We embarked upon this Lent Madness journey over five weeks ago on “Ash Thursday.” With your help we have narrowed the field of 32 saints down to just two: Julian of Norwich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who edged Sojourner Truth yesterday 52% to 48%). Who will win the coveted Golden Halo of Lent Madness 2016? Only 24 hours and your voting participation will reveal this holy mystery.
Regardless of the ultimate outcome, we’ve met some truly remarkable saintly folks along the way. Perhaps you learned about some saints you’d never heard of or maybe you renewed acquaintances with saints who have long offered inspiration. Of course the entire notion of placing saints in a bracket is absurd — each “contestant” has already earned a crown of righteousness in addition to a “golden halo.” But at the heart of Lent Madness is the abiding conviction that encountering those who have come before us in the faith enriches and enlivens our own walk with the risen Christ.
In the process of this whimsical Lenten devotion we’ve all made some new online friends, encountered a community of believers who take their faith but not themselves too seriously, learned a few things, were inspired by saintly witnesses, and had a lot fun along the way.
Of course we literally couldn’t have done this without our stellar Celebrity Bloggers to whom we offer sincere gratitude: Amber Belldene, Laurie Brock, Megan Castellan, Anna Fitch Courie, David Creech, Neva Rae Fox, David Hansen, Beth Lewis, Hugo Olaiz, Derek Olsen, and David Sibley. Thanks to Bracket Czar Adam Thomas for his unsung behind-the-scenes work in keeping the bracket updated daily — in his inimitable style. And to our Resident Foodie, Maria Nolletti Ross, whose recipes in the Saintly Scorecard and online helped keep the inevitable weekend Lent Madness Withdrawal at bay. You all rock! And we’re all grateful for your good writing, good humor, and adhering to most, if not all, of the SEC-imposed deadlines.
We're also grateful to the Forward Movement staff who have supported this endeavor: Richelle Thompson, Rachel Jones, Heidi Weaver-Smith, Alyssa Finke, and Michael Phillips, as well as everyone who answered the phone in the Lentorium and all the other things to make Lent Madness successful: Tania Z. Jones, Carole Miller, Nancy Hopkins-Greene, Melody Shobe, Hugo Olaiz, Theo Lambert, Miriam McKenney, Jay Sidebotham, Loren Dixon, Samantha Franklin, Jane Paraskevopoulos, Barbara Hine, Vicki Everett, Amy Golden, Kathy Jose, Aleia Robinson, Peggy Sanchez, Debbie Springer, and the office mascot, George T. Dog.
2015 Golden Halo winner, Francis of Assisi, prepares to welcome the 2016 winner
Finally, thanks to all of you who participated by voting, commenting, drinking coffee out of Lent Madness mugs, filling out brackets, talking about saints at coffee hour, submitting "mug shots," liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter, and allowing us to play a small role in your Lenten journey. We’ve loved having each one of you along for the “madness” and on behalf of the Supreme Executive Committee we wish you a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter.
But enough gratitude. We have a Golden Halo to award! As with all the matchups, the polls will be open for 24 hours and the winner will be announced right here at 8:00 am Eastern Time on Maundy Thursday. At this point, everything about these two worthy saints has been said (though if you need some refreshers, click on the Bracket tab and scroll down). We have simply asked our two remaining celebrity bloggers, Amber Belldene (Julian of Norwich) and Beth Lewis (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) to provide us with one image and one quote.
The rest is up to you, the Lent Madness voting public. So go do your thing! And thanks for playing along this year — we’re delighted you joined us for the journey.
Julian of Norwich
"It appears to me that there is a deed that the Holy Trinity shall do on the last day…and how it shall be done is unknown to all creatures under Christ…This is the great deed ordained by our Lord God from eternity, treasured up and hidden in his blessed breast…and by this deed he shall make all things well.”
― Julian of Norwich
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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288 comments on “For the Golden Halo: Julian of Norwich vs. Dietrich Bonhoeffer”
Lent Madness is a wonderful Lenten practice which is so Episcopalaen. Instead of the "lesser of two evil" choices our political world often serves up, we are allowed to figure our in near impossible match ups like this the "better of two goods." A truly saintful effort. I had picked Julian from day one to win this, but Bonhoeffer's example and ultimate sacrifice in the face of evil incarnate on this planent is truly hard to match. Both lived a life which did much good. Whatever the outcome all will be well with this match up.
Considering the temperature and rhetoric of this election, I voted for Bonhoeffer.
Although I have been aware of Lent Madness since its inception, this is the first year I participated. Thank you to everyone involved in any way--you have truly enriched my Lenten path this year. Great way to start each day, and a welcome distraction from work as I checked the voting throughout the day.
Spy Wednesday. What could be better than voting for a secret agent and would-be assassin who also happened to be a Lutheran pastor and professor? But seriously...while both these saints are precious to me, Bonhoeffer seems to speak most urgently to today's challenges. He gets my vote, while I also hold close the promise that God will make all things well.
Thank you so much for Lent Madness. This Golden Halo vote was the hardest yet. Can't you callit a tie and award 2 this year?
I agree...
Amen
Once, a very long time ago, Julian's words ("All will be well. All manner of thing will be well") came to me when I was seriously ill with cancer and very afraid. It was only later that I found out whose words those were. At the time, I didn't know anything about Julian of Norwich. Those words brought me great peace and marked the beginning of my faith journey as an adult. They have continued to sustain me on that road.So I voted for her.
But if Dietrich wins the Golden Halo instead, I will rejoice, too--we certainly need more people with his brand of courage, willing to speak truth to power, willing to put their very lives on the line as he did. For me, the outcome today is a win/win situation. I do hope that the Lentorium will provide items for each of these saints (maybe a beer stein for DB?)
Thanks, SEC, celebrity bloggers and Forward Movement, for giving us another wonderful season of saints!
Had o go with Dietrich today - the quote about peace really resonated after Brussels yesterday.
Thanks to all for another Lenten "discipline."
It has been interesting to watch this year. I think there is a slant away from the ancient and towards the more modern in the voting. Not sure what the explanation might be. Voting for Julian today, in part because her legacy is more lasting and more impactful.
Bonhoeffer or Julian," All shall be well."
*like*
In honor of my mom, who has an icon of Julian In her bedroom, I voted for Julian. But honestly, given my father's proclivity for Dietrich, this could have gone either way. Still, let's bring it home for Julian, eh? It feels meet and right so to do.
I busted my own bracket twice this season -- this time I picked Julian for the win back in February, but voted for Dietrich twice, incl today. I always revere Bonhoffer, but I have no doubt that current events in the US are coloring my decision. I wish so much that I could put my faith in Julian's words, "All manner of things will be well."
Thanks to all the hard work, this enriched my Lent. What a great way to honor Lent! As they said this morning in their introduction, they are all winners!
This is my first LM and I am grateful for the experiece. I have truly loved the excellent writing of the Celebrity Bloggers. I send a special shout out to Anna Fitch Courie for her insights. I voted for Dietrich today as he modeled the type of courage that we need in the world today.
For our fifth grade class, this was a difficult choice. Julian of Norwich won by 1 vote! The "Bonehoefferoinians" were really bummed:( and the "Julianites" rejoiced:)
We know however, both saints deserve the G.H. and will be content with whomever wins:)
After all, we are ALL called to be saints!
"Like"
I have "feared" for a while now that the final round would come down to this! I am SO tempted to defy the SEC and find a way to surreptitiously vote for both of these "contestants." (No, Tim and Scott, I will NOT do that!) I have not peeked at the results so far, but suspect this will be a very close round. I have also not read all the comments preceding mine, so if someone else has already suggested this, my apologies; but I urge the SEC to consider, for the second time in LM history, a silver halo for whichever of these candidates garners fewer votes today, as I believe that both of these saints are worthy of the gold!
I agree that the final statements from these two saints complement each other, and that there should be a silver halo awarded this year. I voted for Bonhoeffer in honor of my best teachers of the Christian faith, who taught me that faith and reason are complementary, but who never taught me that faith is safe.
Many thanks to everyone at LM for the happiest Lent ever!
Amen to all of that!
Courage- courage- courage
Thank you to my Pastor Laura Peckham for introducing me to Lent Madness. It has been a wonderful, informative, spiritual first year.
Laura Peckham is pretty awesome, even if she and I did consistently cancel out each other's votes!
Such a difficult choice but going with DB which is so timely, however, keeping in mind Julian's message AWBW that we so desperately need today. Thank you SEC and all your helpers for Lent Madness.
Bonhoeffer for the Golden Halo. I voted for Julian earlier in LM, but the courage and sacrifice Dietich made along with his prophetic voice are needed today more than ever.
One huge learning from this year's LM: I've not been able to sign up to receive posts via my iPad. It has only worked when I do so through my laptop. Not a very profound learning, mind you, but quite important to me for the future!
I was wrong. Can't sign up today from my laptop, either! Bummer. [One of the reasons I don't use WordPress myself...]
Until I discovered Lent Madness last year, I never thought I would feel Easter could come too soon. What a joy and inspiration Lent Madness has been. Thank you Tim, Scott, celebrity bloggers, George T. Dog (the secret mastermind behind all the madness), and especially all who commented. A very hard vote. Whether Dietrich wins or comes in second, I hope the SEC will consider a beer mug or, better, a stein for him. Us sinners can use only so many coffee mugs.
So it has come down to this. From my fist look at the Bracket at the start, Julian and Bonhoeffer were the two names that stood out for me, because both have had such a formative impact on my life -- Bonhoeffer for 45 years, Julian for perhaps 35. I hoped they would be the final two, yet now I have to choose between. Because of how his witness speaks to the present moment in our public life -- the rise of fascist-like politics in this US; violence in the name of God throughout the world -- Blessed Dietrich gets my vote today. But if Dame Julian wins, I will be happy also.
Are you by any chance the John Zamboni I knew at Yale in the 1960s?
Sorry, Dame Julian, today it had to be Dietrich.
But please keep assuring us that "all shall be well"--in God's good Time, which is beyond time.
Way back before Ash Thursday and the first vote, I printed out a bracket and went my merry way through Lent ahead of time to come to this day when it would be Julian of Norwich and her hazelnut for the win. There have been a few surprise votes along the way that bent my bracket, but today I broke my own bracket by voting for Dietrich and the Cost of Discipleship. In the present world, I need Dietrich. We all need Dietrich. All shall be well, but it will cost us. Cheap grace is no grace at all. May we all find Dietrich's courage.
Thank you all so very much for your dedication to Lent Madness - Tim, Scott, Celebrity Bloggers (who did a spectacular job), and all the behind-the-scenes folk who make it happen. This is only my second year, but I plan to keep it as part of my Lenten discipline - though it's hard to think of something this educational and fun as a "discipline"!
I've stayed faithful to Bonhoeffer throughout, and so it is today. I've always loved Julian, and were our political climate different, I could easily have voted for her and been happy about it. But Bonhoeffer's life and death seem especially poignant right now.
Thanks to everyone for all the prayer, thought, care and, love.
Bonhoeffer - a Christian witness who speaks to our time, and one whose example we need to follow.
The Church is blessed to have the witness of these two saints; but my Sabbatical last year including exploration/pilgrimage to some Bonhoeffer sites (Finkenwald; his parents' Berlin home), he must get my vote
This is a very hard vote today - but we all knew when we came down to the final two, it would be. I agree with many, that the final quote from Bonhoeffer made this a bit easier for me. I went with Dietrich. Thank you to the SEC and all the many others who helped to make this a very interesting and fun "Lent Madness" this year. Already I am looking forward to next year and thinking of the Saints that I will nominate for the 2017 brackets.
Thank you for a wonderful roster of lives well lived. I have been for Julian from the beginning, but with tears in my eyes after reading the final Bonhoeffer quote had to cast my vote with him; his is the witness for this moment. Perhaps three times will be the charm for Julian. A blessed Holy Week and Easter to all.
Thank you SEC, this has truly been a wonderful and inspiring Lent Madness. How will we all survive in the wilderness until next year.