Brocker offered for us on the themes of Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together, let me know, and I can get those to you, as well. 

Thanks to your generosity, EcoFaith Recovery exists for such a time as this—equipping leaders and congregations to deepen relationships, build resilience, and organize for justice grounded in faith. 

With deep gratitude,
Robyn

Pastor Robyn Hartwig
 pastor/organizer, EcoFaith Recovery
 ecofaithrecovery.org

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EcoFaith Recovery is a leadership development initiative grounded in seven Practices for Awakening Leadership. EcoFaith is funded entirely by individual and faith community donations. Thank you! This year we have three EcoFaith seminary interns and you are welcome to gather for mutual mentoring with our interns and key leaders at our weekly Awakening Leadership Zoom gathering on Thursdays at 8:45 PT. A $7500 matching grant is currently matching the amount of any new or increased donations at this link.

Overarching Questions: Contact PastorRobyn@ecofaithrecovery.org

Sponsored by the Sunset Cluster of the Oregon Synod ELCA (Calvary Lutheran Hillsboro, Christ the King Tiger, Shepherd of the Valley Beaverton, St. Andrew Lutheran Beaverton, St. Matthew Lutheran Beaverton, Spirit of Grace Beaverton, McMinnville Cooperative Ministries), and EcoFaithRecovery.org.  

 

Watching the documentary, Bonhoeffer, by Martin Doblmeier, about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer