Some men just blaze history with the fire of the gospel in
them.
With their giftedness and compassion and most of all their
deep, hard love of their Savior. It is a joy to sit and savor the thoughts and
words of those men, as a means to savor Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
is one of those men.
Spending three hours in Barnes and noble today with “A
Testament to Freedom” and a latte, I was able to take away just a bit of the
beauty of the church that I had never quite grasped before. I would love to
highlight a few of his thoughts for deeper meditation. (Anything that is his is
in quotes…hopefully I got it all quoted, if it sounds amazing, it was probably
his not mine).
First, “Just as the Holy Spirit is with the individual, so
Christ makes himself present with the body of saints.”
So as the Holy Spirit is to the individual, to you or I, Christ is to the entire church. He is
the manifestation of God in the church just as the Spirit lives in our own
bodies.
Furthermore, “He is only present in the church where the
brothers and sisters are united for brotherly loving through preaching of the
word and communion”
This is where he dwells in the world. Not every equally but
specifically in His church. This highlights the necessity of bringing
non-christians into the church if they are to meet Christ. How humbling this is,
as I often think that they will meet my savior just by me entering into their
spaces-but no, the Savior is manifested in the collective church, and it is not
a surprise that the body as one is a clearer vision of Him who is our Head then
me as individual.
May we bring them in and may we protect and honor the Bride
where He is manifested in this world. It is of utmost importance.
(So I wrote about 4 pages from what I learned, but no one likes to read long things so I'll post in stages :))
With love, Krystal
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