Life Together
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This story is a bit odd. When you think of life together, you generally think about living in a community and growing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer illuminates his unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years in Germany. His journey for fellowship was definitely as interesting as it sounds, having him constantly choosing his Christian community in place of the cultural norms during that time. Bonhoeffer gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. It makes sure to draw attention to the role of personal prayer, worship in everyday work, and Christian service as simple, almost biblical, words. Currently living in an intentional Christian community, Life Together gave further insight into what that necessarily means. It is a short read, coming in at 122 pages, but it is packed full of information to be thoroughly reflecting on.
Favorite Quotes:
-“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.”-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. ... How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. The burden of men was so heavy for God Himself that He had to endure the Cross. God verily bore the burden of men in the body of Jesus Christ. But He bore them as a mother carries her child, as a shepherd enfolds the lost lamb that has been found. God took men upon Himself and they weighted Him to the ground, but God remained with them and they with God. In bearing with men God maintained fellowship with them. It was the law of Christ that was fulfilled in the Cross. And Christians must share in this law.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. ... How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. The burden of men was so heavy for God Himself that He had to endure the Cross. God verily bore the burden of men in the body of Jesus Christ. But He bore them as a mother carries her child, as a shepherd enfolds the lost lamb that has been found. God took men upon Himself and they weighted Him to the ground, but God remained with them and they with God. In bearing with men God maintained fellowship with them. It was the law of Christ that was fulfilled in the Cross. And Christians must share in this law.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-“Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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