|
Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
|
Deitrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian theologian and pastor in Germany in
the mid-20th century. During the Nazi regime Bonhoeffer had the chance
to escape the conflict by leaving Germany until the war was over.
Instead he chose to stay, saying to a friend that if he wanted to be
able to play an authentic role in the restoration of Germany after the
war how could he leave during it when so many would suffer there? So
he returned to Germany and led an "underground" seminary and helped
many Jewish people escape. Ultimately, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and
killed by the Nazi's during WW2 for his opposition to Hitler and his
faithfulness to the call of Christ.
The following passages are excerpts from Bonhoeffer's work Life Together which have been particularly meaningful to me in my attempts to understand Christian community:
"Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because
it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for
the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a
very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try
to realize it. But God's grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as
surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian
fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment
with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with
ourselves.
By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even
for a brief period in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those
rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a
dream...Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all
its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God's
sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The
sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a
community the better for both. A community which cannot bear and cannot
survive such a crisis, which insists upon keeping its illusion when it
should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of
Christian community...He who loves his dream of a community more than
the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even
though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and
sacrificial.
God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the
dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal
of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by
himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets
up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He
stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of the
brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community,
as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he
calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he
sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of
the brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing
accuser of himself . . . He who loves his ideals of community more than
the individuals of the community is a destroyer of community."
And...
"Christian community is like the Christian's sanctification. It is a
gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our
fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to
us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not
be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian
community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly
taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is
given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and
grow from day to day as God pleases."
God, please forgive me
for exchanging your reality of Christian community for my ideal. Give
me today my daily bread...the Christ centered friendships which sustain me for today.
Thank you for every grace-full moment of Christian fellowship which You
have given me. Help me to see and know others only through You and perhaps experience You in the process.
{mos_fb_discuss:4}
|
|
|
Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
|
 His finger cut through the sand and dirt. It wasn't the first time he
had seen his finger write in the the flesh of the earth. On the
mountain he had written these the words in the stone. He had given
them to his people...those he had chosen to make his own. Words that
were meant for life.
And
this is what they had done with it. They had taken the very words meant
for life and twisted them into an excuse to accuse and to rain down
death with stones. Lists to decide who was right and who was wrong, who was in and who was out...His words, their lists.
He could hardly finish...they demanded that he reveal his stance on their lists. "What do you say that we should do?!?"
He
stood up and looked at them. How many times had he told them his
desires for them? His heart broke....for her, for them, for all those
sons of hell bound by their rules. "Whoever has no sin...you throw the
first stone."
He stooped again to continue writing, but this
time he wiped the ground smooth. He touched the ground softly and
closed his eyes, he remembered what it was like when he first felt the
clay in his hand that he had made into man. He remembered the pain when
they first turned away and he sent them from the garden.
{mos_fb_discuss:4}
|
|
|
Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
|
 He had held this hand before.
Not this particular hand,
but the cold hand of death...and he had seen it's face many times. He
remembered traveling to celebrate the Passover as a child, and the road
was lined with the poles of those crucified for defying Rome.
He
would never forget those faces.
And now here he was, looking into that face again and holding death's cold hand.
He
remembered holding his father's hand for unmeasured time after his
death. He had prayed for him. Hoping so deeply that God's will would be
bent and that mercy would be granted. It had seemed so final...so
defiant.
"Work the miracles here that you did in Capernaum!"
"If you are the Son of God, change this..."
The voices
echoed in his head. All these works he had done, and yet he could do
nothing to breathe life back into the lifeless body. "Do something!" his mother had pleaded in anguish. "It's not my time...it's not my time..." he had answered.
Empty.
Helpless.
And
now he held the hand of death again. But this time it was small and
soft. Not the hand of a old carpenter, but of a little girl. A cold
hand that masked the warmth of life that must have moved so vibrantly
within her not so long ago. And again the feeling of helplessness came
and the mocking defiant voice, "What can you do?"
On my own I can do nothing. (Faith has a funny way of showing up when you can't trust yourself.) This is the blessing and curse of being human, he thought. Not helplessness, but dependence.
He gripped the hand and smiled at the face of death, leaned forward and kissed it.
"Talitha coum..." He whispered joyfully, "Talitha coum! Little girl, wake up..."
{mos_fb_discuss:4}
|
|
|
Monday, 04 June 2007 |
|
A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"I’m
glad that you called me good, that you recognized Who I really am."
Jesus answered, “You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do
not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your
father and mother.'"
"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
When
Jesus heard this, he said to him, "Well, that sounds good. So, now,
what would you like for me to do for you. I want to make you as
comfortable as I possibly can….maybe you could get involved in our
inner-city ministry program.”
Well,” answered the ruler, “I don’t have much time.”
That’s really okay,” responded Jesus, “it only takes one Saturday a month, just a couple of hours.”
“Great,” said the rich ruler, “I think I can do that.” And the man went away joyful that he had had the conversation.
Jesus
turned to his disciples and said, “See, to be a part of my kingdom you
get to follow all of your dreams and desires—plus you get eternal
life….that’s the way it is with God. Why don’t you guys go on home to
your businesses, families, and friends.”
(Originally posted on liquidthinking July 26, 2003)
{mos_fb_discuss:4}
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 21 Next > End >>
|
| Results 181 - 184 of 184 |
