Hello and welcome to Book Group. Nice to have you along. Well, having read chapter one of Life Together, and having been pretty impressed, there are a lot of things that I could talk about, but in the interest of not writing a 2km post, I'll just pick up on two things that struck me.What Determines Our Brotherhood
What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. This is true not merely at the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity. (p.25)
So if it is Christ, and Christ alone that determines that you and I are 'brothers', why am I always striving and searching for common ground between us? I am always on the look out at for people I might be able to connect with, based on similar interests, stages of life, personalities, and I get despondent if I don't find those connections.
But in doing this I am making my own rules for Christian community, and coming up with my own criteria as to whether or not we will 'connect'. In vainly and selfishly searching for these criteria, I am overlooking and taking for granted the 'one and only thing that is vital between us' (p.26)
This fits in well with Con's sermon yesterday on Ephesians 4. He was talking about unity of all the diverse parts that make up the body of Christ (ie, the church), and that while each part has a different role, they are all equally important and equally necessary. So when I am imagining my perfect little church of people who I get on with, and click with, and who have similar interests and thought processes, I'm not thinking of a body of varied parts learning to work together, I'm thinking of a body of me's, a body made up of elbows! Yikes.
Divided But Bound Together
(Spiritual love) will respect the line that has been drawn between him and us by Christ, and it will find full fellowship with him in the Christ who alone binds us together. (p.36)
I found this to be an intriguing sort of paradox- that while we will always be 'separate' in that we have Christ standing between us; by this very same thing we are brought closer together than we ever could be were He not, and were we just trying to love each other on human terms. The thing between us brings us together.
This made me think of my marriage. There have been times in the past when I was tempted to love my wife above all else. But if this were the case, and if I dared to love her more than I love Jesus, then He would not be that third strand binding us together, and our marriage would only be surviving on human love. What a scary thought, for my marriage to have to survive only on my own shallow attempts at love and faithfulness. By loving Jesus more than my wife, I love my wife far more than I could otherwise.
Anyway, how did you find the chapter? What struck you, what and questions did it raise for you?
For Next Week-- Read Chapter 2.
4 comments:
I found this chapter really challenging, and at the same time greatly encouraging.
I think some things that stood out for me were..
- the idea of christian community being a privilege. We are actually called to be among 'enemies' and so we should acknowledge the blessing of christian community.
This quote definitely stung:
"It is true of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden underfoot by those who have the gift everyday."
-Also the error in looking for ideals here on earth among our brethren. He just so clearly points out how silly and selfish it is to expect our community to meet all our needs and unrealistic ideals.
There was more, but I'll leave some for others too :)
great choice of book - so quick to read, and yet profound!
Hey guys, I like your thoughts. The encouragement to not take Christian community for granted, and that it is Christ who brings us together, is fantastic.
I had a mild criticism of Bon. to make. It's not really a criticism though.
Ben, you asked (rhetorically, of course), why am I always striving and searching for common ground between us?
I think Bon assumes human community here. That is, he assumes its power and presence in our lives, that it is obvious what it is. But, I wonder if this is actually a point of difference for us reading now: we are entirely confused about human community. No wonder we need Facebook to 'connect' with people - we've forgotten how.
This comes into view at the end of the chapter:
When physical and family relationships or ordinary associations, that is, those arising from everyday life with all its claims upon people who are working together, are not projected into the spiritual community, then we must be especially careful. (p.38-9)
That is, what I think he is saying is that human relationships and community are normal, and good, but we mustn't over-estimate them. They are only human, not spiritual. But we still need them, and it would be a twisted reality that did not have spiritual and human community co-inciding with each other. The key thing is to be conscious of the limitations of human community.
Hey Soph, thanks for kicking us off. Yeah that quote stung me too. I am very prone to treading underfoot things that are gifts from God..
Drew, I agree with what you are saying about recognising limitations in community, but I don't quite get what your criticism of the book is.. Are you saying that community was more clear and understood in Bonhoeffers day, whereas for us it is less easy to pin down?
Yep, that's it, and that as a consequence, we might misread Bonhoeffer a bit.
As I said, it's not really a criticism, just pointing out some differences.
Frequently, for churches today, everyday associations don't project into our spiritual communities. We travel far to go to church, few of our fellow church goers live near us etc. Therefore, we need to heed Bon's advice and be "especially careful".
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