Ancient Wisdom from the Desert
Ancient Wisdom from the Desert

Resonating with Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer_3"The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others and by himself.  He enters the community of Christians with his demands, his own law, and judges the brethren and himself accordingly.  He acts as if he is the creator of community, as if it is his dream which holds the community together.  When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash.  So he becomes first an accuser of his brethren, then God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Comments

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Chris,

What a timely visit--Life Together, one of my all-time favorites. Bonhoeffer "light", but ONLY because of it's brevity.

Perhaps my favorite part of this passage is the sentence prior to where you began...since you didn't include it, I will:

God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.

o.u.c.h.

How true this can be!!!!!!

Sometimes in a revival or a new movement one leader can act as the catalyst, heartbeat and inspirition to lead others into this new experience but pride and a failure to realise when it is the right time to pass the leadership to other people can cause the revival to crumble into dust with severe fallout and disillusionment for those caught up in the vision. I have seen thi all too often in my situation in N Ireland

Rodney

Rodney,

Great insights! Do you think that it helps when we convince ourselves of the perpetual need for change and how the Holy Spirit is always desiring to move in fresh new ways? For me, this means -- as I've gotten older -- that the next generation is critically important, for they are inherantly prone to see things and sense things with new eyes, and free from the proverbial "what has worked before."

Any other thoughts?

Blessings,

Chris

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