Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Chapter Five: Confession & Communion
This chapter was painful in potentiality and conviction. How
rare it is to hear of this being lived out well. Sin separates. Not only the
sinner from God, but the sinner from the community. Sin drives us to isolation,
and “the more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of
sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more
disastrous is his isolation.” We desperately need the light to shine on our
sin, yet we work so hard to ensure that never happens. I’ve often wrestled with
the so-called “office of the keys” but Bonhoeffer explains well its value and
meaning in this chapter. “Confession is conversion…Confession is discipleship.”
This is a hard teaching, but one that rings true. On page 118 and following
Bonhoeffer brings up the excellent question – “To whom confess?” Aye, there’s
the rub. To find a brother or sister who lives a lifestyle of confession and
repentance in the way Bonhoeffer addresses here is difficult. I’m left with the
question of how can we create this atmosphere within our churches?
Bonhoeffer’s closing thoughts are on the Lord’s Supper, and
its reality as an occasion of joy, looking ahead to the time when the church
will truly be united. “As the members of the congregation are united in body
and blood at the table of the Lord, so will they be together in eternity. Here
the community has reached its goal. Here joy in Christ and his community is
complete. The life of Christians together under the Word has reached its
perfection in the sacrament.” And so, we come full circle. For Bonhoeffer, the
church invisible will never be fully understood until we are gathered together
in the eschaton. But until that time, the visible expression of the church
gathers around these two essentials—Word and sacrament.
No comments:
Post a Comment