life together

So I'm still on this Bonhoeffer kick. In his book "life together" he talks about the incredible blessing of Christian fellowship. His context was war torn Germany and he looked at all the petty infighting and vocal dissatisfaction that was expressed in the church prior to the war and even during it and chastised the world wide church for their ungrateful hearts. The hardship and deprivation that he experienced showed the blessing and encouragement that common ordinary Christian fellowship was and is. We've got it good and we break fellowship for petty reasons. Now, of course there are good reasons to leave churches and to break fellowship. Reasons that have biblical warrant without crossing the line of heresy - but I have rarely seen this. We are much to casual about breaking ties with the people that God has put us with. We know this is wrong so we nurture and cultivate reasons over time- incubating them in our hearts till they break the shell of the seed, take root and grow. Money, frustration and insecurity are not good reasons for leaving people and places. They are reasons, but not necessarily good ones. We live in a transient society and its much harder to see this- it's also much to easy to overgeneralize this idea especially if you are the type that is likely not to leave. In his description of the life lived together Bonhoeffer calls his reader to think first of Christ and then of others and calls us to dwell upon thankfulness to God in all situations. He calls us to have the motives of heaven in a fallen world- something that is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is where the encouragement is- the Spirit and the gifts are ours. We can live in community together and we can even weather fellowship broken for good or bad reasons. Life together is lived in Jesus and no trial is stronger than his resurrection or the communion we share in him. So- if you have broken fellowship, Jesus is strong enough in you to reconcile. If there is no chance of reconciliation this side of heaven, Jesus is strong enough to heal and real enough to address the void of loneliness. On the positive side life together is more enjoyable and fellowship is more savory when lived in Christ. This is how Bonhoeffer was able to encourage his fellow prisoner and truly express joy in the weeks and months leading up to his execution. Life together is a picture and promise of heaven and Jesus sustains us on the journey. A big chunk of the thankfulness has got to be for the people that are on the journey with us and even make our journey possible. So keep walking together- and thank God for the people you're walking with- you might even want to thank them.

yes, I love to read me some Bonhoeffer.