Life Together - review

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is overview of what worship is to look like, both corporately and individually. This is a short read, and is rather helpful at times.

The Good - Bonhoeffer on community

Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.

What does that mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ. It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It means, third, that in Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity. (p 21)

My brother is rather that other person who has been redeemed by Christ, delivered from his sin, and called to faith and eternal life. Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitutes the basis of our community. What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. This is true not merely at the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity. I have community with others and I shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, 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. (p 26)

The Bad (for me at least) - Bonhoeffer on getting up early

With remarkable frequency the Scriptures remind us that the men of God rose early to seek God and carry out His commands, as did Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua (cf. Gen. 19:17, 22:3; Ex. 8:16, 9:13, 24:4; Josh. 3:1, 6:12, etc.). The Gospel, which never speaks a superfluous word, says of Jesus himself: "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" Mark 1:35). Some rise early because of restlessness and worry; the Scriptures call this unprofitable: "It is vain for you to rise up early ... to eat the bread of sorrows" (Ps. 127:2). But there is such a thing as rising early for the love of God. This was the practice of the men of the Bible. (p 44)

The Ugly (vs the 'attractiveness' of secular standards) - Bonhoeffer on authority

"Whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister" (Mark 10:43). Jesus made authority in the fellowship dependent upon the brotherly service. Genuine spiritual authority is to be found only where the ministry of hearing, helping, bearing, and proclaiming is carried out. Every cult of personality that emphasizes the distinguished qualities, virtues, and talents of another person, even though these be of an altogether spiritual nature, is worldly and has no place in Christian community. The desire we so often hear expressed today for "episcopal figures," "priestly men," "authoritative personalities" spring frequently enough from a spiritually sick need for the admiration of men, for the establishment of visible human authority, because the genuine authority of service appears to be so unimpressive. There is nothing that so sharply contradicts such a desire as the New Testament itself in its description of a bishop (1 Tim. 3:1 ff). One finds there nothing whatsoever with respect to worldly charm and the brilliant attributes of a spiritual personality. The bishop is the simple, faithful man, sound in faith and life, who rightly discharges his duties to the Church. His authority lies in the exercise of his ministry. In the man himself there is nothing to admire. (p 109)

All in all, this is a nice little book, although I have a few notable doctrinal differences. I especially liked the first chapter on community.