Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his little book, Life Together states, “The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with on another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners.” (110)

This was the quote used to open a skit I used to do with a performance group in college. The skit was about a young man confessing a sexual sin to his Sunday school class, and the class reacting to him, not in Christian love and understanding of weaknesses, but in revulsion and rejection.

One of the lines my friend was supposed to say after the secret was made known was, “I could always feel him watching me.” One day in practice she said, “I could always watch him feeling me.” Which, of course, was fabulously funny to me, and I still tease her about all these years later. The result of her slip of the tongue was that during every performance there was a longer than usual pause before that line so that she could make sure she was going to say it correctly.

Now, I’ve had the book Life Together on my shelf for several years, and I recently decided to read it through. Here are a few points of interest for me:

“If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no greater experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.” P, 29

“Contrary to all my own opinions and convictions, Jesus Christ will tell me what love toward the brethren really is. Therefore, spiritual love is bound solely to the Word of Jesus Christ.” P.35

“Life together under the Word will remain sound and healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, and order, a society, a collegium pietatis, but rather where it understands itself as being a s part of the one holy, catholic Christian Church, where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and struggles and promise of the whole Church.” P. 37

“We are silent before hearing the Word because our thoughts are already directed to the
Word . . . We are silent after hearing the Word because the Word is still speaking and dwelling within us. We are silent at the beginning of the day because God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep because the last word also belongs to God.” P.79

“Must it not be wholesome and conducive to humility for me to learn to bear such petty evils silently and patently?” p. 95

“Moreover, what we have said applies solely to confession between two Christians. A confession of sin in the presence of all the members of the congregation is not required to restore one to fellowship with the whole congregation. I meet the whole congregation in the one brother to whom I confess my sins and who forgives my sins. In the fellowship I find with this one brother I have already found fellowship with the whole congregation.” P. 113