Ok, I realize we live in a capitalist society, and I would never begrudge a guy for making a buck for providing goods and services, but things have gone too far when the average Joe cannot watch 32 of the 35 college football bowl games without forking over the dough for cable/satelite/u-verse. Therefore I'm calling for an all out boycott of ABC/Disney which owns ESPN. Sorry kids, no Disney princesses for you this year. BAH! Humbug!
That's right, ALL BUT 3 OF THIS YEAR'S BOWL GAMES ARE ON ESPN NETWORKS Exclusively!!! The exceptions are Sun Bowl on CBS at 2PM New Years Eve between 7-5 Notre Dame and 7-5 Miami (Fla.), The Outback Bowl in Tampa on New Years Day on ABC pitting 7-5 Penn State vs. 7-5 Florida, and the Cotton on Jan. 7th on Fox which hosts 10-2 LSU and 9-3 Texas A&M (which might be the only game of the three worth watching).
No Orange, no Sugar, no Fiesta, no, not even "The Daddy of 'em All" Rose Bowl. If I want to watch any of those I have to have cable.
I was a little miffed a few years ago when my team (the Huskers) decided to offer their games on pay-per-view when they weren't shown nationally, but I understood the dillema; who wants to watch Nebraska woop up on the poor, hapless Washington huskies 56-21 on national TV (oh, wait, we did that--on ABC I do beleive).
Well, perhaps I should be glad because now my 9-3 Huskers are playing the 6-6 Huskies again in the "Who Cares" (Holiday) Bowl from San Diego on the 30th AT 10PM EST!!!!
Yeah, right! Like Gramma and Grandpa Schmidt back in Lincoln, who managed to always watch the boys down at "the U" on over-the-air TV, are going to go out and get cable at $50/mo so that they can watch a game which won't start till after their bedtime and won't end until the next day?!!??!! After all, they're just starting to get the hang of their HD/Analog converter box remote, and now they've gotta get the dish?
I don't THINK so....
Does anyone else think this is anything more than just plain, old fashioned theivery? Now I know that college football is big money (I'm from Nebraska, remember?), but not so long ago it was still a way for a school to show pride, build school spirit, and create community. Perhaps as a Nebraskan I got to experience that more than in other places that had pro-sports, but to us, the cornhuskers were just college kids playin ball. The stands will filled with ranchers, farmers, and blue collar guys from Goodyear or the Burlington Havelock shops. Now I understand you can't hardly get to a game unless you have an Escalade to park in the new, private, tailgating lots around the stadium and pay handsomely for your tickets (along with an annual gift commitment to the school).
What the hay! I'm convinced the schools are in on this fleecing of america too. Why else would schools be leapfroging to differnt conferences all the time?
Darn them all. Lets boycot college football too!
I don't THINK so...
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
This is a Test—Word 2010
I found out that I can post directly from Word.
Is that true? We shall see. Let me know if you saw this.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Huskers disappoint again
Why O why do we hold out hope?
Our beloved Huskers managed to disappoint us again. Granted there were some bad calls, but mostly we lost because we played a sloppy game.
Do you know what the difference between Corn Flakes and Cornhuskers is? Corn Flakes ALWAYS belong in a bowl. Though they may only have two losses, they were both to sub-par teams and therefore I don't hold out much hope for whatever bowl we might get.
May the Lord help us in the Big 10. We'll need it.
Our beloved Huskers managed to disappoint us again. Granted there were some bad calls, but mostly we lost because we played a sloppy game.
Do you know what the difference between Corn Flakes and Cornhuskers is? Corn Flakes ALWAYS belong in a bowl. Though they may only have two losses, they were both to sub-par teams and therefore I don't hold out much hope for whatever bowl we might get.
May the Lord help us in the Big 10. We'll need it.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Chapter 5 Confession and Communion
Chapter 5: Confession and Communion
It would seem by this chapter that Bonhoeffer would assert that if you still aren’t experiencing fellowship in your spiritual community, then Confession will finally achieve that end. Even after prayer, worship, reflection, and ministry, the Christian can at times still feel utterly alone in the world. However, in public confession (confessing specific sins aloud to a fellow believer and then receiving forgiveness from that brother or sister) we can’t help but to be united in fellowship with Christ and the Body of believers.
“Confess your faults one to another” (James 5:16) He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. … The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner.
129. Are you a sinner? Does your fellow believer sin? How do you know? What is his or her sin?
130. Why do we, who so freely espouse the benefits of grace, not do that which assures us of that grace? (111-112)
131. When we keep our sins private, is it easier to ignore them?
132. By keeping our sins private we put on a type of pious mask. How opaque is the mask we wear, i.e., who sees through it?
133. What does God want to do for sinners? Why does he do that? “God _________ the sinner, but he _______ sin.” (111)
“Christ became our Brother in the flesh in order that we might believe in him. In him the love of God came to the sinner. Through him men could be sinners and only so could they be helped. All sham was ended in the presence of Christ. The misery of the sinner and the mercy of God—this was the truth of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.”
134. Before Christ, who could enter heaven? After Christ?
135. So, if sinners who believe in Jesus are welcome in heaven, why do we pretend to be righteous?
136. Bonhoeffer says, “All sham was ended in the presence of Christ.” Yet, we sometimes carry the shame that leads to the sham with us for a long time. What reasons might there be to explain this?
“When he did that [gave the power to forgive and retain sins] Christ made the Church, and in it our brother, a blessing to us.”
137. Who has the power to forgive?
138. Who forgives sin? In whose stead?
139. When our brother or sister forgives, who is there forgiving us?
140. As confessors (the ones who hear confession) what responsibilities do we have?
Breaking Through to Community
“In confession the breakthrough to community takes place.”
Conventional wisdom would say that if you really knew everything about your neighbor you wouldn’t really like them as well—that we all have skeletons in our closets which make us undesirable to others. For this reason we keep our sins secret; we don’t “air out our dirty laundry in public.”
141. Why, then, does Bonhoeffer assert that confession encourages community, rather than stifling it? That is, why do we grow closer, the more we know about each others faults and failings?
142. What is the key to this breakthrough? (112)
143. Believing that the fellowship is, in reality, the Body of Christ, where, then, is the sin confessed now borne? (113) Where is the weight of sin cast?
144. Why does confessing specific sins to one another bring us closer in fellowship than corporate confession and absolution?
145. If we confess to one we confess to all the fellowship. (113) How is this possible?
146. So, then, is a believer ever alone in their sin if they have confessed that sin?
Breaking Through to the Cross
The root of all sin is pride, superbia. I want to be my own law, I have a right to my self, my hatred and my desire, my life and my death.”
147. What is the root of all sin?
The biblical, Old Testament, notion of repentance comes from the Hebrew word shuve. Repentance is different from confession in that it implies future action. If one were called to repent, they were being asked to cease from doing what they were doing, promise to not do it again, and then turn and go in the opposite direction of where they were headed. And so in this meaning of the word, the KJV actually says that upon hearing the prayers of Moses, God did not destroy Israel, but instead repented and preserved Israel. That is, he stopped his planned course of action, promised he would never do so, and then went out of his way to do just the opposite; he made them flourish as a nation.
148. So, then, in our repentance of the sin of pride, what is its opposite toward which we will move?
149. What is the most profound kind of humiliation? (114)
150. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Where do we sinners find our cross?
151. If we are not willing to share in the Cross, in what else will we not share?
Breaking Through to New Life
“Where sin is hated, admitted, and forgiven, there the break with the past is made.”
152. What happens when this break with the past is made? (115) (II Corinth. 5:17)
153. Bonheoffer ties confession to the call of the 12 disciples. How are they similar? Different?
154. Was the call to discipleship a one-time event for the 12? For us?
155. Discuss this calling in the light of baptism, confession and fellowship.
Breaking Through to Certainty
“Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother?
156. Isn’t this quotation counterintuitive? How does Bonhoeffer say we have been deceiving ourselves?
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9
157. If we are living in “self-forgiveness” instead of “real-forgiveness” what is the result? (116)
158. Who gives us the certainty that our forgiveness is “real forgiveness”?
159. How does confession lessen the terrors of Judgment Day?
160. Are specific sins satisfied with general (corporate) confession? Why, then, shall we confess specific, concrete, sins? (117)
161. So, how should one prepare for confession?
162. Can one be a hypocrite, even when making public confession to a brother or sister? What question does Jesus ask us at confession? (middle 117)
163. Is confession a divine law? Who does Luther assert should go to confession? To whom should confession be especially commended? (118)
To Whom to Confess?
According to Jesus’ promise, every Christian brother (and sister) can hear the confession of another.”
164. So, to whom MAY we confess?
165. Who is the specific Christian to whom we can confess? Bonhoeffer calls this person a “brother (sister) under the cross”. (118)
“It is not experience of life, but experience of the Cross that makes one a worthy hearer of confessions.”
166. What do we lack when we are poor and inefficient in confession?(119)
Two Dangers
167. What are the two dangers of confession? (120)
The Joyful Sacrament
168. Confession serves as preparation for which sacrament?
169. What is Christ’s command regarding our approach to the altar?
170. Since we commune in the early hours of the first day of the week, when should we make this preparation?
171. What is one of the results of this preparation?
We often have the impression that all that is necessary in confession is to “say you are sorry” (just as we might tell our kids). But Bonhoeffer says that is not confession; that we rob ourselves of the joy of Holy Communion when we stop there.
“But to beg a brother’s pardon is still not confession, and only the latter is subject to the express command of Jesus”
172. What must follow and be included in order for confession to occur?
173. What assurance comes with confession? In who is that assurance based?
174. To what extent do the confessions of a repentant sinner have an impact on creation? (121-122)
175. Having then been prepared through confession, admonition, absolution and encouragement, the Lord’s Supper is then an occasion for what? Why? What happens at communion that brings this about? (122)
It would seem by this chapter that Bonhoeffer would assert that if you still aren’t experiencing fellowship in your spiritual community, then Confession will finally achieve that end. Even after prayer, worship, reflection, and ministry, the Christian can at times still feel utterly alone in the world. However, in public confession (confessing specific sins aloud to a fellow believer and then receiving forgiveness from that brother or sister) we can’t help but to be united in fellowship with Christ and the Body of believers.
“Confess your faults one to another” (James 5:16) He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. … The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner.
129. Are you a sinner? Does your fellow believer sin? How do you know? What is his or her sin?
130. Why do we, who so freely espouse the benefits of grace, not do that which assures us of that grace? (111-112)
131. When we keep our sins private, is it easier to ignore them?
132. By keeping our sins private we put on a type of pious mask. How opaque is the mask we wear, i.e., who sees through it?
133. What does God want to do for sinners? Why does he do that? “God _________ the sinner, but he _______ sin.” (111)
“Christ became our Brother in the flesh in order that we might believe in him. In him the love of God came to the sinner. Through him men could be sinners and only so could they be helped. All sham was ended in the presence of Christ. The misery of the sinner and the mercy of God—this was the truth of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.”
134. Before Christ, who could enter heaven? After Christ?
135. So, if sinners who believe in Jesus are welcome in heaven, why do we pretend to be righteous?
136. Bonhoeffer says, “All sham was ended in the presence of Christ.” Yet, we sometimes carry the shame that leads to the sham with us for a long time. What reasons might there be to explain this?
“When he did that [gave the power to forgive and retain sins] Christ made the Church, and in it our brother, a blessing to us.”
137. Who has the power to forgive?
138. Who forgives sin? In whose stead?
139. When our brother or sister forgives, who is there forgiving us?
140. As confessors (the ones who hear confession) what responsibilities do we have?
Breaking Through to Community
“In confession the breakthrough to community takes place.”
Conventional wisdom would say that if you really knew everything about your neighbor you wouldn’t really like them as well—that we all have skeletons in our closets which make us undesirable to others. For this reason we keep our sins secret; we don’t “air out our dirty laundry in public.”
141. Why, then, does Bonhoeffer assert that confession encourages community, rather than stifling it? That is, why do we grow closer, the more we know about each others faults and failings?
142. What is the key to this breakthrough? (112)
143. Believing that the fellowship is, in reality, the Body of Christ, where, then, is the sin confessed now borne? (113) Where is the weight of sin cast?
144. Why does confessing specific sins to one another bring us closer in fellowship than corporate confession and absolution?
145. If we confess to one we confess to all the fellowship. (113) How is this possible?
146. So, then, is a believer ever alone in their sin if they have confessed that sin?
Breaking Through to the Cross
The root of all sin is pride, superbia. I want to be my own law, I have a right to my self, my hatred and my desire, my life and my death.”
147. What is the root of all sin?
The biblical, Old Testament, notion of repentance comes from the Hebrew word shuve. Repentance is different from confession in that it implies future action. If one were called to repent, they were being asked to cease from doing what they were doing, promise to not do it again, and then turn and go in the opposite direction of where they were headed. And so in this meaning of the word, the KJV actually says that upon hearing the prayers of Moses, God did not destroy Israel, but instead repented and preserved Israel. That is, he stopped his planned course of action, promised he would never do so, and then went out of his way to do just the opposite; he made them flourish as a nation.
148. So, then, in our repentance of the sin of pride, what is its opposite toward which we will move?
149. What is the most profound kind of humiliation? (114)
150. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Where do we sinners find our cross?
151. If we are not willing to share in the Cross, in what else will we not share?
Breaking Through to New Life
“Where sin is hated, admitted, and forgiven, there the break with the past is made.”
152. What happens when this break with the past is made? (115) (II Corinth. 5:17)
153. Bonheoffer ties confession to the call of the 12 disciples. How are they similar? Different?
154. Was the call to discipleship a one-time event for the 12? For us?
155. Discuss this calling in the light of baptism, confession and fellowship.
Breaking Through to Certainty
“Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother?
156. Isn’t this quotation counterintuitive? How does Bonhoeffer say we have been deceiving ourselves?
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9
157. If we are living in “self-forgiveness” instead of “real-forgiveness” what is the result? (116)
158. Who gives us the certainty that our forgiveness is “real forgiveness”?
159. How does confession lessen the terrors of Judgment Day?
160. Are specific sins satisfied with general (corporate) confession? Why, then, shall we confess specific, concrete, sins? (117)
161. So, how should one prepare for confession?
162. Can one be a hypocrite, even when making public confession to a brother or sister? What question does Jesus ask us at confession? (middle 117)
163. Is confession a divine law? Who does Luther assert should go to confession? To whom should confession be especially commended? (118)
To Whom to Confess?
According to Jesus’ promise, every Christian brother (and sister) can hear the confession of another.”
164. So, to whom MAY we confess?
165. Who is the specific Christian to whom we can confess? Bonhoeffer calls this person a “brother (sister) under the cross”. (118)
“It is not experience of life, but experience of the Cross that makes one a worthy hearer of confessions.”
166. What do we lack when we are poor and inefficient in confession?(119)
Two Dangers
167. What are the two dangers of confession? (120)
The Joyful Sacrament
168. Confession serves as preparation for which sacrament?
169. What is Christ’s command regarding our approach to the altar?
170. Since we commune in the early hours of the first day of the week, when should we make this preparation?
171. What is one of the results of this preparation?
We often have the impression that all that is necessary in confession is to “say you are sorry” (just as we might tell our kids). But Bonhoeffer says that is not confession; that we rob ourselves of the joy of Holy Communion when we stop there.
“But to beg a brother’s pardon is still not confession, and only the latter is subject to the express command of Jesus”
172. What must follow and be included in order for confession to occur?
173. What assurance comes with confession? In who is that assurance based?
174. To what extent do the confessions of a repentant sinner have an impact on creation? (121-122)
175. Having then been prepared through confession, admonition, absolution and encouragement, the Lord’s Supper is then an occasion for what? Why? What happens at communion that brings this about? (122)
E-DiBS.org
E-DiBS.org
Get into the Word each week day with this great E-mailed Daily Bible Study (E-DiBS). It's one I read regularly because it takes you through the Bible one book at a time alternating between Old and New Testament. Paul Stark leads the study for about 8 minutes each day OR you can read the study via a PDF file of the day's script for the video. Check it out for free by clicking on the E-DiBS logo. If you are a friend of me or member of Redeemer sign up for E-DiBS at http://www.redeemerolathe.org/Education/E-DiBSDailyBibleStudy.html
Get into the Word each week day with this great E-mailed Daily Bible Study (E-DiBS). It's one I read regularly because it takes you through the Bible one book at a time alternating between Old and New Testament. Paul Stark leads the study for about 8 minutes each day OR you can read the study via a PDF file of the day's script for the video. Check it out for free by clicking on the E-DiBS logo. If you are a friend of me or member of Redeemer sign up for E-DiBS at http://www.redeemerolathe.org/Education/E-DiBSDailyBibleStudy.html
Saturday, June 12, 2010
New Look
Going for the Liturgical color of the season--Green
Sorry I've been absent for a while. Just crazy busy. I've completed the discussion questions for Chapter 5 of "Life Together" and hope to post them tomorrow or Monday.
No, you aren't imagining things, I haven't done chapter 4. One of our elders led that one on his own while I finished up with our Adult Inquirers class.
We'll talk soon.
Sorry I've been absent for a while. Just crazy busy. I've completed the discussion questions for Chapter 5 of "Life Together" and hope to post them tomorrow or Monday.
No, you aren't imagining things, I haven't done chapter 4. One of our elders led that one on his own while I finished up with our Adult Inquirers class.
We'll talk soon.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Life Together: Chapter 3
Chapter 3: The Day Alone
Bonhoeffer’s introduction to this chapter asserts that many people join a fellowship simply because they cannot stand to be by themselves. This, he states, will end in disaster because:
“…only as we are in within the fellowship can we be alone, and only he that is alone can live in the fellowship.”
90. “The Christian community is not a spiritual sanatorium.” (76) What do you suppose Bonhoeffer was getting at with this statement? Isn’t the Christian faith expressly for the purpose of curing souls?
91. There seems to be a double edged sword in this chapter. What two cautions does he give the Christian regarding aloneness and community?
Solitude and Silence
Being community and having alone time are part of the balanced Christian life. God is present in both localities, though in different ways. Following is a quote on Luther regarding the trouble with community:
“The challenge of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Everyone must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone….I will not be with you then, nor you with me” (Luther)
And another quote from Luther giving encouragement to the faithful who suffer and die alone:
“If I die, then I am not alone in death; if I suffer they [the fellowship] suffer with me” (Luther)
92. For the Christian, then we have a chicken/egg paradox. Which came first, community or solitude? (78)
93. When do they begin? (78)
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone”
94. None of us are perfectly “even-keeled”. We will tend to gravitate toward one thing or another when given a choice. Which direction do you tend to lean; toward fearing solitude or shunning community?
95. What is the danger to you if you succumb to that preference?
96. What might you do in order to fend off this tendency and enable a more balanced spiritual life for yourself?
97. According to Bonhoeffer, silence is a servant to what? (79)
98. At what two times is silence particularly important?
99. How does silence serve the Word in our lives?
100. By what is the silence of the Christian marked by? (80)
Meditation
Meditation, along with prayer and intersession are three things which must go along with solitude and silence. Bonhoeffer deems them not only as useful, but required by God. But meditation is not to be seen as a lonely business which might “let us down into void and abyss of loneliness; it lets us be alone with the Word. And in so doing it gives us solid ground on which to stand and clear directions as to the stops we must take.” (81)
101. In chapter two Bonhoeffer encouraged families and small group fellowships to read whole chapters of the Old and half chapters of the New Testament. But when it comes to personal meditation, what is his advice regarding the amount of scripture to ponder?
102. Which is most necessary? (Eph. 3:18) (82)
103. How long does he suggest we meditate on a passage of scripture? (82)
104. What do we seek to receive in our meditation? (82)
105. How might we begin our meditation time so that it might be most profitable to us? (82)
106. As a time of struggling with the Word, what might we expect to often be the fruit of that struggle? (83)
“It is not necessary, therefore, that we should be concerned in our meditation to express our thought and prayer in words. Unphrased thought and prayer, which issues only from our hearing, may often be more beneficial.”
107. Beneficial for whom? How?
108. On page 83 he describes our meditations as something akin to Mary “pondering in her heart” the things the shepherds told her at Jesus’ birth. How might these “ponderings” affect us? (83)
109. So, what attitude should we take regarding these various experiences? Should they concern us?
“Seek God, not happiness”—this is the fundamental rule of all meditation. If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness; that is its promise.”
Prayer
Though he spend much time on this in the previous chapter, here it gets precisely 1 page as it seems he sees it as part and parcel of the time the Christian spends in solitude.
110. On what shall our prayer be guided? (84
111. When we are in prayer, for what should we be ready? (84)
112. What surprises might you discover or encounter in your prayers? Might this be a reason why we avoid it at times?
113. But, yet, as scary as it may be at times, what promise to we have in prayer? (85)
114. How might prayer join together our mental meanderings and the meditation from which those thoughts distracted us?
“Because God’s Word has found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, all prayers that we pray conforming to this Word are certainly heard and answered in Jesus Christ.”
Intercession
At the heart this section is that we need to be praying personally for all those in our lives. To not do so is a great neglect of their well-being.
“A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses.”
115. If we are in “reality” connected to each other through Christ, as we proposed earlier in this study, When are we not connected to each other in Christ? Since we are so connected, then what happens when we pray for each other, especially those with whom we have troubles? (86)
“Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day. The struggle we undergo with our brother in intercession may be a hard one, but that struggle has the promise that it will gain its goal (of overcoming disunity).”
116. How does this happen? How does intercessory prayer “fix” and “fix” things going wrong in the church? (86)
117. How might intercession be the great equalizer (my emphasis, not DB’s)? In what do we share through intercession?
118. What if I deny someone my prayer? (87)
119. How are we to pray on their behalf? (87)
Bonhoeffer in his zeal for us to pray constantly also realized that there are far more people and situations to pray over than we have time. Christ commanded prayer, but clearly we fail at executing it fully and properly. Bonhoeffer therefore tells us that “it will be come evident that intercession is a gift of God’s ___________ for every Christian community and for every Christian.” (87)
120. How will knowing this affect your prayers?
121. However, to ensure we don’t engage in “cheap grace” what does Bonhoeffer suggest we do so that we might give intercession the time and attention it deserves?
The Test of Meditation
While only two pages long, I have marked nearly every line of it in my copy of the book with a highlighter pen. This section is where the “rubber hits the road” so-to-speak.
“Every day brings to the Christian many hours in which he will be alone in an unchristian environment. These are the times of testing.”
122. What is the big “payoff” to meditation? How will we know it has “worked” for us? (88)
123. When the individual finds themselves surrounded by non-Christians, is he/she ever alone? What/Who else is there?
124. Even when away from the fellowship, whom does the Christian represent to the world around them?
125. Therefore, for whom do acts of self-control serve beside the individual? (89)
126. Who is harmed when we sin and behave badly among non-Christians?
127. Therefore everything we do serves the __________; “either to its health or to its destruction.”
128. But regardless of whether we are alone or with the fellowship, where does our strength come from? (89)
Bonhoeffer’s introduction to this chapter asserts that many people join a fellowship simply because they cannot stand to be by themselves. This, he states, will end in disaster because:
“…only as we are in within the fellowship can we be alone, and only he that is alone can live in the fellowship.”
90. “The Christian community is not a spiritual sanatorium.” (76) What do you suppose Bonhoeffer was getting at with this statement? Isn’t the Christian faith expressly for the purpose of curing souls?
91. There seems to be a double edged sword in this chapter. What two cautions does he give the Christian regarding aloneness and community?
Solitude and Silence
Being community and having alone time are part of the balanced Christian life. God is present in both localities, though in different ways. Following is a quote on Luther regarding the trouble with community:
“The challenge of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Everyone must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone….I will not be with you then, nor you with me” (Luther)
And another quote from Luther giving encouragement to the faithful who suffer and die alone:
“If I die, then I am not alone in death; if I suffer they [the fellowship] suffer with me” (Luther)
92. For the Christian, then we have a chicken/egg paradox. Which came first, community or solitude? (78)
93. When do they begin? (78)
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone”
94. None of us are perfectly “even-keeled”. We will tend to gravitate toward one thing or another when given a choice. Which direction do you tend to lean; toward fearing solitude or shunning community?
95. What is the danger to you if you succumb to that preference?
96. What might you do in order to fend off this tendency and enable a more balanced spiritual life for yourself?
97. According to Bonhoeffer, silence is a servant to what? (79)
98. At what two times is silence particularly important?
99. How does silence serve the Word in our lives?
100. By what is the silence of the Christian marked by? (80)
Meditation
Meditation, along with prayer and intersession are three things which must go along with solitude and silence. Bonhoeffer deems them not only as useful, but required by God. But meditation is not to be seen as a lonely business which might “let us down into void and abyss of loneliness; it lets us be alone with the Word. And in so doing it gives us solid ground on which to stand and clear directions as to the stops we must take.” (81)
101. In chapter two Bonhoeffer encouraged families and small group fellowships to read whole chapters of the Old and half chapters of the New Testament. But when it comes to personal meditation, what is his advice regarding the amount of scripture to ponder?
102. Which is most necessary? (Eph. 3:18) (82)
103. How long does he suggest we meditate on a passage of scripture? (82)
104. What do we seek to receive in our meditation? (82)
105. How might we begin our meditation time so that it might be most profitable to us? (82)
106. As a time of struggling with the Word, what might we expect to often be the fruit of that struggle? (83)
“It is not necessary, therefore, that we should be concerned in our meditation to express our thought and prayer in words. Unphrased thought and prayer, which issues only from our hearing, may often be more beneficial.”
107. Beneficial for whom? How?
108. On page 83 he describes our meditations as something akin to Mary “pondering in her heart” the things the shepherds told her at Jesus’ birth. How might these “ponderings” affect us? (83)
109. So, what attitude should we take regarding these various experiences? Should they concern us?
“Seek God, not happiness”—this is the fundamental rule of all meditation. If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness; that is its promise.”
Prayer
Though he spend much time on this in the previous chapter, here it gets precisely 1 page as it seems he sees it as part and parcel of the time the Christian spends in solitude.
110. On what shall our prayer be guided? (84
111. When we are in prayer, for what should we be ready? (84)
112. What surprises might you discover or encounter in your prayers? Might this be a reason why we avoid it at times?
113. But, yet, as scary as it may be at times, what promise to we have in prayer? (85)
114. How might prayer join together our mental meanderings and the meditation from which those thoughts distracted us?
“Because God’s Word has found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, all prayers that we pray conforming to this Word are certainly heard and answered in Jesus Christ.”
Intercession
At the heart this section is that we need to be praying personally for all those in our lives. To not do so is a great neglect of their well-being.
“A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses.”
115. If we are in “reality” connected to each other through Christ, as we proposed earlier in this study, When are we not connected to each other in Christ? Since we are so connected, then what happens when we pray for each other, especially those with whom we have troubles? (86)
“Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day. The struggle we undergo with our brother in intercession may be a hard one, but that struggle has the promise that it will gain its goal (of overcoming disunity).”
116. How does this happen? How does intercessory prayer “fix” and “fix” things going wrong in the church? (86)
117. How might intercession be the great equalizer (my emphasis, not DB’s)? In what do we share through intercession?
118. What if I deny someone my prayer? (87)
119. How are we to pray on their behalf? (87)
Bonhoeffer in his zeal for us to pray constantly also realized that there are far more people and situations to pray over than we have time. Christ commanded prayer, but clearly we fail at executing it fully and properly. Bonhoeffer therefore tells us that “it will be come evident that intercession is a gift of God’s ___________ for every Christian community and for every Christian.” (87)
120. How will knowing this affect your prayers?
121. However, to ensure we don’t engage in “cheap grace” what does Bonhoeffer suggest we do so that we might give intercession the time and attention it deserves?
The Test of Meditation
While only two pages long, I have marked nearly every line of it in my copy of the book with a highlighter pen. This section is where the “rubber hits the road” so-to-speak.
“Every day brings to the Christian many hours in which he will be alone in an unchristian environment. These are the times of testing.”
122. What is the big “payoff” to meditation? How will we know it has “worked” for us? (88)
123. When the individual finds themselves surrounded by non-Christians, is he/she ever alone? What/Who else is there?
124. Even when away from the fellowship, whom does the Christian represent to the world around them?
125. Therefore, for whom do acts of self-control serve beside the individual? (89)
126. Who is harmed when we sin and behave badly among non-Christians?
127. Therefore everything we do serves the __________; “either to its health or to its destruction.”
128. But regardless of whether we are alone or with the fellowship, where does our strength come from? (89)
Life Together: Chapter Two
Chapter Two: The Day with Others
While Chapter One focused largely on issues of fellowship, and the basis for our community of faith, Chapter Two centers around what we do as we gather—worship and pray.
Though much of the chapter focuses on the devotional life of the family, we must remember that Bonhoeffer was at this time living with a bunch of young, college aged men studying to be pastors. They were, for all intents and purposes, a family unit. He writes this chapter, not only with this present assemblage in mind, but with the knowledge that most of them would eventually, one day, find themselves in their own family, as the head of that family, and as an example to their parish.
The focus of this chapter then, whether we find ourselves in a family, or in the larger family, the church, is, “How do we spend our time together with Christ?” He begins with Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians:
“Let the word of Christ Dwell in you richly” (Colossians3:16)
The Day’s Beginning
In the Old Testament the “day” began at sundown, thus one went to bed with the expectation and wonderment of what God would provide the next day. “Would this be the day the Messiah comes?” But Bonhoeffer points to fact that the New Testament day begins with daybreak. It’s a time of fulfillment.
26. Of what fulfillment does the breaking of a new day remind us?
27. Read Malachi 4:2 and Judges 5:31. What was the Old Testament Church expecting?
28. How was deliverance and fulfillment of God’s promise pictured in their minds and in their poetry?
Ancient people and cultures had a fear of the dark—that it might not end and that a new day may not arrive. We now know better and do not have that fear. But this idea of expectant daylight should not be lost on us. (41)
29. From what deliverance or expectation can we associate with the rising of the sun?
30. Since our deliverance is found in Christ, and since (as we learned in chapter one) our fellowship in Christ presents us with a divine reality that we are in fellowship with all other believers, then to whom/what does the dawn belong? (bottom of 41)
Given this understanding, that the daybreak is an ever-repeating reminder of the re-birth of the Sun/Son of God, and therefore, our resurrection and our fellowship under that sun/Son, its no wonder then that the church, in both Old and New Testaments saw this time of day as the time of worship as a community.
31. What do the following verses say about mornings?
Psalm 5:3,
Psalm 88:13,
Psalm 57:7-8,
Psalm 119:147,
Psalm 63:1,
Psalm 46:5
Lam. 3:23
[Have it] “known that we must prevent the sun to give thee thanks, and at the dayspring pray to thee.” The Wisdom of Solomon 16:28 (Appoc.)
[Of the Bible Student,] “he will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him and will pray before the most High.” Ecclesiasticus 39:5(Appoc.)
32. However, in the New Testament, mornings take on even more importance. Describe Ephesians 5:14.
The important men of God arose early in the morning to seek out God and to do his commands.
33. Which men of God do the following verses show arising early to speak with God? (43)
Genesis 19:27
Exodus 8:16,
Exodus 9:13,
Exodus 24:4
Joshua 3:1
Joshua 6:12
Mark 1:35
34. According to Psalm 127:2, for what reason should we NOT rise early in the morning? (44)
The Psalter
35. According to the New Testament, what book did the early church apparently rely upon most in the morning? (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16) (pp. 44 ff)
Bonhoeffer rightly asserts that the Psalms are God’s word (44) and that, with few exceptions, are the prayers of men as well. He then goes on to reason that as we pray the Psalms they are at the same time the Prayers of God.
36. If we then follow this understanding and, remembering our conversation last chapter about being a community rooted in and through Christ, when we pray the Psalms, who else then is praying?
37. Some of the Psalms are particularly difficult for us to pray—we cannot seem to ‘identify’ with them. What does Bonhoeffer say regarding this? If we don’t feel as if this Psalm is our prayer, then whose is it? (bottom 45)
“Only in the whole Christ does the whole Psalter become a reality, a whole which the individual can never fully comprehend and call his own. That is why the prayer of the psalms belongs in a peculiar way to the fellowship. Even if a verse or a psalm is not one’s own prayer it is nevertheless the prayer of another member of the fellowship; so it is quite certainly the prayer of the true Man Jesus Christ and his Body on earth.
38. When put in this perspective, how do we approach not only the psalms, but the Prayer of the Church?
39. How could this knowledge of the Body praying in unity help you in your prayer life?
40. Though we may never experience the full range of the emotion and experiences in the psalms we still pray them because who has experienced them? (47)
Next Bonhoeffer speaks of the structure of the Psalms themselves, as even their structure speak to community.
41. Read Psalm 5. What rhetorical devise is employed? What might this say about how it was prayed? (49)
Is this not a hint that one who prays never prays alone?
Reading the Scriptures
Bonhoeffer, having thrown the Psalms into a special hybrid category which is part Word of God, part prayer and part song, now turns his attention to the other portions of scripture as an important part of our Life together. In particular he encourages his students not to think of it as “individual passages; it is a unit and is intended to be used as such.”
42. What it his suggestion for families (and, shall we assume, congregations?) as they read the scriptures? (middle of 51)
43. But what is the problem with reading scripture? (top 52)
44. So, then, what is the purpose of reading the scriptures if there is such a broad range of understanding? What shall we expect from our reading it? (middle 52)
To this it must be said that for the mature Christian every Scripture reading will be “too long” even the shortest one.”
45. What does this mean?
46. Where do we find the answers—even to the scriptures? (Col. 2:3)
47. Because of our divine fellowship with all believers across time and space, what does Bonhoeffer say we share? How are we part of the lectio continua, or, ‘continuous reading’ of scripture? (53-54)
We must learn to know the Scriptures again, as the Reformers and our fathers knew them. We must not grudge the time and the work that it takes. We must know the Scriptures first and foremost for the sake of our salvation. But besides this, there are ample reasons that make this requirement exceedingly urgent. How, for example, shall we ever attain certainty and confidence in our personal and church activity if we do not stand on solid Biblical ground?
48. According to Bonhoeffer, on what should we NOT base our authority when making crucial decisions? (55)
49. In order to build up this scriptural authority in the home, who should read the scriptures? (bottom 55)
Singing the New Song
Here is where Bonhoeffer rubs many a Lutheran the wrong way, though his points are worth examining for what is at their heart. Like many of us, he loves the hymns of the church, not because of their musical value, but because of what the music does for the prayers they offer.
50. What is the focus of the Christian hymn? (58)
51. How do our songs compare to those of heaven? (58)
52. What makes our songs palatable to God? (58)
“Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). The new song is sung first in the heart. Otherwise it cannot be sung at all. The heart sings because it is overflowing with Christ.
53. According to Bonhoeffer, when we find ourselves unable to sing in church, what is lacking?
54. Can the Christian ever be without Christ? How then, can He, at times, not be in our hearts? (58-59)
55. What might one do then, if one is found without the joy of Christ in one’s heart?
56. What type of singing does Bonhoeffer advocate when we sing as the Church? (59)
57. Why does he feel unison singing is the best form of singing?
58. To what is the music always bound?
“Unison singing, difficult as it is, is less of a musical than a spiritual matter.”
59. What are some of the results of singing together (in unison!) as a congregation? (61)
Saying Our Prayers Together
In this section Bonhoeffer encourages the brethren to pray together. He begins with talking about the prayers we offer up singly within a group, something most people find very difficult, yet which he encourages and says is even necessary.
60. What are some reasons why we should gather to pray together in small groups? (62)
61. How might we encourage free and open prayer? (bottom 62)
62. What reminder does Bonhoeffer give us regarding even the most halted of prayers? (62)
While all types of prayer are encouraged to be said by any and all in the fellowship, Bonhoeffer does point out that certain prayer should be certain persons at certain times. (63)
63. Why does he assert the head of the house, or at least one designated prayer, should pray the prayer at the end of the family devotion? (63)
64. What is also understood of the fellowship for whom the leader is praying at the close of the devotion? (63)
65. Likewise, what covenant does the lead pray-er have with the fellowship he/she is praying for? (63)
66. How does this person stay on track and on task? (bottom 63)
67. “Thus, the prayer will become more and more the ________ __________ of all.
It will happen again and again that the person who is charged with offering the prayer for the fellowship will not feel at all in the spiritual mood to do so, and will much prefer to turn over his task to another for this day. Such a shift is not advisable, however. Otherwise, the prayer of the fellowship will too easily be governed by moods which have nothing to do with spiritual life.
68. What does the fellowship do when the one who offers up their joint prayer is burdened and feels unable to lift up that prayer? (bottom 64)
69. What encouragement does scripture give in this regard? (Romans 8:26)
70. How does Bonhoeffer feel about “Prayer Fellowships”? (65)
71. What must be incumbent upon such gatherings?
72. What must the fellowship guard against?
The Fellowship of the Table
Here Bonhoeffer sets forth a short description of the necessity and the purpose for celebrating bread of life with earthly bread at a shared table. He notes that Jesus shared three types of table fellowship with the disciples: daily fellowship at table, the table fellowship of the Lord’s Supper, and the final table fellowship in the Kingdom of God. “But in all three the one thing that counts is that “their eyes were opened, and they knew him.” So, to be at table within the fellowship is to know Jesus.
73. How do we first know Jesus through table fellowship? (bottom of 66)
74. The second way is similar, but takes into account that we would not enjoy the first if not for this second acknowledgment of Christ, which is what? (top of 67)
75. Thirdly, when the congregation prays, “Be our guest” in what is it confessing? (67)
76. The festive nature of table fellowship is rooted in what reality? (top 68)
77. Does this impart new meaning to our understanding of “Sunday Dinner”?
78. What might Bonhoeffer say about our habit to very often eat meals in isolation whether that is in our cubicle at work or at the coffee table in front of a television?
79. What obligation does table fellowship imply according to Bonhoeffer? (bottom 68)
The Day’s Work
With all this praying, singing and eating, what else is a person to do? Work! The last six pages of this chapter are devoted to the subject of work and its relation to prayer and faith.
80. Which should come first, prayer or work? (bottom 69)
81. Moreover, can one have one without the other? Why or why not? (top 70)
82. What is the purpose of work in Bonhoeffer’s (and Luther’s) eyes? (middle 70)
83. Bonhoeffer talks about an “it”/”Thou” relationship. What is it? (70-71)
84. How does Colossians again help us in our understanding of Life Together?
Colossians 3:17
Colossians 3:23-24
Noonday and Evening
85. What shall we do at mid-day? For what must we give thanks?
86. What noon-time event might we contemplate over our bologna and cheese and how is that relevant to our daily routine of work and prayer?(72)
“At the end of the day” is a common expression. Bonhoeffer too seems to know is as he posits, “A day at a time is long enough to sustain one’s faith; the next day will have its cares.”
87. How, then, does he suggest the day end? (73)
88. What petition should be particularly included in the evening fellowship? (74)
89. What special accommodation might one consider for this special time in the evening when prayers and petitions are offered by the fellowship to our heavenly father? (74)
The day is thine, the night also is thine. Psalm 74:16.
While Chapter One focused largely on issues of fellowship, and the basis for our community of faith, Chapter Two centers around what we do as we gather—worship and pray.
Though much of the chapter focuses on the devotional life of the family, we must remember that Bonhoeffer was at this time living with a bunch of young, college aged men studying to be pastors. They were, for all intents and purposes, a family unit. He writes this chapter, not only with this present assemblage in mind, but with the knowledge that most of them would eventually, one day, find themselves in their own family, as the head of that family, and as an example to their parish.
The focus of this chapter then, whether we find ourselves in a family, or in the larger family, the church, is, “How do we spend our time together with Christ?” He begins with Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians:
“Let the word of Christ Dwell in you richly” (Colossians3:16)
The Day’s Beginning
In the Old Testament the “day” began at sundown, thus one went to bed with the expectation and wonderment of what God would provide the next day. “Would this be the day the Messiah comes?” But Bonhoeffer points to fact that the New Testament day begins with daybreak. It’s a time of fulfillment.
26. Of what fulfillment does the breaking of a new day remind us?
27. Read Malachi 4:2 and Judges 5:31. What was the Old Testament Church expecting?
28. How was deliverance and fulfillment of God’s promise pictured in their minds and in their poetry?
Ancient people and cultures had a fear of the dark—that it might not end and that a new day may not arrive. We now know better and do not have that fear. But this idea of expectant daylight should not be lost on us. (41)
29. From what deliverance or expectation can we associate with the rising of the sun?
30. Since our deliverance is found in Christ, and since (as we learned in chapter one) our fellowship in Christ presents us with a divine reality that we are in fellowship with all other believers, then to whom/what does the dawn belong? (bottom of 41)
Given this understanding, that the daybreak is an ever-repeating reminder of the re-birth of the Sun/Son of God, and therefore, our resurrection and our fellowship under that sun/Son, its no wonder then that the church, in both Old and New Testaments saw this time of day as the time of worship as a community.
31. What do the following verses say about mornings?
Psalm 5:3,
Psalm 88:13,
Psalm 57:7-8,
Psalm 119:147,
Psalm 63:1,
Psalm 46:5
Lam. 3:23
[Have it] “known that we must prevent the sun to give thee thanks, and at the dayspring pray to thee.” The Wisdom of Solomon 16:28 (Appoc.)
[Of the Bible Student,] “he will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him and will pray before the most High.” Ecclesiasticus 39:5(Appoc.)
32. However, in the New Testament, mornings take on even more importance. Describe Ephesians 5:14.
The important men of God arose early in the morning to seek out God and to do his commands.
33. Which men of God do the following verses show arising early to speak with God? (43)
Genesis 19:27
Exodus 8:16,
Exodus 9:13,
Exodus 24:4
Joshua 3:1
Joshua 6:12
Mark 1:35
34. According to Psalm 127:2, for what reason should we NOT rise early in the morning? (44)
The Psalter
35. According to the New Testament, what book did the early church apparently rely upon most in the morning? (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16) (pp. 44 ff)
Bonhoeffer rightly asserts that the Psalms are God’s word (44) and that, with few exceptions, are the prayers of men as well. He then goes on to reason that as we pray the Psalms they are at the same time the Prayers of God.
36. If we then follow this understanding and, remembering our conversation last chapter about being a community rooted in and through Christ, when we pray the Psalms, who else then is praying?
37. Some of the Psalms are particularly difficult for us to pray—we cannot seem to ‘identify’ with them. What does Bonhoeffer say regarding this? If we don’t feel as if this Psalm is our prayer, then whose is it? (bottom 45)
“Only in the whole Christ does the whole Psalter become a reality, a whole which the individual can never fully comprehend and call his own. That is why the prayer of the psalms belongs in a peculiar way to the fellowship. Even if a verse or a psalm is not one’s own prayer it is nevertheless the prayer of another member of the fellowship; so it is quite certainly the prayer of the true Man Jesus Christ and his Body on earth.
38. When put in this perspective, how do we approach not only the psalms, but the Prayer of the Church?
39. How could this knowledge of the Body praying in unity help you in your prayer life?
40. Though we may never experience the full range of the emotion and experiences in the psalms we still pray them because who has experienced them? (47)
Next Bonhoeffer speaks of the structure of the Psalms themselves, as even their structure speak to community.
41. Read Psalm 5. What rhetorical devise is employed? What might this say about how it was prayed? (49)
Is this not a hint that one who prays never prays alone?
Reading the Scriptures
Bonhoeffer, having thrown the Psalms into a special hybrid category which is part Word of God, part prayer and part song, now turns his attention to the other portions of scripture as an important part of our Life together. In particular he encourages his students not to think of it as “individual passages; it is a unit and is intended to be used as such.”
42. What it his suggestion for families (and, shall we assume, congregations?) as they read the scriptures? (middle of 51)
43. But what is the problem with reading scripture? (top 52)
44. So, then, what is the purpose of reading the scriptures if there is such a broad range of understanding? What shall we expect from our reading it? (middle 52)
To this it must be said that for the mature Christian every Scripture reading will be “too long” even the shortest one.”
45. What does this mean?
46. Where do we find the answers—even to the scriptures? (Col. 2:3)
47. Because of our divine fellowship with all believers across time and space, what does Bonhoeffer say we share? How are we part of the lectio continua, or, ‘continuous reading’ of scripture? (53-54)
We must learn to know the Scriptures again, as the Reformers and our fathers knew them. We must not grudge the time and the work that it takes. We must know the Scriptures first and foremost for the sake of our salvation. But besides this, there are ample reasons that make this requirement exceedingly urgent. How, for example, shall we ever attain certainty and confidence in our personal and church activity if we do not stand on solid Biblical ground?
48. According to Bonhoeffer, on what should we NOT base our authority when making crucial decisions? (55)
49. In order to build up this scriptural authority in the home, who should read the scriptures? (bottom 55)
Singing the New Song
Here is where Bonhoeffer rubs many a Lutheran the wrong way, though his points are worth examining for what is at their heart. Like many of us, he loves the hymns of the church, not because of their musical value, but because of what the music does for the prayers they offer.
50. What is the focus of the Christian hymn? (58)
51. How do our songs compare to those of heaven? (58)
52. What makes our songs palatable to God? (58)
“Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). The new song is sung first in the heart. Otherwise it cannot be sung at all. The heart sings because it is overflowing with Christ.
53. According to Bonhoeffer, when we find ourselves unable to sing in church, what is lacking?
54. Can the Christian ever be without Christ? How then, can He, at times, not be in our hearts? (58-59)
55. What might one do then, if one is found without the joy of Christ in one’s heart?
56. What type of singing does Bonhoeffer advocate when we sing as the Church? (59)
57. Why does he feel unison singing is the best form of singing?
58. To what is the music always bound?
“Unison singing, difficult as it is, is less of a musical than a spiritual matter.”
59. What are some of the results of singing together (in unison!) as a congregation? (61)
Saying Our Prayers Together
In this section Bonhoeffer encourages the brethren to pray together. He begins with talking about the prayers we offer up singly within a group, something most people find very difficult, yet which he encourages and says is even necessary.
60. What are some reasons why we should gather to pray together in small groups? (62)
61. How might we encourage free and open prayer? (bottom 62)
62. What reminder does Bonhoeffer give us regarding even the most halted of prayers? (62)
While all types of prayer are encouraged to be said by any and all in the fellowship, Bonhoeffer does point out that certain prayer should be certain persons at certain times. (63)
63. Why does he assert the head of the house, or at least one designated prayer, should pray the prayer at the end of the family devotion? (63)
64. What is also understood of the fellowship for whom the leader is praying at the close of the devotion? (63)
65. Likewise, what covenant does the lead pray-er have with the fellowship he/she is praying for? (63)
66. How does this person stay on track and on task? (bottom 63)
67. “Thus, the prayer will become more and more the ________ __________ of all.
It will happen again and again that the person who is charged with offering the prayer for the fellowship will not feel at all in the spiritual mood to do so, and will much prefer to turn over his task to another for this day. Such a shift is not advisable, however. Otherwise, the prayer of the fellowship will too easily be governed by moods which have nothing to do with spiritual life.
68. What does the fellowship do when the one who offers up their joint prayer is burdened and feels unable to lift up that prayer? (bottom 64)
69. What encouragement does scripture give in this regard? (Romans 8:26)
70. How does Bonhoeffer feel about “Prayer Fellowships”? (65)
71. What must be incumbent upon such gatherings?
72. What must the fellowship guard against?
The Fellowship of the Table
Here Bonhoeffer sets forth a short description of the necessity and the purpose for celebrating bread of life with earthly bread at a shared table. He notes that Jesus shared three types of table fellowship with the disciples: daily fellowship at table, the table fellowship of the Lord’s Supper, and the final table fellowship in the Kingdom of God. “But in all three the one thing that counts is that “their eyes were opened, and they knew him.” So, to be at table within the fellowship is to know Jesus.
73. How do we first know Jesus through table fellowship? (bottom of 66)
74. The second way is similar, but takes into account that we would not enjoy the first if not for this second acknowledgment of Christ, which is what? (top of 67)
75. Thirdly, when the congregation prays, “Be our guest” in what is it confessing? (67)
76. The festive nature of table fellowship is rooted in what reality? (top 68)
77. Does this impart new meaning to our understanding of “Sunday Dinner”?
78. What might Bonhoeffer say about our habit to very often eat meals in isolation whether that is in our cubicle at work or at the coffee table in front of a television?
79. What obligation does table fellowship imply according to Bonhoeffer? (bottom 68)
The Day’s Work
With all this praying, singing and eating, what else is a person to do? Work! The last six pages of this chapter are devoted to the subject of work and its relation to prayer and faith.
80. Which should come first, prayer or work? (bottom 69)
81. Moreover, can one have one without the other? Why or why not? (top 70)
82. What is the purpose of work in Bonhoeffer’s (and Luther’s) eyes? (middle 70)
83. Bonhoeffer talks about an “it”/”Thou” relationship. What is it? (70-71)
84. How does Colossians again help us in our understanding of Life Together?
Colossians 3:17
Colossians 3:23-24
Noonday and Evening
85. What shall we do at mid-day? For what must we give thanks?
86. What noon-time event might we contemplate over our bologna and cheese and how is that relevant to our daily routine of work and prayer?(72)
“At the end of the day” is a common expression. Bonhoeffer too seems to know is as he posits, “A day at a time is long enough to sustain one’s faith; the next day will have its cares.”
87. How, then, does he suggest the day end? (73)
88. What petition should be particularly included in the evening fellowship? (74)
89. What special accommodation might one consider for this special time in the evening when prayers and petitions are offered by the fellowship to our heavenly father? (74)
The day is thine, the night also is thine. Psalm 74:16.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Building Church Leaders Newsletter
If you are interested in how we as the church might faithfully incorporate visual elements into worship and teaching, then perhaps this article would be of interest to you. An exerpt of the opening paragraphs follow the link.
Building Church Leaders Newsletter:
"Visualcy."
No, it's not a real word. Not yet anyway. It was coined by author Andy Crouch to describe a new skill needed in our image-soaked society.
'Just as the shift to writing required the skills we call literacy,' writes Crouch, 'so visual culture requires its own skills—for lack of a better word, visualcy.'
What does visualcy have to do with ministry? Everything! Today people expect a church service to engage their ears and eyes. Even more traditional churches that shun technology can't avoid using visual media entirely. Remember when carousel slide projectors were a staple of missionary presentations?"
Building Church Leaders Newsletter:
"Visualcy."
No, it's not a real word. Not yet anyway. It was coined by author Andy Crouch to describe a new skill needed in our image-soaked society.
'Just as the shift to writing required the skills we call literacy,' writes Crouch, 'so visual culture requires its own skills—for lack of a better word, visualcy.'
What does visualcy have to do with ministry? Everything! Today people expect a church service to engage their ears and eyes. Even more traditional churches that shun technology can't avoid using visual media entirely. Remember when carousel slide projectors were a staple of missionary presentations?"
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
A Study on "Life Together"
Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship
The book was written in 1935 in Finkenwalde near Stettin, where he shared a common life in emergency-built houses with twenty-five vicars. Originally published in 1938 as Gemeinesames Leben. It was here that he also wrote The Cost of Discipleship and The Prayer Book of the Bible: An Introduction to the Psalms which more fully explores the themes in chapter two of Life Together. Shortly after this last publication the Gestapo shut down the underground seminary.
Plan
Session 1
Introduction and I Community 33 pages
Session 2
II The Day with Others 36 pages
Session 3
III The Day Alone 14 pages
Session 4
IV Ministry 20 pages
Session 5
V Confession and Communion 12 pages
Introduction/Biography
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” Tertullian 160-220 AD
Dietrich Bonhoeffer -1-
Born - February 4, 1906in Breslau, Germany
Died - April 9, 1945 (age 39) in Flossenbürg concentration camp
Church - Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union Confessing Church
Education - Doctorate in theology
Writings - Author of several books and articles (see below)
Congregations served Zion's Church congregation, Berlin German-speaking congregations of St. Paul's and Sydenham, London
Offices - held Associate lecturer at Frederick William University of Berlin (1931-1936)
Student pastor at Technical College, Berlin (1931-1933)
Lecturer of Confessing Church candidates of pastorate in Finkenwalde (1935-1937)
Title - Ordained Pastor
Family - Father was a noted physician and first to occupy a Chair in Psychiatry in Germany. One of seven children who were always close and played with the VonHarnack and Delbrueck children (Famous scholar and historian)
As Hitler rises to power in Germany and the church ‘cooperates’ with the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer leaves the country to serve in England and to study in New York City. It was there that he gained a great appreciation for African American Gospel music as he worshiped in Baptist congregations. Preparing to visit Gandhi, in India in order to pursue an interest in pacifism, he is contacted to lead a group of men from the “confessing” church in their studies at an unapproved, “illegal” seminary which was at Zingst and then moved to Finkenwalde.
Now immersed again in the world which was Nazi Germany, and in which many of his family were involved in the resistance, he too became involved in the plot to over through Hitler being led by Genera Beck and others. Thus, “The man who felt all the force of the pacifist position and weighted the “cost of discipleship” concluded in the depths of his soul that to withdraw from those who were participating in the political and military resistance would be irresponsible cowardice and flight from reality. “Not,” as his friend Bethge says, “That he believed that everybody must act as he did, but from where he was standing, he could see no possibility of retreat into any sinless, righteous, pious refuge. The sin of respectable people reveals itself in flight from responsibility. He saw that sin falling upon him and he took his stand.” -2-
April 5, 1943 he was arrested, along with his sister Christel and her husband Hans von Dohnanyi, and sent to Tegel, a military prison. During his time there the guards recognized him as a strong pastor and secretly arranged for him to minister to other prisoners despairing in their cells. They preserved his papers, essays and poems and even established a courier system to get these to his family and friends outside the prison.
After the Putcsch of July 20, he was transferred from one prison to another including Berlin, Buchenwald, Schoenberg, and finally Flossenburg, when all his contacts to the outside world were severed. His last weeks were spend with Russians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Italians and Germans. On April 8, 1945, the day before his execution, he gave his last sermon to them, the text of which was based the words ‘With his stripes we are healed.” He was taken from them by guards as he finished his last prayer and was never seen by them again.
Chapter One: Community
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” Ps 133:1
“It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians." -3-
1. This, the second, non-scriptural, sentence of the book, is quite amazing, considering the title, Life Together, would seem to speak of some sort of community of believers. Why would it be important for Bonhoeffer to start off his book with this phrase?
Bonhoeffer shows the example of Christ right at the start (17). Jesus did not hide from those he disagreed with nor from those who were clearly leading people away from God. He says Christ was “in the thick of foes.”
2. Who/what might our spiritual foes be? What does it look like for us to be “in the thick” with them?
3. Contrast our times and our setting with 1935 national socialist Germany; though we and the church are protected by our government through the First Amendment, what other pressures do we as the Church face today?
The “confessing” church was a group of believers who could not, by conscience, participate in the “German Christian” church which the Nazi’s had orchestrated and by which most protestants had followed into. This made them easy targets for arrest and harassment.
4. When we make decisions to join one church or another, what “confessions” do we make? What consequences do these confessions bring?
“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.” -4-
5. As Lutherans (and Bonhoeffer was Lutheran) we believe in the solas: Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, Scripture alone. So, how can/do we arrive at a place where we can agree with the quote above?
Bonhoeffer explains this statement in three parts (21)
6. “First, a Christian needs others because of Christ.” In what/where do we meet and discover that need?
7. “Second, a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ.” Why is this true?
8. “Third, in Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity.” How are we united with Christ? With others?
Note: Bonhoeffer’s comments on what makes us brothers and sisters in Christ (25) is not our “Christianity” but what we are in/to Christ.
“The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes (in Christ, remember) the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one another, wholly, and for all eternity.” -5-
9. What can we expect if we grow closer to each other in community?
10. And how is this closeness in community realized? Or, is it just a pipedream? (see ital. at end of second para. Pg. 26)
“By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world…Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. 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” -6-
11. What are some of the ‘Wish Dreams’ we might get caught up in as an organized church?
12. What are some of the personal ‘Wish Dreams’ we might try to inject into our Christ-centered community?
13. When our ‘dreams’ don’t come true, who do we blame? Where does the blame lie?
14. How do we then ‘plan’ for ministry? What is our guide?
“We enter that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients.” -7-
15. How does this statement then organize us as a community?
16. How does this statement inform our interactions with each other--especially when we are at odds with one another? (bottom 28)
17. How does being thankful affect the community? How does God respond? (top 29, bottom 30)
“Because Christian community is founded solely on Jesus Christ, it is a spiritual and not a psychic reality. In this it differs from all other communities. …The basis of the community of the Spirit is truth; the basis of human community of spirit is desire. The essence of the community of the Spirit is light, for “God is light and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) and “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”(1:7)-8-
18. In this line of reasoning where the community of the Spirit in truth seeks light, which is God, what might a human community of spirit seek? i.e. what is at the center of community based upon the human ‘spirit’ as the world defines it? (top 33)
19. How are spiritual love and human love at odds with each other? (35)
We sometimes think that in order to show ‘Christian love’ we need to make them love us back if they are to be saved. But Bonhoeffer says, “I dare not desire direct fellowship with them.” -9-
20. How, then, can we be community, if we are not desiring fellowship with each other? (bottom 35)
21. In whom is our fellowship based, and thereby are we joined to each other?(36)
22. Therefore, spiritual love proves itself in __________. (middle 36)
23. Which is more profitable, to speak to a brother or sister about Christ, or to speak to Christ about a brother or sister?
24. So, then, our love for others is completely bound up in what truth about them? (top37) (see also III John 4)
25. What is Bonhoeffer’s caution about failing to project our human relationships and communities into our Spiritual community? (bottom 38)
“It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together.” -10- And that faith is built on our brotherhood with Christ, the hub of community.
End notes:
-1- “Born” through “Title” taken from table found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer as of 2/18/2010.
-2- Bonhoeffer, Deitrich, Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship. New York, Harper and Row, 1954
p. 11
-3- Bonhoeffer, D p. 17
-4- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 21.
-5- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 26
-6- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 27
-7- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 28
-8- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 31
-9- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 35
-10- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 39
The book was written in 1935 in Finkenwalde near Stettin, where he shared a common life in emergency-built houses with twenty-five vicars. Originally published in 1938 as Gemeinesames Leben. It was here that he also wrote The Cost of Discipleship and The Prayer Book of the Bible: An Introduction to the Psalms which more fully explores the themes in chapter two of Life Together. Shortly after this last publication the Gestapo shut down the underground seminary.
Plan
Session 1
Introduction and I Community 33 pages
Session 2
II The Day with Others 36 pages
Session 3
III The Day Alone 14 pages
Session 4
IV Ministry 20 pages
Session 5
V Confession and Communion 12 pages
Introduction/Biography
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” Tertullian 160-220 AD
Dietrich Bonhoeffer -1-
Born - February 4, 1906in Breslau, Germany
Died - April 9, 1945 (age 39) in Flossenbürg concentration camp
Church - Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union Confessing Church
Education - Doctorate in theology
Writings - Author of several books and articles (see below)
Congregations served Zion's Church congregation, Berlin German-speaking congregations of St. Paul's and Sydenham, London
Offices - held Associate lecturer at Frederick William University of Berlin (1931-1936)
Student pastor at Technical College, Berlin (1931-1933)
Lecturer of Confessing Church candidates of pastorate in Finkenwalde (1935-1937)
Title - Ordained Pastor
Family - Father was a noted physician and first to occupy a Chair in Psychiatry in Germany. One of seven children who were always close and played with the VonHarnack and Delbrueck children (Famous scholar and historian)
As Hitler rises to power in Germany and the church ‘cooperates’ with the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer leaves the country to serve in England and to study in New York City. It was there that he gained a great appreciation for African American Gospel music as he worshiped in Baptist congregations. Preparing to visit Gandhi, in India in order to pursue an interest in pacifism, he is contacted to lead a group of men from the “confessing” church in their studies at an unapproved, “illegal” seminary which was at Zingst and then moved to Finkenwalde.
Now immersed again in the world which was Nazi Germany, and in which many of his family were involved in the resistance, he too became involved in the plot to over through Hitler being led by Genera Beck and others. Thus, “The man who felt all the force of the pacifist position and weighted the “cost of discipleship” concluded in the depths of his soul that to withdraw from those who were participating in the political and military resistance would be irresponsible cowardice and flight from reality. “Not,” as his friend Bethge says, “That he believed that everybody must act as he did, but from where he was standing, he could see no possibility of retreat into any sinless, righteous, pious refuge. The sin of respectable people reveals itself in flight from responsibility. He saw that sin falling upon him and he took his stand.” -2-
April 5, 1943 he was arrested, along with his sister Christel and her husband Hans von Dohnanyi, and sent to Tegel, a military prison. During his time there the guards recognized him as a strong pastor and secretly arranged for him to minister to other prisoners despairing in their cells. They preserved his papers, essays and poems and even established a courier system to get these to his family and friends outside the prison.
After the Putcsch of July 20, he was transferred from one prison to another including Berlin, Buchenwald, Schoenberg, and finally Flossenburg, when all his contacts to the outside world were severed. His last weeks were spend with Russians, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Italians and Germans. On April 8, 1945, the day before his execution, he gave his last sermon to them, the text of which was based the words ‘With his stripes we are healed.” He was taken from them by guards as he finished his last prayer and was never seen by them again.
Chapter One: Community
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” Ps 133:1
“It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians." -3-
1. This, the second, non-scriptural, sentence of the book, is quite amazing, considering the title, Life Together, would seem to speak of some sort of community of believers. Why would it be important for Bonhoeffer to start off his book with this phrase?
Bonhoeffer shows the example of Christ right at the start (17). Jesus did not hide from those he disagreed with nor from those who were clearly leading people away from God. He says Christ was “in the thick of foes.”
2. Who/what might our spiritual foes be? What does it look like for us to be “in the thick” with them?
3. Contrast our times and our setting with 1935 national socialist Germany; though we and the church are protected by our government through the First Amendment, what other pressures do we as the Church face today?
The “confessing” church was a group of believers who could not, by conscience, participate in the “German Christian” church which the Nazi’s had orchestrated and by which most protestants had followed into. This made them easy targets for arrest and harassment.
4. When we make decisions to join one church or another, what “confessions” do we make? What consequences do these confessions bring?
“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.” -4-
5. As Lutherans (and Bonhoeffer was Lutheran) we believe in the solas: Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, Scripture alone. So, how can/do we arrive at a place where we can agree with the quote above?
Bonhoeffer explains this statement in three parts (21)
6. “First, a Christian needs others because of Christ.” In what/where do we meet and discover that need?
7. “Second, a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ.” Why is this true?
8. “Third, in Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity.” How are we united with Christ? With others?
Note: Bonhoeffer’s comments on what makes us brothers and sisters in Christ (25) is not our “Christianity” but what we are in/to Christ.
“The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes (in Christ, remember) the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one another, wholly, and for all eternity.” -5-
9. What can we expect if we grow closer to each other in community?
10. And how is this closeness in community realized? Or, is it just a pipedream? (see ital. at end of second para. Pg. 26)
“By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world…Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. 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” -6-
11. What are some of the ‘Wish Dreams’ we might get caught up in as an organized church?
12. What are some of the personal ‘Wish Dreams’ we might try to inject into our Christ-centered community?
13. When our ‘dreams’ don’t come true, who do we blame? Where does the blame lie?
14. How do we then ‘plan’ for ministry? What is our guide?
“We enter that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients.” -7-
15. How does this statement then organize us as a community?
16. How does this statement inform our interactions with each other--especially when we are at odds with one another? (bottom 28)
17. How does being thankful affect the community? How does God respond? (top 29, bottom 30)
“Because Christian community is founded solely on Jesus Christ, it is a spiritual and not a psychic reality. In this it differs from all other communities. …The basis of the community of the Spirit is truth; the basis of human community of spirit is desire. The essence of the community of the Spirit is light, for “God is light and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) and “if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”(1:7)-8-
18. In this line of reasoning where the community of the Spirit in truth seeks light, which is God, what might a human community of spirit seek? i.e. what is at the center of community based upon the human ‘spirit’ as the world defines it? (top 33)
19. How are spiritual love and human love at odds with each other? (35)
We sometimes think that in order to show ‘Christian love’ we need to make them love us back if they are to be saved. But Bonhoeffer says, “I dare not desire direct fellowship with them.” -9-
20. How, then, can we be community, if we are not desiring fellowship with each other? (bottom 35)
21. In whom is our fellowship based, and thereby are we joined to each other?(36)
22. Therefore, spiritual love proves itself in __________. (middle 36)
23. Which is more profitable, to speak to a brother or sister about Christ, or to speak to Christ about a brother or sister?
24. So, then, our love for others is completely bound up in what truth about them? (top37) (see also III John 4)
25. What is Bonhoeffer’s caution about failing to project our human relationships and communities into our Spiritual community? (bottom 38)
“It is not the experience of Christian brotherhood, but solid and certain faith in brotherhood that holds us together.” -10- And that faith is built on our brotherhood with Christ, the hub of community.
End notes:
-1- “Born” through “Title” taken from table found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer as of 2/18/2010.
-2- Bonhoeffer, Deitrich, Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship. New York, Harper and Row, 1954
p. 11
-3- Bonhoeffer, D p. 17
-4- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 21.
-5- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 26
-6- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 27
-7- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 28
-8- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 31
-9- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 35
-10- Bonhoeffer, D. p. 39
Monday, February 15, 2010
Downward Mobility
The Alban Institute - 2010-02-15 Downward Mobility
Just when I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed in my pastoring role comes a great article this week about how we are most useful to God when we see ourselves as practically useless; dieing to self in the truest sense so that God may be glorified and his kingdom cared for and expanded through our deficient, helpless selves.
Though written for pastors, I think it can be applied to all Christians
Just when I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed in my pastoring role comes a great article this week about how we are most useful to God when we see ourselves as practically useless; dieing to self in the truest sense so that God may be glorified and his kingdom cared for and expanded through our deficient, helpless selves.
Though written for pastors, I think it can be applied to all Christians
Saturday, February 13, 2010
It's Good Lord, to be here.
Luke 9:33 Transfiguration Sunday--February 14, 2010--Redeemer Lutheran, Olathe, KS
1. It’s good to be here! As we make a habit of gathering here on Sundays we get to see old friends again. Today we have the blessing of singing the old liturgy—what we used to call “page 15”. We will be spending time together around the coffee pot between the services. For many of us, this Sunday routine is so engrained in us that we wouldn’t know what to do if we weren’t here each week. It’s just so…comfortable.
2. For many of us, we were raised on this stuff. As Christians we know God expects us to observe the Sabbath in the 3rd commandment. We feel a sense of duty to be here. Our attendance and our offering are missed when we are absent. It’s…just…what we do. I think that most of us here today could honestly say, “It’s good Lord, to be here.”
3. Peter’s declaration was of a similar nature to ours. He, along with James and John, got to see Moses and Elijah. I can just about hear him say, “How blessed are we?” They even got to hear them talking with Jesus! To experience this once in a life-time event with his closest buddies must have been truly awesome. It’s no wonder, then, that he said, “Let’s remember this day forever and build some tents so we can make the most of this moment—make it last!
4. It felt good to be there because it just seemed right. Being on that mountain with Jesus—and seeing Moses—surely Peter must have had visions of what it must have been like when Moses received the 10 Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. And when he and the others made this connection in their minds they were reminded of the gift they had received from God. While we are so often quick to associate God’s Law with being a burden we can never fulfill, Israel saw it as a sign that he cared so much for them that he personally gave them a piece of his mind and his heart so that they could strive to please him and ask for his forgiveness when they failed. That was so different from all the other gods and idols which other people around them worshiped. With those supposed deities one had to guess at what they wanted. One had to manipulate them into acting favorably. One had to buy the love of those cold, lifeless statuary idols. And sadly, as their bargaining and sacrificing went unheard, they built higher altars on higher hills and offered more and more sacrifices of an increasingly horrific and immoral nature.
5. But here on this mountain, on this day, it wasn’t like that at all. Here Peter and the others got to see for themselves, not a cold, distant, uncaring god that may or may not hear them, or who may or may not even exist but, instead, one whom they now saw before them as a man, yet God at the same time. And they watched as they saw his figure transformed—his face glorified; “like lightning” as we hear it in the Greek language by which it was originally written. And as they watched the events unfold, as they saw Moses and Elijah visit with their teacher, they were at peace. They knew that this was the place they needed to be. They knew, as they saw the whole thing unfold before them that they were there precisely because Jesus wanted them to be there so that they could have this shared experience between them as a memory in their minds forever. The sights of the prophets and the fog engulfing them, the sounds of the voice of God speaking to them all, the smells of the mountain air and the plants all around them. The view of the valley below as the cloud bank dissipated. All of it culminated to a point to where Peter just couldn’t contain himself any longer. He finally just had to blurt it out! “Master, it is GOOD to be HERE.”
6. Remember when said it was good to be here and listed all the reasons why? Place them aside the image we just painted of Peter’s experience on top of the mountain and you might have noticed one important similarity. All of those comments and accolades were focused on the self because that’s our nature as human beings just as it was Peter’s nature. We tend to get caught up in our own excitement and feelings and emotions. We let our desire to encounter God get sideswiped by our need to feel safe and our propensity to do things that are safe and not risky. And so we continue along in our faith walk never stretching ourselves, never quite reaching where God is leading us as we continue in our old ways, listening to the same old stories and following the same old lessons, perhaps expecting to find new answers, but probably relieved to hear that, no, they haven’t really changed all that much. Like Peter, James and John, we want to just linger in the moment of our experience and bask in the glow of our God.
7. As comfortable as it is to be here, however, at times it distracts us from Christ. “How can that be?” you might ask. “How can I be distracted from Christ when all I want to do is be surrounded by his glory and revel in his words and the words of the prophets? Surely there is value in that? Pastor, how can you say that that is wrong?” Well, the answer to that is another question. That question is, “On what is your heart focused?” If it is focused on finding your inner peace, if it is focused on finding a way for you to feel better about yourself or what you are doing, if it is focused on you escaping from the rest of your life, then your presence here is no different then Peter, James, and John’s on the Mount of Transfiguration.
8. You see, the transfiguration is all about Jesus and his mission and his ministry. It marks the beginning of a new phase of his “work”. His disciples have all been called and he has introduced them to his vision and plan to share the Good News with the world. But in the preceding verses we read that he has also just made the first prediction of his suffering and death. His ministry now has a different thrust as he moves from teaching to training, and eventually, turning the ministry over to his disciples. He has begun the process of bringing his work to an end and he needs to get the disciples up to speed—as quickly as possible—so that they can continue his work. He’s getting them ready for the battle ahead. If Jesus’ temptation in the desert at the beginning of his ministry was difficult, his last trials as he suffers and dies on the cross will be exponentially more painful. He’s going to need Peter to be up for the job of leading the group after his death. He’s going to need James to a take leadership role as well, and John will be called upon to look after Mary, Jesus’ mother, upon his death and he will be Christ’s witness, not only in the Gospel written by him, but in his “revelation” which he will write to seven persecuted churches; a letter we now know as the last book of the Bible, The Revelation of St. John.
9. As with everything he did, the Transfiguration of Christ was more than just a miracle, but a fulfillment of earlier prophecy and a completion of work begun generations before. On this mountaintop Moses and Elijah were passing the torch to Christ so that Jesus could eventually pass that torch to the disciples before his ascension. By bringing them to the mountain with him he was letting them know that this work they were being called into was a continuation of the work God had been doing through his people from the very beginning of history.
10. Moses delivered the people out of the bondage of Egypt, but he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. To finish the task of deliverance into Canaan Joshua was called to be Moses’ successor. The name Joshua is Hebrew for “The Lord Saves.” And as surely as they entered the land under his leadership they were reminded of the One who made it all possible. Later in Israel’s history, Elijah was called to deliver the people of God out of the hands of unfaithful kings. He too did not see the end of his work, but passed his work onto Elisha, a variation of the name Joshua, so that through his very name the people would know where their salvation would come from. And God delivered them away from Baal worship as the worship of the true God was once again restored in Israel. And now today in our Gospel we find Jesus—Greek for Joshua—whom the angel told Mary and Joseph will free the people from the slavery of their sins. Moses and Elijah and many other men and women were called by God throughout the Bible to effect salvation for Israel in one fashion or another, but it would never last and there weren’t speaking to all people. Just as Joshua and Elisha completed the earthly tasks set before Moses and Elijah in their ministries, Jesus had come to complete the deliverance that no man could accomplish for any portion of man-kind throughout the millennia—the final deliverance of our bodies and souls from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
11. Although Peter’s intentions may have been wrong, his words were right on the mark; it truly was good for them to be there on that mountain that day. It was good because Jesus wanted these 3 leaders—the first of his disciples to follow him—to witness this significant, historic, event. Jesus wanted them to see his work in the context of salvation history—to allow them to connect all that he had been teaching them with all that they knew from the Law and the Prophets. Jesus wanted them to get a glimpse of what lies ahead for them; in ministry, in mission, and in the glory of heaven.
12. It is good for US to be HERE as well but not for the reasons we stated at the beginning of our message today. It is good for us to be here today so that we too can become witnesses of Christ’s transfiguration and his ministry through the scriptures we hear read and proclaimed. By hearing the stories of the Bible we can see how he continues to work in our lives just as he did in the past. In the Divine Service we too get a glimpse of our future glorified state as we partake of Holy Communion—that foretaste of the feast to come. As we gather here each week we surely do soak it all in, but not only so that we may be soothed and comforted, but so that we might be inspired, strengthened and lifted up to give God the glory. We say, “it is truly good, Lord, to be here”
1. It’s good to be here! As we make a habit of gathering here on Sundays we get to see old friends again. Today we have the blessing of singing the old liturgy—what we used to call “page 15”. We will be spending time together around the coffee pot between the services. For many of us, this Sunday routine is so engrained in us that we wouldn’t know what to do if we weren’t here each week. It’s just so…comfortable.
2. For many of us, we were raised on this stuff. As Christians we know God expects us to observe the Sabbath in the 3rd commandment. We feel a sense of duty to be here. Our attendance and our offering are missed when we are absent. It’s…just…what we do. I think that most of us here today could honestly say, “It’s good Lord, to be here.”
3. Peter’s declaration was of a similar nature to ours. He, along with James and John, got to see Moses and Elijah. I can just about hear him say, “How blessed are we?” They even got to hear them talking with Jesus! To experience this once in a life-time event with his closest buddies must have been truly awesome. It’s no wonder, then, that he said, “Let’s remember this day forever and build some tents so we can make the most of this moment—make it last!
4. It felt good to be there because it just seemed right. Being on that mountain with Jesus—and seeing Moses—surely Peter must have had visions of what it must have been like when Moses received the 10 Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. And when he and the others made this connection in their minds they were reminded of the gift they had received from God. While we are so often quick to associate God’s Law with being a burden we can never fulfill, Israel saw it as a sign that he cared so much for them that he personally gave them a piece of his mind and his heart so that they could strive to please him and ask for his forgiveness when they failed. That was so different from all the other gods and idols which other people around them worshiped. With those supposed deities one had to guess at what they wanted. One had to manipulate them into acting favorably. One had to buy the love of those cold, lifeless statuary idols. And sadly, as their bargaining and sacrificing went unheard, they built higher altars on higher hills and offered more and more sacrifices of an increasingly horrific and immoral nature.
5. But here on this mountain, on this day, it wasn’t like that at all. Here Peter and the others got to see for themselves, not a cold, distant, uncaring god that may or may not hear them, or who may or may not even exist but, instead, one whom they now saw before them as a man, yet God at the same time. And they watched as they saw his figure transformed—his face glorified; “like lightning” as we hear it in the Greek language by which it was originally written. And as they watched the events unfold, as they saw Moses and Elijah visit with their teacher, they were at peace. They knew that this was the place they needed to be. They knew, as they saw the whole thing unfold before them that they were there precisely because Jesus wanted them to be there so that they could have this shared experience between them as a memory in their minds forever. The sights of the prophets and the fog engulfing them, the sounds of the voice of God speaking to them all, the smells of the mountain air and the plants all around them. The view of the valley below as the cloud bank dissipated. All of it culminated to a point to where Peter just couldn’t contain himself any longer. He finally just had to blurt it out! “Master, it is GOOD to be HERE.”
6. Remember when said it was good to be here and listed all the reasons why? Place them aside the image we just painted of Peter’s experience on top of the mountain and you might have noticed one important similarity. All of those comments and accolades were focused on the self because that’s our nature as human beings just as it was Peter’s nature. We tend to get caught up in our own excitement and feelings and emotions. We let our desire to encounter God get sideswiped by our need to feel safe and our propensity to do things that are safe and not risky. And so we continue along in our faith walk never stretching ourselves, never quite reaching where God is leading us as we continue in our old ways, listening to the same old stories and following the same old lessons, perhaps expecting to find new answers, but probably relieved to hear that, no, they haven’t really changed all that much. Like Peter, James and John, we want to just linger in the moment of our experience and bask in the glow of our God.
7. As comfortable as it is to be here, however, at times it distracts us from Christ. “How can that be?” you might ask. “How can I be distracted from Christ when all I want to do is be surrounded by his glory and revel in his words and the words of the prophets? Surely there is value in that? Pastor, how can you say that that is wrong?” Well, the answer to that is another question. That question is, “On what is your heart focused?” If it is focused on finding your inner peace, if it is focused on finding a way for you to feel better about yourself or what you are doing, if it is focused on you escaping from the rest of your life, then your presence here is no different then Peter, James, and John’s on the Mount of Transfiguration.
8. You see, the transfiguration is all about Jesus and his mission and his ministry. It marks the beginning of a new phase of his “work”. His disciples have all been called and he has introduced them to his vision and plan to share the Good News with the world. But in the preceding verses we read that he has also just made the first prediction of his suffering and death. His ministry now has a different thrust as he moves from teaching to training, and eventually, turning the ministry over to his disciples. He has begun the process of bringing his work to an end and he needs to get the disciples up to speed—as quickly as possible—so that they can continue his work. He’s getting them ready for the battle ahead. If Jesus’ temptation in the desert at the beginning of his ministry was difficult, his last trials as he suffers and dies on the cross will be exponentially more painful. He’s going to need Peter to be up for the job of leading the group after his death. He’s going to need James to a take leadership role as well, and John will be called upon to look after Mary, Jesus’ mother, upon his death and he will be Christ’s witness, not only in the Gospel written by him, but in his “revelation” which he will write to seven persecuted churches; a letter we now know as the last book of the Bible, The Revelation of St. John.
9. As with everything he did, the Transfiguration of Christ was more than just a miracle, but a fulfillment of earlier prophecy and a completion of work begun generations before. On this mountaintop Moses and Elijah were passing the torch to Christ so that Jesus could eventually pass that torch to the disciples before his ascension. By bringing them to the mountain with him he was letting them know that this work they were being called into was a continuation of the work God had been doing through his people from the very beginning of history.
10. Moses delivered the people out of the bondage of Egypt, but he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. To finish the task of deliverance into Canaan Joshua was called to be Moses’ successor. The name Joshua is Hebrew for “The Lord Saves.” And as surely as they entered the land under his leadership they were reminded of the One who made it all possible. Later in Israel’s history, Elijah was called to deliver the people of God out of the hands of unfaithful kings. He too did not see the end of his work, but passed his work onto Elisha, a variation of the name Joshua, so that through his very name the people would know where their salvation would come from. And God delivered them away from Baal worship as the worship of the true God was once again restored in Israel. And now today in our Gospel we find Jesus—Greek for Joshua—whom the angel told Mary and Joseph will free the people from the slavery of their sins. Moses and Elijah and many other men and women were called by God throughout the Bible to effect salvation for Israel in one fashion or another, but it would never last and there weren’t speaking to all people. Just as Joshua and Elisha completed the earthly tasks set before Moses and Elijah in their ministries, Jesus had come to complete the deliverance that no man could accomplish for any portion of man-kind throughout the millennia—the final deliverance of our bodies and souls from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
11. Although Peter’s intentions may have been wrong, his words were right on the mark; it truly was good for them to be there on that mountain that day. It was good because Jesus wanted these 3 leaders—the first of his disciples to follow him—to witness this significant, historic, event. Jesus wanted them to see his work in the context of salvation history—to allow them to connect all that he had been teaching them with all that they knew from the Law and the Prophets. Jesus wanted them to get a glimpse of what lies ahead for them; in ministry, in mission, and in the glory of heaven.
12. It is good for US to be HERE as well but not for the reasons we stated at the beginning of our message today. It is good for us to be here today so that we too can become witnesses of Christ’s transfiguration and his ministry through the scriptures we hear read and proclaimed. By hearing the stories of the Bible we can see how he continues to work in our lives just as he did in the past. In the Divine Service we too get a glimpse of our future glorified state as we partake of Holy Communion—that foretaste of the feast to come. As we gather here each week we surely do soak it all in, but not only so that we may be soothed and comforted, but so that we might be inspired, strengthened and lifted up to give God the glory. We say, “it is truly good, Lord, to be here”
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Alban Institute - 2010-02-08 The Power of Story in Local Congregations
The Alban Institute - 2010-02-08 The Power of Story in Local Congregations
An interesting read on how congregations might make better decisions in the future by being able to understand and re-tell their collective "story" of their past history in narrative form. It sounds kind of like a sort of group therapy for the masses.
Any reactions? let me know.
An interesting read on how congregations might make better decisions in the future by being able to understand and re-tell their collective "story" of their past history in narrative form. It sounds kind of like a sort of group therapy for the masses.
Any reactions? let me know.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Life Together
Spend Lent with us at Redeemer as we encounter the last words of Christ with the enlightenment of Peter's first Epistle and Dietrich Bonheoffer's book Life Together. This short, 5 chapter book is quickly becoming a devotional classic even though it has only been in print in the English language since 1954 (VERY recent in church-age thinking).
This series is being produced by Students of former Lutheran Hour speaker and current President of Concordia Seminary, Dale Meyer as part of an advanced preaching class. I look forward to working with their outlines and being able to help us all work through the process of not only making the passion of Christ real, but relevant to our every day living beyond the Sunday morning church routine.
We will be putting together a group order at church or you may order on your own by clicking on the Amazon ad in this post.
This series is being produced by Students of former Lutheran Hour speaker and current President of Concordia Seminary, Dale Meyer as part of an advanced preaching class. I look forward to working with their outlines and being able to help us all work through the process of not only making the passion of Christ real, but relevant to our every day living beyond the Sunday morning church routine.
We will be putting together a group order at church or you may order on your own by clicking on the Amazon ad in this post.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Psalm 11:7 "For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face"
Read Psalm 11 and Luthers Commentary on pg. 34 & 35 of "Reading the Psalms with Luther" and then come back to this blog.
The first and last verses of this Psalm are the Gospel message of this Psalm while everything in between is Law. Kind of reminds me of parenting...let me explain.
As a parent now for some 15 years I'm finally beginning to learn that when your child needs to be disciplined, if you come at them "full-bore" right from the beginning, they tend to run away and hide in their rooms (if you saw how messy their rooms were you would understand just how brilliant a plan that is). However, when I begin the conversation with, "Hey (name of child), come here for a minute let's talk" things tend to go a lot better. It's especially helpful when the issue at hand is some sort of an argument between siblings and coming to me allows one of them to escape the fracus. Then we talk about what they did or what needs to change, and I will point out all the bad consequences which will probably result from their actions including groundings, going without desert, etc. Then, after they have fooled me into thinking they have fully understood all we talked about and have made a sollomn vow to obey all I have commanded, I tell them how much I love them and how I want to see them being a good boy/girl from now on.
Now, what I just described is probably a whole lot niceer than how you might have recieved the Psalm we read for today--and for good reason. Our God is our creator and the Holy One. He demands adhearence to his laws and expects righteousness from his people. This Psalm is very negative in tone because, through the Psalmist, he wants us to know that he doen't just turn a blind eye to sin. It is, indeed, an affront to him and he will dissown all those who sin and so these words are not only a warning for us to avoid sin, but also a sentencing of those who are wicked.
The Psalm begins with "In the Lord I take refuge". Isn't that a little crazy? I mean, I know I sin and I'm certain you know that too, so why in the world would we find refuge in the very person who promises to punish that sin? Because only he can grant mercy.
Our God is a just God, and so someone had to pay the price for our sin and that person was Jesus. All those who believe in him are declared righteous--"upright," as in verse 7--and therefore we can come to our Lord with out fear and watch as those who are against God are condemned and sent to eternal punishment and separation from God.
While we must be careful not to inturpret specific tragedy as direct punishment from God for specific sin, we can be certain that all pain, suffering, and catastrophe in this world ARE a result of sin in the world and that these come to both the godly and the godless. But along with this Psalm we also take comfort in the words of Isaiah where God promises to be beside us and to protect us through the floods and firestorms of life because we were reclaimed by him as his own. For us in the New Testament that reclaimation came when we were baptized and God marked us with the sign of the cross on our forheads and on our hearts to mark us as one of Jesus' little lambs. Here is how Isaiah expressed that love:
Leave a comment our two on when you have sought refuge in the Lord or when you have experinced him upholding you and your good descisions in the face of others who where not following God's commands. Be an encouraging witness to others by this bold proclamation of God's mighty deeds and eternal mercy
The first and last verses of this Psalm are the Gospel message of this Psalm while everything in between is Law. Kind of reminds me of parenting...let me explain.
As a parent now for some 15 years I'm finally beginning to learn that when your child needs to be disciplined, if you come at them "full-bore" right from the beginning, they tend to run away and hide in their rooms (if you saw how messy their rooms were you would understand just how brilliant a plan that is). However, when I begin the conversation with, "Hey (name of child), come here for a minute let's talk" things tend to go a lot better. It's especially helpful when the issue at hand is some sort of an argument between siblings and coming to me allows one of them to escape the fracus. Then we talk about what they did or what needs to change, and I will point out all the bad consequences which will probably result from their actions including groundings, going without desert, etc. Then, after they have fooled me into thinking they have fully understood all we talked about and have made a sollomn vow to obey all I have commanded, I tell them how much I love them and how I want to see them being a good boy/girl from now on.
Now, what I just described is probably a whole lot niceer than how you might have recieved the Psalm we read for today--and for good reason. Our God is our creator and the Holy One. He demands adhearence to his laws and expects righteousness from his people. This Psalm is very negative in tone because, through the Psalmist, he wants us to know that he doen't just turn a blind eye to sin. It is, indeed, an affront to him and he will dissown all those who sin and so these words are not only a warning for us to avoid sin, but also a sentencing of those who are wicked.
The Psalm begins with "In the Lord I take refuge". Isn't that a little crazy? I mean, I know I sin and I'm certain you know that too, so why in the world would we find refuge in the very person who promises to punish that sin? Because only he can grant mercy.
Our God is a just God, and so someone had to pay the price for our sin and that person was Jesus. All those who believe in him are declared righteous--"upright," as in verse 7--and therefore we can come to our Lord with out fear and watch as those who are against God are condemned and sent to eternal punishment and separation from God.
While we must be careful not to inturpret specific tragedy as direct punishment from God for specific sin, we can be certain that all pain, suffering, and catastrophe in this world ARE a result of sin in the world and that these come to both the godly and the godless. But along with this Psalm we also take comfort in the words of Isaiah where God promises to be beside us and to protect us through the floods and firestorms of life because we were reclaimed by him as his own. For us in the New Testament that reclaimation came when we were baptized and God marked us with the sign of the cross on our forheads and on our hearts to mark us as one of Jesus' little lambs. Here is how Isaiah expressed that love:
1 But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior. Isaiah 43:1-3 (ESV)
Now that's a God I can take refuge in. How about you? Leave a comment our two on when you have sought refuge in the Lord or when you have experinced him upholding you and your good descisions in the face of others who where not following God's commands. Be an encouraging witness to others by this bold proclamation of God's mighty deeds and eternal mercy
Friday, January 15, 2010
Fresh Start Bible Study
Fresh Start, the Bible study for young couples at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Olathe, will begin a new study by Erwin McMannus called "Uprising" beginning Jan 24th.
Get a new copy of the book for yourself at bluefishtv.com or click on the Amazon ad to the left. You'll be glad you did.
Get a new copy of the book for yourself at bluefishtv.com or click on the Amazon ad to the left. You'll be glad you did.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Looking for help?
Ok, I'm expecting lots of comments on this one so don't let me down. The last few Psalms have been of a similar type and so as not to get into a rutt I've decided to jump ahead in our book. So, Psalm 146 is the next Psalm I would like us to look at on pg. 347.
Have you ever had a friend (I use the term loosely) who alway had advice for you which you just knew you should never heed? Regardless of how much you may have enjoyed being around them, you could just tell by the events and occurances in their life that their advice should not be taken seriously. Unfortunately, whether out of a sense of loyalty or just wanting to "throw them a bone, we occasionally follow their advice and regret it later.
This Psalm reminds us that when we follow God's guidance we will never be disappointed. As Luther says, "He helps so that it can really be alled being helped." Even as that sentence may be very poor english grammar, it demonstrates the germanic way of using redundancy of the obvious to make clear the point--"God's help is good help."
The Psalmist clearly knows this as he begins the peom with "Praise the Lord!" because he knows the Lord and frequently/constantly experiences the Lord's help. And so my topic for todays discussion: So that we might support one another as well as share in one another's joys, tell of a time when you experienced the Lord's help and, if you are really feeling adventurous, write your own little Psalm prayer which reflects how you feel about it.
Have you ever had a friend (I use the term loosely) who alway had advice for you which you just knew you should never heed? Regardless of how much you may have enjoyed being around them, you could just tell by the events and occurances in their life that their advice should not be taken seriously. Unfortunately, whether out of a sense of loyalty or just wanting to "throw them a bone, we occasionally follow their advice and regret it later.
This Psalm reminds us that when we follow God's guidance we will never be disappointed. As Luther says, "He helps so that it can really be alled being helped." Even as that sentence may be very poor english grammar, it demonstrates the germanic way of using redundancy of the obvious to make clear the point--"God's help is good help."
The Psalmist clearly knows this as he begins the peom with "Praise the Lord!" because he knows the Lord and frequently/constantly experiences the Lord's help. And so my topic for todays discussion: So that we might support one another as well as share in one another's joys, tell of a time when you experienced the Lord's help and, if you are really feeling adventurous, write your own little Psalm prayer which reflects how you feel about it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sorry, nothing new today on the blog and a note on shoveling
But I promise I'll try to get a new Psalm topic loaded up tomorrow.
Thanks to all those who helped throw snow Sunday afternoon. I'm sure the kids walking to school this week really appreciate it. I saw two kids almost get hit early yesterday AM in another part of town as they were walking in the dark, icy streets because the sidewalks in our neighborhood have a foot of snow in them or better.
Some cities further north have shoveling ordinaces just for this reason.
If you can't scoop yours, find someone who will help you out. Your neighbors will thank you.
Thanks to all those who helped throw snow Sunday afternoon. I'm sure the kids walking to school this week really appreciate it. I saw two kids almost get hit early yesterday AM in another part of town as they were walking in the dark, icy streets because the sidewalks in our neighborhood have a foot of snow in them or better.
Some cities further north have shoveling ordinaces just for this reason.
If you can't scoop yours, find someone who will help you out. Your neighbors will thank you.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Sticks and Stones
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Remember saying that phrase when you were younger? If you were like most you were probably called a few names and called others a few too.
But think back to those times. Did that name calling really not hurt? Of course it did. That's why today's Psalm (Psalm 10) is a Psalm of lament. The Psalmist is crying out to God to have compassion upon all those who are being picked on in one way or another, some even to the point of death. But while the writer is asking the Lord "why?" and "how long?" he is also confident that "someday, Lord, you will make it right." (vv 14-18)
My question for today is, what things in your life to you anguish over? Who or what gives you such a bad time that the devil uses it to tempt you away from God at times? Write them down, then search your heart and/or your bible for ways in which God assures you that you will not be overcome by this temptation and by which he will preserve you.
Please feel free to share. If you choose to use a fake name that's ok. The more conversation we have the better our experience will be.
But think back to those times. Did that name calling really not hurt? Of course it did. That's why today's Psalm (Psalm 10) is a Psalm of lament. The Psalmist is crying out to God to have compassion upon all those who are being picked on in one way or another, some even to the point of death. But while the writer is asking the Lord "why?" and "how long?" he is also confident that "someday, Lord, you will make it right." (vv 14-18)
My question for today is, what things in your life to you anguish over? Who or what gives you such a bad time that the devil uses it to tempt you away from God at times? Write them down, then search your heart and/or your bible for ways in which God assures you that you will not be overcome by this temptation and by which he will preserve you.
Please feel free to share. If you choose to use a fake name that's ok. The more conversation we have the better our experience will be.
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